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Clinton News-Record, 1987-12-09, Page 21RECREEITIO M linton News -Record IV:011114MATI MAT1IF: [ 1A sTASPARI TOWRA$'iIY.I,6MI(Ae''S WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1987 SECOND SECTION Clinton. man paddles 'gti(1 miles By David Emslie For many people, a summer vacation night consist of camping trip, or a nice .elaxing stay at a resort of their choice. This was not true of Doug Rhude of ani- on though, as he embarked on a canoe trip of approximately 280 miles down the Nahanni River in the North West Territories. Mr. Rhude explained they started plann- ng for their July trip in December of 1986 vhen he was approached by Bill Rowe and 3ruce Brogden. As neither of these two )addlers was terribly experienced at white water paddling, they asked Mr. Rhude to :ome along. "They were determined they wanted to ;o. We booked the plane, and looked for more people," Mr. Rhude said. The next to join the group was Jerry Plum, a gentleman who hadn't paddled in a number of years. The last to enlist were Gwen McKinnon and Dave Grant from the London Canoe Club, an organization Mr. Rhude also belongs to. "They were pretty well committed by March. We had our six people," said Mr. Rhude, adding that six was the ideal number economically as the plane they had to take held six people and three canoes. Before embarking on their trip, the group had to gather the proper equipment. As most were relatively seasoned canoers, not too much new equipment had to be bought. Sorne items such as dry packs and clothing to keep the paddlers dry and warm were purchased though. "We needed something for the extreme cold of the water, we needed some protec- tion," Mr. Rhude said of some of their new equipment. Also taken along on the trip were special white water canoes, made from ABS plastic, which were designed to maneuver well and to carry a lot of weight. Enough food for 21 days was packed in one day portions. Those carrying the food on any given day were also the designated cooks for the day. Rather than taking along canned or packaged food, the paddlers went with mostly bulk foods. "We took lentils, pastas, flour. We had a lot of good spices. It (food) wasn't drab at all," Mr. Rhude said. To help in the preparation of this food a little oven was taken along, and the group was able to bake such food as bread, snack cakes and cookies. Mr. Rhude commented, "One of the en- joyable parts of the trip was seeing who baked the best bread." Lightweight nylon tents and a large tarp rounded out their list of supplies. After packing up all of their gear, the group took off for Fort Simpson at 2 a.m. on July 18. While they were expecting to leave in the morning, after getting all packed they decided to take off that night. This first part of their trip, taken in a t, The paddlers' trip was a very scenic one as they travelled down the Nahanni River. In this photo is Rabbit Kettle Lake. van, lasted about 70 hours. Crossing the border at Detroit, they came back into Canada near Alberta, and headed straight up to Fort Simpson. In Fort Simpson a hired plane was load- ed with all of their gear and canoes, and the group flew to Moose Ponds, the head- waters of the Nahanni River. The river, which starts up in the Rocky Mountains, is named from an Indian word which means "people over there." Mr. Rhude explained they wanted to start at the headwaters of the river because the most exciting rapids, called the Rock Gardens, begin there. "We really wanted to go up there to do the white water. That was close to 70 or 80 miles. It was a real highlight," he said, ad- ding that they ran most of the rapids, but in one area there were just too many rocks. Although the most exciting rapids were run during the first 70 or 80 miles of their trip, the rest of the trip did not prove to be anti -climactic. For one thing, the paddlers had to con- tend with very different daylight hours. Mr. Rhude noted, "About midnight, it was reasonably dark, and by about 3 o'clock, it started getting light again." With the different daylight hours, the group discovered that 'the temperatures got the hottest around 6 p.m. Aside from paddling, they also found some very nice places to hike along the way. One such area was Mount Wilson, which proved to be a fairly difficult hike because there were no paths, and they didn't know if they would end up sliding back down the mountain. Another hike took them up Sun Blood Mountain, where they could look down on Virginia Falls. These falls are approx- imately 90 metres high, twice the height of Niagara Falls. "There are hikes all the way along. That's why I'd like to do it again, just to do some of the things we didn't do," Mr. Rhude commented. The wildlife along the way also added to the group's enjoyment of the trip. Five bears were sighted by the group, with four black bears and one grizzly being spotted. In fact, one morning they woke up to find bear tracks going right through their camp sight. Two moose were also sighted, along with an elk, some dall sheep, a couple of beavers and a bald eagle at its nest, which held baby eagles. One other piece of nature the group en- joyed were the hot springs. Mr. Rhude pointed out that it was nice to finally have a bath in the springs after being out for six days. While the trip had many good high points for the paddlers, there was also one .tense moment when Mr. Rowe and Mr. Brogden dumped in a fast moving area where there was a log island in the middle. "The canoe upset, and the water was for- cing them under. They both got out, for- tunately. I was scared, I was really scared. That was the worst part. That was the most tense part." The same pair also dumped in some rapids, but their companions threw them ropes and got them out. Without pushing themselves to hard, the paddlers completed their trip in 16 days. They had allowed themselves 21 days to finish. Averaging approximately 20 miles a day, the most they travelled in one day was probably 40 miles, Mr. Rhude said. He summed up his feelings for the journey when he stated, "It was a pretty good trip; pretty spectacular." Compared to a regular vacation, Mr. Rhude said their trip was probably cheaper. While they were gone for over three weeks, it cost each member of the expedition only $1,100. "We really did well. I haven't heard of anyone doing it as cheaply," he said. Although it was an enjoyable trip, they were glad to get home when it was all done. "We had enough. By the last few days, by the time we hit the last ranger station, we had 40 miles of flat water. I was glad to get it over with," he stated. However, Mr. Rhude is planning to make the trip again. "I'm definitey going to do it again sometime," he said, adding that he has applied to a company that guides tours through the area. In order to join the Trail Head company, Mr. Rhude will be taking one more trip down the Nahanni, and then he will have to be licenced by the park. "I think it would be great to do it again," he said. A hike to Rabbit Kettle Lake was one side - trip the paddlers decided to take. They set up their campsite at the lake, which is at the entrance of Nahanni National Park. In the foreground is Jerry Plum, and in they background is Dave Grant (left) and Gwen McKinnon. These rapids, known as Lafferty's Riffle, were in one of the ca- nyons cut out of the rock by the Virginia Falls. Paddling here are Bill Rowe and Doug Rhode. Joey MacDonald leads Novice Selects to a win With four goals and two assists, Joey MacDonald led the Clinton Novice Selects to a 9-1 win over Mitchell on December 5. Joey started off Clinton's scoring with only 22 seconds gone in the game. He scored again at the 1:12 mark, then once again at the 6:27 mark of the first to give Clinton a 3-0 lead at the end of one period of play. The shots on goal after one were Clinton 6, Mitchell 6. The Selects carried their good play into the second period as Tyson Miller put one away with just four minutes gone to give Clinton a 9-0 lead. Joey MacDonald assisted on that goal. Less than a minute later Joey scored his fourth goal of the game off an assist from Trevor Burma. The score at the end of the second period was Clinton 5 and Mitchell 2. Clinton had seven shots on net, and Mitchell had two. Clinton's Chad Chipchase was the first to score in the third period with an unassisted marker. Mitchell was finally able to get on the scoreboard at the 6:32 mark of the third period. Clinton's Trevor Buruma was the next one to score, assisted by Joey MacDonald. Then, two minutes later, Jeff Lobb tucked one in. Assisting were Trevor Buruma and Darryl DeRuyter. Just 30 seconds later Clinton's Steven King popped one in. He was assisted by Chad Chipchase. The final score of the game stood at 9-1 in Clinton's favor. Clinton had 16 shots on goal in the third, compared to four from Mitchell. Clinton's goaltender, Matt Wieckowski, gave the team a fine game, allowing only one of 12 shots into the net. The action was intense around the net during the third period of the C Division champion- ship at the Clinton Arena on december 8. The game was won by LMHA out of London by a 24 score over Tavistock. The teams were participating hi the Clinton Optim'ist's 8th An- nual Bantam Tournament. (David Bindle photo) Re dmen start out strong By Jeff Howson The 1987-88 Huron Perth Hockey