#2492 "Snow in the Shade at Jim Day Rapids"

The clear skies in the middle of the blocking ridge of high pressure, allowed the temperatures to drop overnight and create a thick hoar frost. The turkeys were on the run to see if there was any corn to be found for their Sunday morning brunch. 

There was not much snow left. I headed to Jim Day Rapids with my Guerrilla Painter Plein Air Pochade Box. Some patches of snow lingered on the north side of the marble ridge in the shade of the coniferous trees. The was also a bit of ice on the northern shore of Long Reach. 

I did not want to go far and I enjoyed the sounds of the rapids. The excited chatter of the migrating Canada geese filled the air. The wing beats of hooded mergansers and the tapping of woodpeckers provided the beat to the music. I tried to immerse myself in the nature of Jim Day Rapids. It was easy to do. 

British Surveyors almost certainly camped at this very spot back in 1783. Lieutenant Gershom French, led by Native guides scouted the possibilities for settlement along the Gananoque River. His conclusion was as equally bleak as his fellow officer, Captain Justus Sherwood, both sent by governor Frederick Haldimand of Quebec: "From our entrance in the River Gananoncoui to its fall into the St. Lawrence, I did not discover as much good land Conveniently situated as would serve one Farmer." In some reference that I can't place at the moment, there is a accurate description of camping a point near the rapids of Singleton and then paddling the zigzag path into Red Horse Lake. 

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