adventures abound
road trips
A rollercoaster drive through the Lennox and Addington Highlands ended at Bon Echo Provincial Park with a paddle to Mazinaw Rock. This massive escarpment face rises from Ontario's second deepest lake. Its beauty is undeniable, but what makes the rock unique is its spiritual significance to the Algonquin and Ojibway peoples. Along the water line, at roughly eye level, are dozens of pictographs, applied to the rock with red ochre. Images include Nanabush, the trickster, hunting scenes, and animals such as the turtle, sacred as the creature upon whose back our world rests.
North of Bon Echo, the Bonnechere caves are just outside of Eganville, at the Fourth Chute of the Rideau River. The spectacular caverns carved into the limestone shore of the river were discovered in the 1950s and for a few months every summer they are pumped out so visitors can explore them. During the winter, however, they are flooded again because if they were allowed to dry out they would soon collapse.
All lenses are on Lake Superior for the summer of 2015!
white water
Class III and IV rapids on the Ocoee River in the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee, on the border with Georgia. This was the first of five whitewater rafting trips I did on the Eastern Seaboard of the USA, and this river is dam-released, which makes the rapids much more reliable. On rivers like the Cheat, which has no dams, rafters rely on spring and fall rainfall runoff. When the siren goes for a "gullywasher," you'd better run uphill for your life! Once you commit to the run, there is no going back: rescue helicopters can't get in, so you walk out, through miles of forest that wants to eat you....
97 miles an hour
Things you need to know before jumping out of a plane: pay attention in Ground School--all five hours of it--because this information will come in handy in the twelve seconds after you muster the courage to push yourself out of the big door!
In the event that your chute tangles, which mine did, grab the risers (the straps over your head) and pull them apart with all your might while doing a violent scissor kick. This will allow your canopy to stay stable and open while you swing, exactly like on a swing-set.
Living on the edge
Recently, I wanted to photograph a frozen gorge as part of a project on the threat to our water supply. I knew where I wanted to be, but getting there involved an ice axe, 100 feet of rope, a survival suit, homemade cookies, and my intrepid assistant. Luckily, I can trust her not to let go of the rope!
Here’s a shot of me, “living on the edge”!
I have a many wonderful adventures planned for this coming summer of 2013 and can’t wait to yell, “Road Trip”! If the phone still works, I’m not far enough north….
