​​0:03 

Roisin: Hello and welcome to this installment of Nature Up North’s Naturally Speaking, my name is Roisin Credon Carey. And I'm a senior here at SLU

Patrick:  And my name is Patrick Chase. I'm a sophomore here at SLU

Roisin: We are the nature of North digital media interns. And what are we talking about today, Patrick?

Patrick:  I think today we're talking about canoeing.

Roisin:  So within this podcast we're going to cover an overview of the canoe shape, the history of canoeing within the North Country. We're going to share some personal anecdotes and then we're going to share some ways to get involved with north country canoeing.

0:50

Patrick: That all sounds phenomenal. Before we dive into that guys, just a little disclaimer. We are just canoeing enthusiasts and we are no experts

Roisin:  by any means. Not at all.

but first I'd like to break the ice a little. Have you guys heard that one canoeing riddle?

There are two penguins in a canoe and they're canoeing through the desert and one turns to the other and goes, “where's your paddle?”

And the second one goes, “Sure does.”

Patrick:  Yeah, I'm stumped. You wanna, you wanna tell the audience the joke here?

1:27

 Roisin: So the point of the riddle is that they're in the desert. So the sand is eroding the paddle.

So it's like “wears”, it wears your paddle.

1:43

Patrick: It sure does.

1:44

Roisin:  It sure does.

1:46

Patrick: That is a phenomenal joke.Thank you Roisin very much 

so I know that you need a canoe to go canoeing right? And well you probably need a paddle too, you probably do both those things put together. But what does a canoe actually look like and kind of, what are the parts of the canoe?What do they, what do they function for?

2:12

Roisin:  That's a great question, Patrick and we are actually going to put an image of a canoe on the Nature Up North website with anatomy pointing to it. But basically the thwart is  placed crosswise in the boat serving as a structural member or to help with carrying. And there are two of these and in between these two thwarts, there's a yoke which is a cross beam in the boat center connecting the starboard and port sides.and then there are ribs and these are lateral supports which run at angles to the keel, on the inside of the canoe.

And however the design of the canoe has shifted throughout time.The current design is very ergonomic and fits the needs of the user.

2:56

 Patrick:  So you, you mentioned the yoke, I've heard this term associated with portaging So could you maybe explain how those two are related and maybe talk about portaging for a little bit.

 Roisin:   Yeah, totally great questions.

So portaging is basically when you lift the canoe using the thwarts up onto your head and usually you do this with whoever you're canoeing with to aid and support. And then you're lifting the canoe by the thwarts. On the yoke, there's a cut out little half moon that fits around your neck and earlier the way that the canoe was designed, the thwart was just made of wood  as was the yoke, however, now the yolk is more ergonomic and has padding and although this isn't the easiest or safest part of canoeing with enough practicing portaging really opens up a world of canoeing and longer trips.

3:50

Patrick:   Yeah, that definitely sounds very convenient, especially around here where a lot of bodies of water are segmented and separated by quite a few, quite some distance. But as I'm thinking about it, I'm thinking about portaging, thinking about maybe kind of at the end of the journey I get to the waterway, put my canoe in the water and then what do I do? I don't know, how do you actually move in a canoe?

4:17

Roisin:   Yeah, totally, So you're in the water and you're like, how do I drive this thing?

So there are three very simple strokes that you can do and there are far more advanced ones. However, I just stick to these three mainly. There's the J stroke there's the forward stroke and there's the pry, so I usually steer on my left side, so the J stroke, turns the boat left, the forward stroke turns the boat right and the pry is more of a like maneuver to get away from trees or away from like docks that you may have to maneuver around. 

4:54

Patrick:  Very good information that is definitely needed if you want to go canoeing. So as I touched on a little bit earlier, the whole reason why canoeing is important around here and why it kind of got its start around here is because of the geography and geology of the region. The geography of the north country is very glaciated. Of course the mountains around here used to be quite a bit taller. Some glaciers came, some glaciers left and they left those mountains significantly smaller and while they receded they carved up the land quite a bit. And in this retreat they carved deep channels throughout the land into the bedrock and over time because a lot of this rock was very hard igneous rock. So it's not very porous. These deep cuts in the land filled with water and that's where all the lakes and such come from today. And as well it left a lot of the land, there wasn't a lot of soil around because it had wiped a lot of it away. So this led to a lot of rivers forming in the region. And this that's also another reason why canoeing is pretty big in the area.

6:07

Roisin: Thank you Patrick.

Yeah, these waterways have determined how we live our life off of the land and this can be through any means like farming and transportation where our towns are found and how we recreate within these rivers and lakes.

But the history of canoeing is so interesting and actually pertains to Canton a lot. As said before, canoeing has been an important part of life in the north country. But the beginning of recreational canoeing began with George Washington Sears.Because of all the waterways, people have been canoeing around for a bit, but George Washington Sears was the first to go on a 266 mile journey through the Adirondacks. He did portage, he did the whole whole deal .And most expeditions were led in these larger clunkier heavier canoes.George Washington Sears, also known as Nessmuk, was a sports writer for forest and streams and he launched the North Country into the era of solo trips and lightweight canoeing. He was 53 and 103 pounds so he could not physically carry the popular canoe of the time.

