Kayaking the Apostle Islands

 

The True Adventures Apostle Islands Crew

We did a True Adventures trip to the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior for a very long weekend last weekend.  I have to say it was one of my favorite trips in recent memory.  The scenery and location were really special, the people were great, trip went smoothly, weather was absolutely ideal (sunny and low 80s), and not a mosquito to be found.  Really spectacular.

We drove about eight hours from Chicago to Bayfield Wisconsin where we rented kayaks from Trek and Trail.  We were required to take a class where we learned to self rescue and to rescue others should our kayaks flip out in the open water, very useful and comforting to know we all knew what to do in case of emergency.  We had decided to go without a guide, and that turned ut to be a great decision, definitely not worth the extra expense nor the pull of a stranger in our midst. 

We had Trek and Trail shuttle the kayaks to Sand Inlet where we loaded up our gear and paddled about 45 minutes across to Sand Island to a beautiful beach and made our way into the campsite.  Some cooked, some hiked, some lounged.

The next day we paddled maybe 5 hours to another island, passing two en route on gorgeous smooth seas, no wind and heavy sun.  I got so tan on the trip – it was terrific.  Another huge beautiful beach. 

The following morning four folks took off and the core leaders stayed, four of us.  We paddled another five or so easy hours to the mainland and made camp actually out on the beach – check the tranquility of this spot in this video:

The following day we paddled to these amazing sea caves where you could paddle in and around – really stunning. 

 

 

Made our way to a beach where we napped in the sun, as had become our mid afternoon habit.  A hobo meal of meat and veggies chopped up, wrapped in aluminum foil, and into the embers of the fire.  Yum!

 

 

 

The following day made our way back to the car, shuttled the kayaks back, and continued enjoying ourselves all the way back to Chicago. Really terrific and relaxing trip.

And a bonus video of goofing around at camp on the second night:

Everybody Loves a Lake House – Coldwater Michigan

Went to a lake house in Michigan last weekend.  Michigan is a beautiful state and has lots of lakes and subsequently lots of lake houses, which I love.  It’s always so relaxing, such great food, fun for everybody.  Swimming, kayaking, waterskiing, tubing, wakeboarding, cruising around on a pontoon boat, partying…  grilling out, people show up and leave whenever, totally laid back and cool.  Ryan is the man!  Terrific place on Coldwater Lake and lots of cool people and fun activities, not too far from Chicago, and I was able to stop by my 94 year old Grandma’s place in South Bend on the way and take her grocery shopping with me for the supplies I was tasked with bringing.  Always fun to see her, still getting around just fine at 94, how great is that?  And still whipping up delicious zucchini bread and split pea soup for her grateful grandson.  Also got to see my cuz who’s about my age and my Aunt and Uncle in Elkhart on the way back Sunday.

On the porch grubbing down

One fun story to share is on the pontoon boat we cruised a few miles up lakes and canals one evening.  We came to a particularly low bridge and people encouraged Will and I to climb on it, run across the road and hop back in the boat – a flimsy sewer pipe and caution deterred us… however on the return trip I gathered some courage, grabbed the bridge and pulled myself out of the boat, scampered up and over the railing, and halfway into the road before looking for cars, then ran across, hopped onto the sewer pipe just as the beginning of the boat emerged under me.   A big fluffy-looking seat was wide open, and I knew behind it was the steering wheel, driver, more people and then no boat, so I had to jump NOW, which I did and shazam, it was over. 

In the video below Ryan cuts the power at the apex of the tubing pyramid… and hilarity ensues.

 

Sunday we anchored the pontoon boat on a sandbar and goofed around.

Standing up (briefly) while tubing - Will is number 1!

Heading out for the afternoon on the pontoon boat

Me, also heading out for an afternoon on the water

Canoeing “Le Diable” in Quebec, Mount Tremblant National Park

Went to Mount Tremblant National Park in Quebec over the weekend (mid June).  Very beautiful area, big stone cliffs on the two hour drive north from Montreal.  Many ski runs carved through the trees on the mountainsides as we drove north.  The trip was a fairly last minute deal with three buddies, all friends since age five or so.  One of us is a doctor, Spencer, and is in Montreal for the summer learning a new procedure.  Wayne and I flew in to meet him, I met with a couple guys I do some work with in the city, then we were off to the woods and streams and mountains north of the city.  We were late (for our 8pm shuttle to the wilderness) as always seems to be the case when travelling with Spencer, and also as usual things worked out great, we camped in a very nice spot Friday night and caught the shuttle the next morning, doing the exact same trip we would have done had we been more punctual.  20 miles or so down a river that periodically opened up into big lakes and then narrowed into rushing rapids, only one of which we portaged around, though several we should have as we nearly flipped in one and took on quite a bit of water and got very hung up on another, soaking my gear.  An interesting side note – on the first night, we had our cooler and gear strewn about the campsite and were hanging out by the fire.  We heard a noise that seemed close, like somebody rustling around in the woods.  We shined our lights and it turned out to be closer, nearer, by the cooler.  We got up and walked over and a big ol’ racoon had unzipped a pouch and made off with our powdered potatoes.  Spencer gave chase, crashing through the woods for ten minutes, hot on his trail, sucker didn’t even let go of the potatoes even under the duress of an angry Spencer on his heels. 

Saturday morning we managed to get all our gear onto a trailer behind a bus, and somehow figured out which bus and which canoe and kayak to pull off the racks and load up even though everybody was speaking french and the folks in charge barely knew english, we were a pretty lost but managed.  They drove us about 90 minutes north to the put-in, where we loaded up the canoe and launched it and the kayak and we were off, paddling into the glorious weather and sunshine.  We had brought gear for rain and forty degree weather but were greeted with smiling sun and wispy clouds, 70+ degrees during the days.  We paddled our way through the lakes and rivers

La Diable River, Tremblant National Park

then lakes then rapids, passing a number of well marked campsites and crosschecking them with our map.  Stopped at one for a lunch of PB&J on mini-pitas.  The place was jammed with insects, all wanting a piece of me so we would all walk and eat to try and get some peace.  I noticed a few droplets of bright red blood on my arm and then legs.  That was my introduction to the little buggers about 1/3 the size of mosquitoes that you cannot feel bite but who draw blood when they do.  It’s crazy – bites on your face, blood on your forehead, welts all over my arms and legs.  Red

Bug Bites From the Diable River

dots in the middle of a large round red welt.  Even now two days later I itch like crazy and have these all over my legs, arms, and waist.   Looks like chicken pox and itches about as bad.  That was only our intro to them, they would pester us the entirety of the next two days and then in our minds the third day even after leaving the woods.  They eased up only after the sun was well down or we were in the middle of a lake, or swimming, or with a stiff breeze.

We made it to our campsite, unloaded gear, and Spence and I paddled upstream to fish while Wayne suffered the torment of the bugs, eventually escaping into the kayak and paddling in circles to maintain sanity.  Repellant really didn’t do much after maybe thirty minutes or so, and we ran out before night fell.  Fifteen or so Quebecois and French folks joined us, mostly work friends we were told.  We had a great time around the campfire, communicating mostly with the better english-speakers, though I enjoyed pulling out my rusty french and using it.  Wayne and Spencer got quite inebriated, Wayne polishing off a bottle of Jaeger with some help from his new Canadian friends.  They were very entertaining, Wayne making fun of Spencer’s profession and it’s requirement of sticking scopes and fingers up peoples’ butts and getting the Canadians on board to joke about it, Spencer joking right along with us – “be careful or you’ll get the finger” he’d warn, waggling his index finger around.  The whole crowd would crack up periodically at something Wayne or Spencer would say.  At one point somebody said something in french that sounded like “fermez la bouche” which means shut your mouth in French.  Wayne loudly started yelling “fermez la bouche! Fermez la bouche!” to the frenchy speakers’ dismay as that’s not what was said, and they tried hopelessly to explain they actually said something that meant “move that log” or whatever.  Wayne wasn’t swayed.  All had a blast.  One fellow commented to me with a laugh “your friends are really putting on a show!”  Lots of talk about Canada and the USA – international relations were probably strengthened that evening.

Next day we straggled out of our tents to a fresh onslaught of bugs and gorgeous weather, cooked up a round of pancakes and were back on the water.  Managed to botch the last set of rapids, getting ricocheted off an underwater boulder straight into three rocks where we were wedged tightly with water flowing into the canoe for a good ten minutes before Wayne and I managed to get us free and bailed her out, then off we went down the remaining stretch of rapids.  We waited at the bottom hoping for a good show as some random gear from other canoes floated down, but overall the others seemed to not have the problems we had navigating.

Caught the shuttle back to our car early, Rollo McFlurrys for everybody on the way back to Montreal, and caught our plane with no problem.  Great weekend!

2008 What a Year in Adventure-ness

Reflecting on the adventurous aspects of 2008…  One of the best ever for me second only to 2000 when I travelled the world for 6.5 months.  This year I was so fortunate.  Five foreign countries, two new mountains climbed, fourth Chicago to Mackinac sailing race, surfing, skiing…  I must list all the adventures and trips I was lucky enough to participate in this past year, and be so grateful for the opportunities I was blessed with.

1. Elwha Trail hike in the Olympic Mountains West of Seattle with four good buddies.
2. The 100th running of the Chicago to Mackinac Sailing race, on a J120 named Valkyrie, placed well in our class, finished in around 55 hours.
3. Cruised the North Channel of Lake Huron on a 38 foot Ericson sailboat owned by my parents with a highlight being Topaz lake.
4. Nantucket Massachusetts for several days with my oldest friend Spencer and his family, driving on the beach, catching bluefish from the shore, enjoying old friends, meeting my namesake, Cormac Thomas Carney
5. Upstate New York at my girlfriend’s grandparents’ “camp”, waterskiing, kayaking, mountain biking, swimming.
6. Climbing the highest point in New York State, Mt Marcy, ticking off the 12th state high point on my quest to do all 50 of them.
7. Jamaica for work, Kingston.
8. Cayman Islands to visit my cousin Megan for a few days.
9. Jazzfest in New Orleans for a bachelor party
10. Numerous mountain biking excursions around Chicago
11. Numerous sailing parties on my boat, a 28 foot Ericson christened the Imjatse after a Nepalese mountain I climbed.
12. Rock climbing in Red River gorge, Kentucky
13. Rock climbing at Mississppi Palisades twice
14. Summiting Mt Belford, a 14,000 foot mountain in Colorado, then sleeping in a bivy sack on its flanks overnight in about 15 degrees.
15. Pilgrimage to the original Chipotle in Denver
16. 35 person white water rafting trip sponsored by the adventure ministry I run at church, running class III and IV rapids.
17. Kayaking the Vermilion River in very high, fast water.
18. Costa Rica!  Staying at my friend’s resort, surfing, jungle hikes, four-wheeling.
19. Talon’s Challenge at Vail, skiing thirteen black and double black runs in a single day with a reward of a free beer and a free hat.
20. Skiing at Aspen with the family
21. Moving my friend’s sailboat 200 miles down the intracoastal waterway from Norfolk to Beaufort NC, just my father and I.
22. Two winter attempts of Mt Humphries, the tallest mountain in Arizona, each a failure, but getting closer and I lived to climb another day.
23. Thanksgiving in Boston
24. Ten person caving trip that I led through Buckner’s cave in Southern Indiana.
25. Ski trip to Wausau Wisconsin and Granite Peak Resort.
26. Raced the Cohasset Triathlon
27. 40+ person sea kayaking trip led by my group

What a wonderful year, with lots of love and great relationships started, nourished, and deepened during all these adventures and trips. 

I have to give a lot of credit for this year to Tim  Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Workweek for his writings and inspiration to live like this – thanks much Tim and all the best to everybody in 2009.  I always wanted to live like this but never knew anybody who did – I didn’t think it was really possible until I read Tim’s stuff and embarked upon the adventure.  Inspirational.  This year has been the best to date for my business, relationships, and adventures and experiences.  I hope for an even better 2009 and hope for the same for everybody.  I have to copy some of Tim’s stuff from a mentor of his here  – good food for thought:

“While many are wringing their hands, I recall the 1970s when we were suffering from an oil shock causing long lines at gas stations, rationing, and 55 MPH speed limits on Federal highways, a recession, very little venture capital ($50 million per year into VC firms), and, what President Jimmy Carter (wearing a sweater while addressing the Nation on TV because he had turned down the heat in the White House) called a “malaise”. It was during those times that two kids without any real college education, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, started companies that did pretty well. Opportunities abound in bad times as well as good times. In fact, the opportunities are often greater when the conventional wisdom is that everything is going into the toilet.

Well…we’re nearing the end of another great year, and, despite what we read about the outlook for 2009, we can look forward to a New Year filled with opportunities as well as stimulating challenges.”

Kayaking, trying to get my Roll

Went kayaking last night with a friend in Lake Michigan, Montrose Harbor.  We went in river kayaks, same guy I went with a few months ago.  The idea was to get my roll down.  Now I have to tell you it is scary when you are upside down under water, can’t breathe (obviously) and can’t get up easily.  At first he stood there and helped me and I did fine.  But then we went out into deeper water.  If you can’t roll you are supposed to just sit there upside down and run your hands alongside your boat, your partner runs his boat into yours and you grab it and flip up, in theory.  Didn’t work fast enough as I would nearly panic, seeing stars after I was righted.  Panic is never good in any situation so I worked on it until the panic subsided.  Eventually I got more comfortable with it and was able to roll up on my own fairly consistently, though still need some work to get it more solid.

Triathlon with an Olympian, Nantucket Fish Haul, Mount Marcy Climb

Just took a week long vacation – haven’t done that in a few years.  It was action packed.  Started by flying into Boston and eating at Lisa’s folks – they always make amazing dinners – had pasta for us Saturday night in preparation for the Cohasset Triathlon on Sunday.  My good buddy from age five, Bill Burnett, puts it on, and what an amazing job he does.  This year Jarrod Shoemaker (representing the USA in the triathlon in Beijing!) and 900 other people raced it, including a number of elite competitors.  Jarrod beat me.  In just two years it’s become a huge deal in the northeast.  They had a giant stage and all sorts of gear and food available.  Super foggy and a heavy surf in the morning but they did the swim anyways, which added that much more difficulty to it.  I finished on a mountain bike, next year I’ll get a real bike, though I’ve said that for the last 8 triathlons I’ve done and never have.

