Sun, Aug 26 2007 - Sunday Canoeing: Lake Scugog & Nonquon River (View Original Event Details)
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Hello again everyone! Once again with another Canoe Lake Scugog write-up is me, Justin. I again will be your humble narrator, but this time for the reconstruction of events which took place on Sunday, August 26, 2007, on Lake Scugog....
I arrived early at the Port Perry Marina and had the canoes rented and waiting for the arrival of the rest of the crew. Shortly before 11am Ihsan, Francois and Vika arrived. I can’t thank Ihsan enough for taking on the role as carpool coordinator. He met and drove Francois and Vika from Downsview to Port Perry and saved me a lot of driving. Thanks again Ihsan!
Without further ado, we headed out in the same two canoes I had used on my previous trip on Wednesday, one brown fibreglass one with Vika and myself and the a silver aluminum one with Ihsan and Francois. Since making it to the Nonquon River was a long shot, as evidenced in my first attempt on Wednesday, we decided to head south. Only one issue, we had to go through drainage pipes underneath the busy road on the causeway. So began our adventure.
We arrived at the pipes and found one with enough water to pass through, the only problem was that the pipes sloped half way under the road. We adapted, and laying down in our canoes, we pulled ourselves using our hands as feet “walking” along the pipe’s ceiling. Vika had walked across the road to warn the fisher people on the other side of our endeavour. I don’t think they fully understood as I ran over two fishing lines with bobbers as I exited the other side of the pipe. They weren’t a very talkative bunch, but they did looked surprised when mine, and then Ihsan’s and Francois’ canoe shot out. After annoying the fishers further, by picking up Vika from the shoreline, we continued south to explore marshier side of Lake Scugog, which from the satellite images looked to have some manmade channels.
We explored the open waters, observing several varieties of birds and vegetation. We attempted to go further south to find the open channels, but tall impassable grass had grown in, the low water level of the lake most likely to blame. After seeing our fill of the Scugog Marsh, and not making any headway, we decided to turn back and make an attempt at reaching the Nonquon River.
About halfway back to the pipes, we were approached by a man driving a canoe with a motor and long propeller shaft on the back. He told Francois and Ihsan, and then Vika and myself that we were trespassing on private property and to leave. We promptly apologized, after pointing out the lack of signage to notify persons of the fact, and then continued towards the causeway. I remarked aloud a little later on that the guy must have nothing better do than kick people off, and we wondered how someone could own part of the lake. Having lived in Port Perry for the majority of my life I would have thought stuff like this would be common knowledge. It was very strange to say the least... More on this mystery later.
So we paddled, and paddled and paddled... I recovered a tackle box floating on the surface of the lake. It was encrusted with some kind of mussel and looked like it had been hit by a boat at least once; lake garbage. Around 12:30pm we started to feel really hungry, and we began to search the shoreline for a place to moor for a well deserved lunch break. It took us awhile to find somewhere that didn’t look like a millionaire’s backyard to set ashore, but we found a nice large gravelly looking outcropping near some small trees that seemed far enough from the nearest house to suit our purposes.
We pulled our canoes up on shore and began eating our packed lunches. We talked about the mysterious private marsh and wondered what they could be hiding there that they didn’t want us to see, marijuana grow-op? Mass graves? We wondered and pondered aloud for awhile before turning our attention back to deciding where to go to next. We eventually decided to carry on a little further and then cross over to the west side of the lake. Off we went again. I took the front of the canoe this time and showed Vika some basic sterning techniques, which she mastered quickly.
We began crossing the lake, several motor boats cris-crossing our path, giving us some mild waves to contend with. A pontoon plane, which we had seen land earlier, took off. The plane achieved flight long before it passed over us. We continued along the shoreline for a piece, coming across an odd statue on someone’s lawn. It appeared to be several horses with fish tails in the place of a rear end and legs. Very... disturbing... strange, or something.
We came upon the West Shore Marine, where we decided to dock and take a break. We looked around, got a closer look at the before mentioned statue, bought some snacks and I checked to see if they rented canoes, but they didn’t. The Nonquon River would have to wait, it seems, until as such time as canoes could be driven there. We sat on a picnic bench for a few minutes, stretched, and then headed back to the canoes. We journeyed a little farther north, but the Nonquon River still eluded us, always just a little farther away, like a mirage of an oasis in the desert.
Just as we started to head back one of the darker clouds above us dropped its load of light rain. Within half an hour it had stopped and the sun started to bake us. Francois and Ihsan had by this time become a paddling team and left Vika and myself far behind. Being in the bow of the canoe was harder than sterning for me at least, but I was working some underused muscle groups in the shoulders.
By the time we returned to the Port Perry Marina at 3:30pm, we had mostly dried out from the rain. We turned in our canoes and recovered tackle box and headed to my favourite restaurant in Port Perry; The Jester’s Court. Legend has it that the restaurant is haunted, with numerous ghost sightings in recent times. I recommended that everyone try the Honey Walnut Chicken Salad Sandwich, my personal favourite (toasted bread spread with cream cheese, add some walnuts, honey and chicken salad with some lettuce and tomato. I’m getting hungry just describing for you...). Vika, Francois, and Ihsan took me up on the offer and they all tried it. I didn’t order anything as I would be back later that evening to celebrate my father’s birthday (I had the Honey Walnut Chicken Salad Sandwich in case you were wondering).
After our meals we parted ways, with the promise that I would investigate the mystery of the private part of Lake Scugog. I did, and I came across a website with all the mysterious details. Lake Scugog is mostly artifical in nature, owing in large part to a dam out neat Lindsay. Well, back in the day, the 1870s, some people got together and decided to work out a deal to drain the wetlands and reclaim the land. To make a long story short, the plan fell though (government red tape, money and politics to blame) and the group sold the marsh to a mysterious syndicate of wealthy persons. This Syndicate, known as the Cartwright Land and Investment Company, built a clubhouse and hired a full time caretaker to kick trespassers off of the property. To this day there still is a clubhouse and a caretaker (whom we met in person!) and most likely mysterious wealthy personages who come to hunt on this large area of private lake and marshland. To think, I hadn’t even known about this mysterious history in my own backyard until this TOC adventure!
UPDATE: No trespassing signs have been put up in the water in front of the pipes. All thanks to our helpful suggestions, awww...
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