Rivers of Rainbows

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon friday as we picked up the eldest son from his preschool and as we had nothing particularily pressing we decided to take the boys for a short walk along the trail in the Bowmanville Creek Valley. Valleys 2000 along with Clarington and the local conservation authority got together and installed a paved multi use trail from Highway 2 in the north to Baseline Rd. in the south, about 2 kilometres worth. It is a nice little walk close to home in Bowmanville, and being paved it is great with the youngest in a stroller. About halfway along the trail you come to the Goodyear Dam. Goodyear rubber, which still operates on the east side of the creek once dammed the river for some purpose or another and the dam is still there. On the west side a fish ladder has been installed. As we walked along the trail we saw a few people gathered near the dam watching the river. Fish were jumping at the fish ladder! The Bowmanville Creek is used by Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Coho Salmon and Chinook Salmon. The only one of these that spawn in the spring is the Rainbow Trout. There were a lot of fish attempting to get up the ladder friday. They varied in size from about a foot long to a few giants that looked about three feet long. Watching these fish jump time and again only to be swept back by the strong current makes one marvel at the force driving them upstream. To the right of the fish ladder was evidence of how difficult this journey is for these fish; a half dozen lay dead on the cement shelf of the dam. Every few seconds the sound of a fish colliding with the structure around the ladder could be heard above the noise of the rushing water. Of course I did not have my camera with me!!
Soo.... saturday morning I bundled up Jake(my 4 month old son) in his stroller and went back down to the creek with my camera and tripod to document this wonder of nature, and lo and behold....not one fish was jumping!! So the question is what was different? They were both sunny days and about the same temp. It was less than 24 hours later so I don't think all the trout that were migrating had passed the dam. My best, somewhat uneducated guess is that the time of day makes the difference. Friday 4 pm, Saturday 12 noon. Maybe the angle of the sun doesn't let the fish see what they jumping at? I don't know! Anyways I did take a few photos. It was a nice sunny spring day! I will be back at different times of the day to attempt to figure out this fishy mystery and will report back!

The Goodyear Dam

The entrance to the fish ladder on the left

Dead Rainbows lying on the shelf beside the fishway

Most kids these days may learn about Salmon running upstream to lay their eggs in Science class, but if they are anything like myself, it really didn't impress me until the first time I saw it live. For me, that was on the Humber River in Newfoundland and the fish that were jumping were Atlantic Salmon. Not many will get the chance to travel down east or out west but most of us here in southern Ontario could get in a car on a weekend and drive to one of our local fish ladders to let our children see the show. Kids that learn about the outdoors are the ones who will care about the outdoors and use the outdoors.

The fish ladder at the Goodyear dam is accessible by the trail from either end of the Bowmanville creek trail. This will open a Google map of the valley.There is a parking lot at the south end off Baseline Rd. and one at the north end at the intersection of Highway 2(King St) and Roenigk Dr.
Another good spot to view these fish is at the fish ladder in Port Hope. This ladder is at Corbetts dam on the Ganaraska River. It is accessible from Cavan St just south of where it underpasses the 401.

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Orono Crown Lands

Have you ever driven by a forest that is an old pine plantation with row upon row of Scots pine? Usually there is nothing in the undergrowth and the plantation is basically a monoculture. It is as interesting to walk through as a corn field. There may be a parking area and a sign indicating some facility or other. You drive by without another glance or thought. Such is the case on Taunton Rd. just west of Orono, ON. I see a sign for an Outdoor Education Center and for the Orono Crown Lands, but the trees around it are the monoculture of pine. I have driven by these lands a hundred times and never stopped. However a few weeks back while hiking at Stephen's Gulch a man I met suggested it would be worth visiting. Today I did just that. It was well worth it. I entered the area from the parking lot at the corner of Station St and Ochanski Rd just west of Orono. I walked a couple of hundred feet straight into the forest to the head of the trails. Here were some birdfeeders, and today, there were numerous chickadees, a few siskins, goldfinches, and at least one of each, red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches. In the immediate vicinity I heard blue jays and saw crows as well.

Chickadees at feeder

The trails are quite extensive and have obviously been used for cross country skiing in recent days. With gently rolling topography I can see it would be a very nice place to ski and will definitely be back out in the near future with my skiis. Farther in to the area I saw tracks of a variety of animals including coyotes and deer. Red squirrels chattered at me. The sun was shining bright on the snow and there was very litle wind. All in all it was a beautiful winter afternoon.

Deer Track through the forest

The forested areas are a mix of plantation conifers and deciduous second growth with rolling hills and small streams cutting through the area. This is all part of the Wilmot Creek watershed.



To look at the map at the entrance the area generally runs north south along the creek and is quite extensive with links across a few of the roads. It is large enough so that if you got turned around you might walk for an hour or two before coming out to a road. The main entrance sign had a pocket for trail maps but it was empty today. I would suggest you print one before leaving home. The map is one of the pages in the website run by the Orono Crown Lands trust.


This area looks to be great for mountain biking, hiking, and birding and in the winter skiing and snowshoeing. As it is only ten minutes from my house I will definitely be back!

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Best job in the world

OK so this is shameless self promotion, but here goes! About a month ago Tourism Queensland in Australia advertised for the "best job in the world". Basically they want someone to go and live on the Great Barrier reef and blog about it. I have entered the competition. Here is the link to the site

http://www.islandreefjob.com/applicants/watch/Pl9EQHa2A8Y

Go there and rate me 5 stars
Thanx

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Whitewater Canoe and Kayak Festival

For those readers into whitewater canoeing and kayaking one of the first events of the spring is coming up. M.A.C.K. Fest or the Marmora Area Canoe and Kayak festival is being held this year on April 18 and 19. The Marmora area is blessed with a half dozen rivers, which during the spring runoff provide some exciting whitewater. MACKfest has no competition or anything like that. Basically it is a gathering of whitewater enthusiasts spending the days on the rivers and the evening in entertainment. All the details of the entertainment are not worked out yet, but the website has details about a variety of runs in the area as well as camping info. If you are into whitewater or would like to watch some kayaking check it out. Marmora is about a half hour drive east of Peterborough on Highway 7.

Float your Fanny down the Ganny

On a different but similar vein, another whitewater event that is coming up sooner is this years Float your Fanny down the Ganny. The date for this years run is April 4th. This annual race is a float trip down the Ganaraska river in full spring flood. Canoes, kayaks, bathtubs, anything that floats is welcome. There is a whole class for Crazycraft. After the race check out the town of Port Hope for shopping or dinner. For details on this "race" see the website.