Wayne and I before the Cohasset Triathlon

The next day we left for Natucket to stay with my very close family friends the Carneys in their beautiful home in the town of Nantucket, overlooking the harbor – such a nice place.  But boo, it’s on the market, bummer.  My best bud Spencer was there with his kids, including new baby Cormac Thomas – named after me!  How cool is that?  2 months old, and amazing.  Also his older sister Daley, who at three is super fun to hang out with.  Went out to a super nice dinner at Orin Moore’s with Spence, Sue, Lisa and I, highlight was when the waiter brought a french press and pushed down on it at the table, spraying coffee and grounds all over the table and putting out the candle – we found it hilarious, the head waiter not so much.  Went sailing several times on their Rhodes 19 in Nantucket harbor and through the cut in the jetties to the open ocean, a little sketchy coming back in but fortunately the tide had shifted in our favor.  And a highlight was driving out on the beach on Coatue and surfcasting – we caught four huge bluefish!  I can never get over how you can stand on the beach up to your ankles in water and take this giant rod, cast out a huge lure, and reel in these 4 or 5 pound (guessing) fish.  Plus the added bonus of driving on the beach which is always a good time.  Letting the air out of the tires first so they are somewhat flat is fun too.

Fish in hand

 

After Nantucket we went to Lisa’s grandparent’s place in upstate New York, on Indian Lake.  A terrific two houses they have, on the water next to each other, a bunch of waterfront  with docks, ski boat, swim platform, rowboat, kayaks, canoe, and sunfish.  And over the course of five days we used them all!  Taught Lisa to sail one day which I expect will do wonders for her confidence on my boat here in Chicago – so much easier to “get” sailing on a small boat.  Swam every day and showered and shaved zero days – just an “Adirondack shower” in the lake each day.  So fun.  For the 4th we went and climbed Mt Marcy – 3200 feet or so of elevation gain, 7.2 miles up and 7.2 miles down – it took us 4 hours up and I couldn’t believe it, but also four hours down.  Weird.  The last couple hours seemed to take forever.  The summit was really beautiful, above tree line so huge views, 360 degrees.  Count it as my 12th state high point! 

Nearing the Summit of Mt Marcy

Actually quite incredible fireworks that night on the lake for such a small town – we took the rowboat and speedboat out to watch.  The next night I went on about an hour long mountain bike ride around Indian Lake, which is no small feat considering the trails are for snowmobiles not bikes – and are overgrown and mosquito infested and swampy in places.  Kevin, Lisa’s uncle, was in better shape and kicked my butt up the hills – one particularly long one – tough to train for that kind of stuff in Chicago.  Was a blast, and really cool and pretty.  A interesting aside – at one trail intersection in the middle of nowhere out in the woods there were advertisements on the trees for bars, hotels, restaurants, etc – for the snowmobilers.  Was something I’d never seen before.

Managed to chop a whole bunch of wood for Lisa’s grandfather, he appreciated it and I enjoyed the physical labor.  Small repayment for such incredible hospitality and relentlessly delicious meals, one after the other.

Got back late Monday night, tired but refreshed.  I need to figure out how to do more and longer trips!  Actually in a couple weeks we have the Mac race and then a few days sailing in the North Channel with my folks – so good stuff.

Kayaking the Vermilion River

Went kayaking on the Vermillion River here in Illinois a couple weeks ago on a Thursday.  Was amazing, especially considering it was only a couple hours outside of Chicago.  Went with a friend I met on the rafting trip in Wisconsin who had an extra kayak for me to borrow.  Class 2 and easier class three rapids – the river was running high and fast.  The start was into some fairly fast-flowing water – took some courage, but all was well.  Turned out I never actually went over, which impressed me.  The boat I had was very stable, and I’ve been a few times before out in colorado so wasn’t a total newbie.  I really enjoyed it after I calmed down.  Was fun to get out and walk the rapids before we ran them in the boats.  I’m pretty excited to go again.  I never did get up the courage to try a roll, even with Pete there to help.  Next time I’ll do it.  There was a very cool canyon up into Matheson state Park – felt like Venezuela or something – very overgrown, 30-40 foot high cliffs on both sides, we paddled slowly up the standing creek.  Quite cool.  Can’t wait to go back.  Met a guy who canoed a river called the Bureau – I’d like to try that one of these days.