7:16

Patrick:   That is quite small, but I just, I could probably bench press that dude.

Roisin: Yeah.

So when people started taking an interest in recreational canoeing, J Henry Rushton from Canton, New York crafted a lighter, friendlier canoe for Nessmuk and the legacy of Rushton lives on in the Canton Memorial Rushton canoe race and at the time that it took this trip, he was 62. And after his expedition, people began crafting lighter and smaller canoes with the interest in recreational canoeing, 

Patrick:  

62?I take back what I said, props to that guy. But speaking of the George Washington series, did you know that he was not just an avid canoer? But he also dabbled in some poetry,

Roisin: wow.

7:58

Patrick: Yeah. And this takes us right into our Nature Nugget segment. Guys, you're really gonna enjoy this one. We're gonna take a little bit of a break. Get into that and we'll be right back.

8:08

Roisin:  we'd like to interrupt this normal programming for a nature nugget brought to you by the trout fish itself, so “That Trout”, we aren't going to read all of it. It's significantly long. I'll read the first two stanzas.

8:21

I’ve watched that trout for days and days,

I’ve tried him with all sorts of tackle;

With flies got up in various ways,

Red, blue, green, gray, and silver-hackle.

I’ve tempted him with angle-dogs,

And grubs, that must have been quite trying,

Thrown deftly in betwixt old logs,

Where probably he might be lying 

I jabbed it at his dorsal fin, 6ft beneath the crystal water

 was all too short.

I tumbled in and got half drowned just i otter 

A duo trout of marvelous size that speckled wonder right, be the waters where you rise

 and green, the banks, you cuddle under.

9:03

Roisin: Isn't that just lovely, wow.

Patrick: I was there the whole time.

Roisin: Thank you for taking that break with me. I really like that poem, it's one of my favorites.

9:11

Patrick: All right guys. Thank you. We are now back, before we go ahead, just want to kind of mention something pretty important here though, George Washington Sears and his writing is certainly historical and important. We of course have to remember that he did not invent the canoe.nor was he the first to canoe in the area.

It was of course the Indigenous peoples of the Adirondacks, the north country and Canada, who invented the canoe.And were using canoes for a very, very long time before George Washington Sears ever came along.

9:49

 Roisin: Thank you Patrick, I think that's so important to mention. But transitioning into our own experiences.What's your most significant memory in a canoe?  

Patrick: what a great question. You know, I've had so many good memories in a canoe, especially from my childhood. It's very hard to select just one, you know? but if I had to, I would say, when I was really young, don't remember too many details, but it was just, I remember the sun was out.It was a nice day, probably springtime. and it was just me, my dad and we were in my grandpa's canoe, that he had just given us, we were kind of like testing it out, you know, in a way and we were just doing some fishing from the canoe. Not much else.And when you're probably five or six, that's like better than Disney world, quite frankly, you know, it doesn't it really doesn't get much, much better than that. So that really sticks out to me and taking a hard left turn, maybe Roisin Would you want to speak about your worst memory in the canoe?

10:54

Roisin: Oh, I'd love to Patrick, and I would like to preface this by saying a majority of my experiences in canoes are more similar to Patrick’s. However, one day I was canoeing around Tupper Lake and there were these rapids, these class four rapids and I take most of the blame. I don't really understand how to j stroke. I'm really great at the C, but I can't really figure out the J stroke at all. And my partner and I, we were just not steering and we completely capsized in these rapids and we hit some knees, we scraped some elbows, we turned our canoe around and we just got right back in it and kept on paddling.and it was definitely a memorable experience, I'm glad and hopeful that it won't happen again 

Patrick: Many such cases, guys, we've all been there. But as you said, I'm glad you highlighted this, the most important part is just getting back in the canoe guys. You know, we've all had those experiences, we've all fallen out of the canoe. We've all gotten soaking wet and we've all been scared to ever go back in a canoe again maybe, maybe not. But the important thing is to just get back in there and get back at it and if you want to know more about canoeing in the region guys, I highly recommend the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake.I've been there, It's a phenomenal exhibit. And you should also check out if you're looking for more information about the indigenous side, you should check out the Haudenosaunee canoeing journey. It's a much more comprehensive, in depth, history of indigenous canoeing in the region.

12:34

Roisin:   Great suggestions, Patrick, and if you're in the area from May 5th to May 7th, I would totally recommend coming down to the 61st canoe weekend of the Rushton memorial canoe race held right here in Canton, New york. We'll put a link on the nature of North website, totally recommend you come by, watch out some fun canoe races.

and while you're at it, explore waterways near you.

You never know where you might end up.

13:01

Patrick: Well, as a proud canoeing enthusiast myself, I'm definitely going to be at the Rushton Memorial Canoe Race. I cannot think of anything more fun than that.

Roisin:  I'll see you there, Patrick.

13:14

Patrick:  Well guys, you know, thank you so much for joining us on another episode of Naturally Speaking.

Roisin: we hope you enjoyed it and as always 

Both: get up and get outdoors with Nature Up North