At last the call came! The Rigaud River canoe run was on!
Easter Saturday was the designated day, and over 20 kayakers and canoeists turned up for this annual fun event led by Bob, of VKH canoe club; Wilma from the Philippines and Devaki from Guatamala made up the international contingent!
The weather this year was very kind to us, after last year’s blizzard! The sun was shining and the river looked glorious. The intrepid crews took to the water, after last minute instructions from Bob, and paddled their way along the very meandering course, negotiating rapids and a large tree that was completely blocking the river. At this point the boats came out of the water and we had to portage around the tree. We took great care not to slip on the very muddy banks on our way in and out of the boats.
The support along the way was wonderful; every bridge we passed had people waving us on, and maybe secretly hoping for a repeat of last year when a canoe tipped and threw three participants into the water!
Fortunately everyone completed the course without getting wet, although there were a couple of near misses when a canoe got stuck on rocks twice! The manoeuvres to clear it were a close call!
The bird watching expert in the group spotted 22 different species of birds along the route. I only spotted 2 nesting ducks on the banks and the geese flying overhead!
At the end of our wonderful journey along the river we were welcomed back by members of the DHS who provided us with hot refreshments and drinks.
There are many people to thank for making this such a successful event. To name just a few: Bob; the mayor; Douglas and his trusty tractor; DHS members for supplying the food; Dianne from St. Anne de Prescott depanneur for the delicious artisan bread.
Bird sighting on the Paddle & nearby April 19:
- Canada Geese
- Mallards
- Black Ducks
- Wood ducks
- Gadwalls
- Common Merganser
- Turkey Vulture
- Hooded merganser
- Kingfisher
- Robins
- Red winged blackbirds
- Common grackles
- Ring billed gulls
- Song sparrow
- Black capped chickadees
- Juncos
- Great blue heron
- Eastern phoebe-there is a
- Woodpecker Hairy/Downey
- Killdeer
- Crow
- Turkey
- Kestrel
