Jonathan R. Schmidt

Grand River Canoe Trip (again)

Growing up in Waterloo Region meant that my dad and I took many canoe trips down the Grand River. Our favourite stretch of river was from Cambridge to Paris. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, before most of the outfitters began serious Grand River outfitting we had the river mostly to ourselves. We also seemed to have the fish all to ourselves. An afternoon trip from Glen Morris to Paris would yield at least a dozen good sized smallmouth bass.
On Sunday dad and I set again for another Grand adventure. Re-living old times we departed from Cambridge, put the bike in the canoe (see past entry for explanation), the fishing rod and paddled until we felt like stopping. In typical Grand River fashion we hopped in and out of the canoe to avoid shallow waters, awed at Great Blue Herons and even caught a few smallmouth bass. Since we weren’t pressed for time we stopped to venture up a coldwater crick flowing into the Grand River. The water was so cold and clear I just wanted to drink it, but didn’t in case of invisible contamination. Overall the day was wonderful and just like old times we had the river pretty much to ourselves. In total we saw a couple canoes, two kayaks and a few fishermen. The sun was shinning, the weather was beautful and it was just me and dad. What a wonderful blessing from God, the Creator of it all.