River trip a great ride
The Ingersoll Times
Jim Bender - Woodstock
Wednesday June 21, 2006
On Sat., June 17, my family and I took a canoe trip down the
Thames River from below the Pittock dam to Beachville.
Perhaps it wasn’t the far north, or shooting the Ottawa River, but it sure was
spectacular in almost every possible way!
The weather was beautiful, and although it was muggy, we couldn’t have picked
a better day. The trees around the river provided great shelter from the sun,
and the cool breeze sliding across the top of the river, smacked us straight in
the face, keeping us cool all day.
The wildlife in the area was amazing. There were ducks, geese, woodpeckers,
beavers, and a huge buck standing in the middle of the river when we came around
a bend. A large blue heron circled us several times, landed near us and caught
fish within our sight. It was a like a vision from the prehistoric. The heron is
astounding in its natural surroundings.
When we approached too close to some of the ducks, they feigned injury (I really
thought there was a crowd of ducks with broken wings!) in order to protect their
young ones. It worked, we followed the fake injured birds, and suddenly seven or
eight little ones charged across the water out of our range and then the
supposedly injured duck, just flew away. Wow, what an amazing experience! I
didn’t realize how ingenious these ducks were! It was a truly stunning canoe
ride, even though the water seemed so shallow, which resulted in many portages
around large debris buildups.
The saddest part of the day was seeing the hundreds of car, truck and tractor
tires, hot water heaters, air tanks, even a 16 foot boat, with the bottom
smashed out, and just a general collection of refuse that I suppose has built up
over the years. Some of the tires looked like they were 50 years old, and
probably were. Some of the tractor tires looked pretty recent.
It’s amazing, right here in Oxford County, we have such a cornucopia of
wildlife and water ways to support them. These rivers are like little highways
to our local wildlife and fish population.
I found it shocking to see so much garbage here, in the water that we rely on. I
find it even more shocking that this mess has obviously been here for years.
Godivas