25.07.2009 18:07:18

John Peaveler

25.07.2009 12:32:01

John Peaveler

Today started with a decent tailwind as I headed into the Moore Reservoir just after 5am.  After a quick stop for breakfast, conditions quickly turned into a headwind and no current.  The Moore dam had a pretty long portage but a decent trail and took about two hours to complete, as I paused to dry out all of my gear in the now bright sun.  Paddling through the Comerford Reservoir proved to be especially difficult, as there was at least a 10knot wind channeling the length of the reservoir.  I stayed a few feet off shore and eventually made it to the Comerford Dam.  Comerford has no real portage trail, just a series of signs and an 45 degree slope.  It turned out to be quite an adventure getting the boat and two loads of gear over the dam, though I'm not really sure why anyone can spend billions on a dam and invest almost nothing in a route to get around it.  Attis had a great time, and we managed to finish the portage in under an hour and get some great pictures of the portage.  The current downsteam was excellent, and rapidly took us into yet another dam with a fairly easy portage, except that the trail started at a set of stairs, which made getting the boat out of the water quite a challenge.  It was getting late at this point and the only possible campsites were at the foot of the dam, so we kept going.  Nearing dusk, nothing was looking very appealing so we made camp on a small island in the middle of the river.  Lots of wildlife today, mostly birds and beavers. Lovely fog in the morning, but I spent most of the day marveling in how un-natural the whole river is in the midst of so many dams.  It felt quite odd to be in nature and know that everything I experienced today was created by men.  Sad really.

23.07.2009 11:27:05

John Peaveler

I received this message from John at 9:14pm.

 

"All is well. Started at 0515 and finished around 2000. Almost no current today. Still made around 38 miles. Saw a deer, several beavers, eagles, a loon and dozens of ducks, ducklings, geese and goslings. Paddling uneventful except for a four foot waterfall. Made it okay, think I scratched the boat pretty badly. Dead calm again after that. Paddled with four day paddlers for a while. Ended the day at a dam, decided to complete the portage tonight to be ready for an early start. Attis is doing great, he decided to jump out of the boat to chase a bird. No luck!"

22.07.2009 21:14:36

John Peaveler

John has already called in to tell me has seen an adult Bald Eagle today, many many ducks with their little babies, a beaver and so much more. He is truly enjoying all the wildlife. It is chilly and cloudy but overall, his trip is going smoothly. You can follow his progress on SPOT John.

22.07.2009 12:10:10

John Peaveler

I dropped John off at 8am yesterday in Pittsburgh, NH right on the Canadian border. After searching for a launch spot for some time, he settled on a pretty precarious spot but I was glad to see him launch and paddle away without any trouble. The day went smoothly except for coming upon a large dam. A kind fisherman gave him a ride around it. Attis, John's English Pointer, did very well except for wanting to launch himself out of the boat after birds a few times. John was excied to see a juvenile Bald Eagle and was stunned by a bird as it launched out of no where and snatched a very large big bug John was watching fly over the canoe. John paddled 34.7 miles on his first day.

26.06.2009 20:41:27

John Peaveler

Hello anyone and everyone interested in my attempt to circumnavigate Iceland!

 

Thank you for visiting my site!  Our team is working on setting up a great website, and we hope you enjoy it.  We will be adding new content all the time, and we hope you'll come back and visit us soon.

While I know a little something about kayaking, I still have a lot to learn about Iceland.  I would really appreciate your comments and suggestions.