season has begun and the Central Huron Secon- dary School (CHSS) have come out strong. The team has 11 returning players along with 10 new players this year. Returning are: Jeff McLean, Dan McDougall, Larry Hunking, Dean Laurie, Mike Radford, Jeff„ Jewitt, Drew Allen, Steve Vandendool, Jamie Gibbings, Greg Falconer and Brent Radford. Joining the team this year are: Jason Cox, Jason Fleet, Jim Crawford, Dean Martin, Kriss Snell, Bryan Beattie, Craig Caldwell, Paul Hoggart, Mike Henry and Jeff Weber. Last year's Redmen team was not very successful as their only competition, F.E. Madill, beat them in all six of their games. They were entered in two tournaments and at the one in Kitchener they lost to a strong Toronto school and to Kitchener Collegiate. At the second tournament, held in Wingham, the Redmen won their only game of the season, The outlook for this year has changed, though. The Redmen came out and beat South Huron in two consecutive games. The first game, played in Clinton, was won by a 5-4 score. Dean Laurie led the team with two goals, and Larry Hunking had a goal and an assist. The other goal scorers were Jeff McLean and Dean Martin. In their second game of the season, again against the South Huron Panthers, the Redmen came out on top 7-4. Larry Hunking and Dean Martin each scored a pair, while Dean Laurie, Dan McDougall and Jeff Jewitt all had one goal each. Mike Henry played a strong game in net. On December 4 the Redmen travelled to Wingham to play against the F.E. Madill Mustangs. Here the Redmen faced their first loss of the season with an 8-7 defeat. The Redmen came out strong and led 3-0 after the first period, but then their luck changed and Madill came flying back late in the second and in the third period. Clinton's goals were scored by Dean Laurie with two, Dean Martin, Mike Rad- ford, Steve Vandendool, Jeff Jewitt and Jeff McLean. Once again Mike Henry played a very strong game, facing 53 shots. The Redmen won't be playing again un- til after Christmas, but January looks busy for them as they are entered in two tour- naments. They will be playing in London on January 16 and 17, and in Wingham on January 28 and 29. Pee Wees notch four victories On November 26 the Clinton Pee Wees toppled Mitchell Hawks 6-4. Clinton opened up the scoring in the first period at the 1:49 mark when Rob Consitt found Lee Gibbings in front of the net for a beautiful tip in goal. At 8:53 Shawn Chipchase made it 2-0 when his blast eluded the outstretched arm of the Mitchell goalie. The play started when Jason Carter passed to Mark Liver- more in the corner, who then fed Chip - chase in the slot area for the booming shot. Goals by Mitchell's Jody Eidt and Mike Hodgert knotted the score at 2-2 in the se- cond stanza. But late in the period, with on- ly 36 seconds showing on the clock, Clin- ton's Mark Livermore scored on a scram- ble in front of the net. Scott Rathwell drew the only assist on the play. In the third period, Rob Consitt's breakaway goal at 1:54 gave Clinton a 4-2 advantage. He broke away at centre ice and put a beautiful deke on the goalie. As the period wound down Mitchell tied the game at 4-4 with two minutes left as they scored two goals within a span of one minute. As they had done a couple of other times this year, the local boys bounced back and Rob Consitt's second goal of the game, with 1:13 left, proved to be the winner. Scott Jewitt deserved full credit on the play as his long lead pass found Consitt in the clear for the goal. With 10 seconds left in the game. Scott Jewitt put the icing on the cake as he con- verted a Jason Carter pass from close in. Clinton's goalie, Derek Hoggarth, jplayed a very strong game in goal even though he was beaten four times. Clinton 6 - Lucknow 2 On Novernber 27 Clinton travelled to Lucknow to play an exhibition game against the northern crew. The gaine was rugged at times, withlots of solid body - checking, but Clinton downed Lucknow 6-2. Goalie David lo7ahrgang turned in a stellar performance between the pipes. In the first period Lucknow struck very quickly as Chris Stevenson scored with on- ly 14 seconds gone. Clinton's Scott Jewitt got that one back at 2:21 as he combined on some beautiful passing with linernates Danny Wildfong and Mark Livermore. Before the first period ended Stevenson restored Lucknow's lead at 2-1. In the second period Mark King's blue line shot was tipped in by Shawn Chip - chase at 6:01 to tie the score at 2-2. A minute later Scott Jewitt gave Clinton a 3-2 lead when he went in all alone from centre ice to deke the goalie. Mark Liver- more's long'lead cross ice pass had found Jewitt in the clear for the break away. Turn to page 2A