Qajaqs

After having such a great time at the 2008 Delmarva Paddlers Retreat we returned in 2009.  What a great opportunity to spend time with lots of interesting and friendly people sharing a common love of Greenland qajaqs.   The pictures speak for themselves, showing lots of people having lots of fun.  The paddlers retreat is camp for grownups, but way more fun than any camp for kids ever was.

Obligatory tower picture

John Pedersen

Alex Pak

Ben Fuller

Dan Segal

Dave Sides

Dave Sides Horsing around:

Dave wasn’t the only one having fun

Will, Greg and John

Dave and Gail

The fun continues….

Young Hunters

Alison and Gail

Karen Marie

I thought I should return to the bog to see what changes had taken place in my absence.  It was a beautiful fall day, a little past peak foliage, but still beautiful.  The young geese had grown into adults and had joined the flock in the annual migration south.  Or, at least, they were pretending to fly south.  The silly geese were making an awful racket, flying in circles around the pond whenever the Great Blue Heron would frighten them.

The Pitcher plants were still there, but most had lost their vibrant colors, or turned red.  The flower stalks had dried and only a few were still standing.  The Sphagnum moss had also turned red in many places.

The beavers had been busy adding more mud to their lodges.

The only flowers left were found on the asters, still blooming in a few places.

There were many cranberry plants, but very few berries.  It was  a little late in the season, after a heavy frost, and many of the berries may have fallen off.

In places where the leaves had fallen off the trees, hidden treasures were revealed

The perimeter of the pond was showing its glory in a blaze of beautiful fall colors

In the following picture the bog is shown in the foreground

Along the shore again

There is another side of kayaking.  No – not the upside down side that many of us are so familiar with.

Kayaking can offer solitude and a way to enjoy the beauty of nature.  Take for instance, a floating bog.  I’ll bet most people have never heard of or been paddling through a floating bog.

Looking at the bog from afar, there is really nothing obviously spectacular about it; nothing that would really draw you in.

If you are the curious type, however, you will be rewarded with much to see.

We’ve all, at least, heard of the carnivorous pitcher plants.  Carnivorous plants  grow in soil with poor nutrients.  They need to get food from somewhere and insects are as good as anything. Bugs fall in and cry out “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”.  Then, the poor little things are digested in a soup of liquid and bacteria held in the bottom on the pitcher.  Yuck.

Here is the base of the Northern pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, growing out of a base of sphagnum moss. It is the only pitcher plant that grows in Massachusetts.  The genus Sarracenia contains 8-10 species, most of which are found in the South Eastern United States.  Sarracenia pupurea is the only one found in cold-temperate regions.   Pitcher plants are threatened by urban development, drainage of habitat and runoff  containing herbicides and agricultural products.

Another group of pitcher plants with a stunning color palette:

Above the base of the plant, grows a beautiful waxy flower on a tall stalk.  It looks like this:

In addition to the pitcher plants, there are little Sundews, Drosera rotundifolia (round-leaved sundew), one of the most widespread species.  These and two other types of sundew can be found in Massachusetts;  Drosera filiformis (thread-leaved sundew) and Drosera intermedia (spatulate-leaved sundew).   They comprise one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants (over 100 species!), and are found worldwide on every continent with the exception of Antarctica.

They catch insects by trapping them in sticky tentacle hairs on the leaves.  Then, the leaf folds around its trapped prey.   The tentacle hairs produce an enzyme and anesthetize the prey before it is dissolved and absorbed by the plant.  Does it remind you of the venus fly trap you may have had when you where a kid?  Look closely and you will see them in the next photo, growing amongst the sphagnum moss.

They are more clearly visible here:

By now you may have noticed that everything is growing out of a base of sphagnum moss.  The living moss is like a big sponge, absorbing many times its weight in water.  Bogs are often drained so the peat moss, the decaying organic matter beneath, can be harvested.  Dried, compressed peat is used as a fuel source to heat homes in Ireland, Scotland, Finland and other countries.  It is also used as a soil amendment due to its ability to hold copious amounts of water.  Perhaps you have purchased peat moss to use in your garden.  Unfortunately, when the bogs are drained to harvest the peat, a valuable habitat is lost that is home to endangered species,  rare plants and animals.   It is estimated that over 90% of bog ecosystems in England and the Southern US have already been destroyed.

