Portageur.ca(COEC) Paddle Found & Claimed by Jennifer Siren

20 Sep Portageur.ca(COEC) Paddle Found & Claimed by Jennifer Siren

A big paddles up and congratulations to Jennifer Siren for finding and claiming one of the more difficult hidden paddles to find; the Portageur.ca (with The Canadian Outdoor Equipment) Paddle on the French River! Jennifer is not new to the PITPC or paddle-seeking as it turns out, but she is definitely new to the whole paddle-finding thing. Well done, Jennifer! Read Jennifer’s story below.

In 2016 I had made one attempt to find the NovaCraft Canoe Paddle  located on the Noganosh, and we arrived to find that it was already gone.

This year I was determined to find a paddle, so I was following the clues closely  and had fun trying to figure out the clues of paddle locations but due to a grueling schedule  of training and canoe racing over the summer I wasn’t able  to get out to search for the paddles for most of the summer.  But I had to reserved the first weekend in September to go paddle hunting, if there were any paddles still out there.

Over the Labour Day weekend I was with friends and brought a list of all  the clues for all the remaining paddles, we concentrated on the Portageur.ca/COEC paddle as I was fairly confident in the general vicinity of the paddle. Initially I had thought the ‘3 traverses” clue referred to 3 portages, but after  a friend noticed Dry Pine Bay as a place ‘where the pines ne’er wet’, I realized that the 3 traverses were the three bridges (suspension bridge, Highway 69, and the train bridge) that cross the French River, and with the help of friends who are better with numbers we determined  that the paddle was close to Four Mile Island  but not on it. Upon returning to civilization, I saw the fourth clue for the paddle and knew that all we had to do was find the rockface with DONNA written on it.

My paddle partner and sister, Katherine, and I woke up early on the morning of September 8th with one goal in mind, find Donna. We paddled upstream from the French River Supply Post and around Four Mile Island, examining every rock and island looking for Donna. After several chorus’s of Ritchie Valen’s Donna some doubt started to set in. Just as my confidence was beginning to dwindle, there is was. Once we found Donna, we closely investigated all the small islands surrounding the rock and at last there was success.

After a brief celebration we spent the rest of the day debating whether or not we should spend the night in the biting wind before eventually determining that we should after driving several hours to get there.

The next day was lovely and it was a great weekend.

Submitted by Jennifer Siren (via email)

We’re so happy that that Jennifer and her sister were successful in their paddle seeking adventure and had a great weekend while they were “Out There” too. It’s great that they had some help in figuring out the clues with their friends. However, we know that it’s one thing to have an idea of where a hidden PITPC paddle is, but actually finding it is a whole other challenge in itself! There is still only one paddle left as of writing this post, and a pretty great weather forecast for the weekend as well. So what are you waiting for?! Go on and get “Out There” as soon (and for as long) as you can! 

P.S. Donna, if you didn’t actually graffiti your name on the rock like we have assumed, then we apologize to you for calling you a jerk. But we are pretty sure that, if you didn’t do it, then you would probably agree that defacing natural beauty in this way is a jerk thing to do and you really shouldn’t be hanging around with the kind of people who do that sort of thing thinking it would impress you in any way. That said, here are a few photos from this paddle’s hiding trip and the prize pack that Jennifer won:

View from the island

View from the water

Preston and Nancy hiding the paddle

The “Three Traverses”

Boo!

But on a happier note (than the graffiti seen above), see everything Jennifer has won below:

The Portageur.ca/Canadian Outdoor Equipment Co Prize Pack Full List: