Monday, March 17, 2008

Back on the Water

After several months away from the water, I finally returned this past weekend. I enjoy many outdoor winter activities, so I usually wait until the weather warms up and the snow is gone before I load the canoe on the car. With all the snow we've received this year and the fast approaching race season, I couldn't afford that luxury this year. So on Saturday morning, I cleared yet another snowfall off of my car, mounted the Yakima rack on the roof and loaded up the canoe.

I headed to the Charles River in Newton to meet my brother Seth. The water was high and cold, so we would be paddling our most stable single canoes (Wenonah Advantage). Seth had already paddled a few times this year and I was still suffering from a rib injury. I expected to struggle to keep up.

From the start, my ribs were hurting, but I did my best to block out the pain. We paddled up river as far as we could, battling strong current in many spots. Of course, the return paddle was a lot of fun.

Along the way, we spotted numerous swans, ducks and geese - and a very large fake alligator.

We ended up paddling about 8 miles and finished loading the canoes onto the cars just before the suddenly vigilant state police came to chase us out of the parking lot before dusk.

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