A few more sundew (don’t miss the brilliant blue damselflies). These appear to be Drosera intermedia (spatulate-leaved sundew)

and a final closeup:

Depending on the time you happen to go, you might also see the beautiful snake-mouth orchid, Pogonia ophioglossoides.  Of the approximately ten species of the genus Pogonia, ophioglossoides is the  only one found outside of Asia.   Here are two that seem to be enjoying each other’s company.

A few more:

If you are at the bog in the fall, you’ll find wild cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) growing and fruiting amongst the other plants.   The cranberry plant flowers in late June.  It was originally called the craneberry plant by the pilgrims because the flower reminded them of a sandhill crane.  Native Americans used the cranberry for its medicinal and preservative properties.

What would a bog be without the familiar Fragrant Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)?   Did you know that the tubers of the water lily are a favorite food of the North American Beaver?  You’ll often find beaver lodges in areas with dense water lily populations.

The Fragrant Water Lily and the Yellow Pond Lily (Nuphar lutea) are both native to the US.

And one more water lily picture, because they are so photogenic!

I was not the only visitor to the bog.  Here are a few young Canada geese enjoying some time on the water.

That’s it for this trip to the bog; visiting a bunch of little floating islands, all different in their own way, all uniquely beautiful. I’ll be adding more pictures and updating this post as the bog changes through the seasons.

There is a myriad of information on the web if you want to learn more about the unique environment and the importance of bogs.  You can start here for a short, concise article:

http://www.ncenvirothon.org/2009%20Canon%20Envirothon/Aquatics/Wetlands/Bogs.pdf

For a little more detail and information on bogs you can visit in Massachusetts, visit:

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/natural_communities/pdf/bogs_fens_nonforested_acidic_peatlands.pdf

Here’s a good article about Global Issues and the Importance of bogs:

http://www.geog.ubc.ca/richmond/city/ImportanceofBeingaBog.htm

If you ever get the chance to visit one, don’t go too fast or you’ll miss all kinds of wonderful treasures.   There’s nothing like it anywhere else on earth!

On March 21, 2009, members of Walden Qajaq Society arrived at the Waltham YMCA with qajaqs, paddles and tuiliks for members of the North Shore Paddlers Network.  Our plan was to teach them some Greenland skills and get them hooked on Greenland-style kayaking.  We think it worked.  Here are some excerpts from attendees along with some pictures.

From Gillian: “I will have to say I haven’t worked that hard at a pool session since I first started paddling and I forgot how fun it was to learn something new. Will – thank you for your teaching skillz – I got in my boat and next thing I knew you had me upside down and figuring out how to feel my body and boat again – I can’t believe I almost got a hand roll!”

From Judy: “A HUGE thank you to the Walden Qajaq Society for one of the best clinics I’ve ever participated in! They arrived en masse — people and boats and gear (enough for all of us) — and proceeded to share their enthusiasm, skills, and teaching ability with us. The photos Nancy posted show a lot of teaching, a lot of learning, and a lot of fun going on. We all received one-on-one intensive coaching — I really appreciate the time that Nancy, Judy and Dan all spent with me, with the result that I accomplished way more than I’d hoped for and gained a better feeling for the relation between body and boat. I’m seriously tempted to do more …”

From Kevin: “I’ll definitely join the chorus of praise on this one. The session was even better than I had hoped. It looked as if every person in the water was having a great time and I definitely learned a lot from a bunch of great people.”

From Tim: “ Thanks for the pics. I had a TON of fun last night with a great group of people. I hope to do another Greenland skills session with everyone.”

Eureka, I found it! The elusive, perfect rolling qajaq. The one in which you can roll without any encumbrance – a feeling that you are totally free in the water, without even realizing you are in a qajaq. I knew I was looking for a qajaq with a low back deck and low volume overall, plus a good fit with the masik over mid-thighs. I found what I was looking for, but got so much more! The qajaq has a hard bottom (fiberglass over wood) and a soft top, complete with waterproof bulkheads fore and aft with access through small round hatches. It is a very innovative way to built a lightweight, durable qajaq. I am thrilled to have a unique qajaq built by Michael Silvius. I couldn’t be happier! Not only is this a perfect rolling qajaq, it is fun to paddle! Isn’t it pretty?

Scott Lovrien took these pictures:

Carrying a little extra water in the stern are we?

Time for a rescue!  Come here Alex and I’ll show you how it’s done

First we get the water out

Hold her steady while I climb back in

As if you couldn’t tell by the look on his face…..