Weekly Grub Menu for 2017

I can typically take enough grub for three months.  All grocery supplies are off-the-shelf items.

I drink hot water alone with supper, and cold or hot water for other meals.  Water is sterilized by boiling for one minute or by a filtration system. The latter removes bacteria and parasites (but not viruses).

Breakfast - 5 days:
scotch mint
protein bar 72g (30g protein)
seed mixture 1/4c (hemp hulled, chia, buckwheat toasted, pumpkin hulled roasted salted)
vitamins

Breakfast - 2 days:
scotch mint
1/2 hot cinnamon bannock (See below.)
grated Parmesan cheese 1/4c
real bacon crumbled 1/4c
vitamins


Lunch - 5 days:
scotch mint
1/2 cold bannock  (See below.)
peanut butter smooth 1tbsp
almonds roasted salted 1/4c
Mini Babybel™ cheese 20g (stores well in its wax cover unrefrigerated)
gum

Lunch - 2 days:
scotch mint
1/2 cold cinnamon bannock
almonds roasted salted 1/4c
granola bar Nature Valley™ 35g
Mini Babybel™ cheese 20g
gum

Lunch - 1 day treat:
Skor™ chocolate bar 39g


Supper - daily:
scotch mint
Dairy Milk™ chocolate bar 42g
fresh salad (alder or birch leaves/catkins, or fireweed)
   (with sugar 1tbsp, lemon pepper seasoning 1tsp, grated Parmesan cheese 1/4c)
fresh fruit if available 1c
   (blueberries, lingonberries, bunchberries, red currants, raspberries, cloudberries, rose hips, Saskatoon berries, pin cherries, crowberries, bilberries)

Supper - 5 days:
macaroni and real cheese 2c (Kraft™ Deluxe Four Cheese or Original Cheddar 400g)
OR both of the following
potato flakes 1c, or bulgur, whole wheat couscous or orzo 2/3c (plus nutritional yeast 1tbsp, chicken soup mix 1tbsp, and butter 2tbsp)
sardines 106g, herring 100g or canned meat 85g portion (corned beef or Holiday™ Luncheon)

Supper - 2 days:
stuffing mix 120g with butter 2tbsp, or oriental noodles 170g
PLUS one of the following
fish coated (cornmeal 1/8c, Montreal steak spice 1tbsp), fried in Crisco™ shortening (1/2lb saved and used over a period of two weeks)
OR
fish diced, boiled and added to the noodles (or to the potato flakes)
OR
small game (roasted over coals, or meat sliced and sautéed in shortening 1tbsp)



Bannock:
2c premixed before the trip (flour 1c, skim milk powder 1/4c, dark toasted wheat germ 2tbsp, white wheat bran 2tbsp, baking powder 2tsp, salt 1/2tsp, sugar 1tsp, Crisco™ shortening 4tbsp)
PLUS 1/4c each of cornmeal and dried currants

Cinnamon bannock:
premixed bannock PLUS 1/4c each of cornmeal, rolled oats and couscous

The dough is split into two layers, between which is added raisins 1/4c, cinnamon 1tbsp, brown sugar 1/4c, butter 3oz (3/8c).  A large tart is formed and then baked in Dutch oven.

Central and East Central Saskatchewan 2016 Overview

My 2016 canoeing season stretched from May 8 to September 9, a total of 18 weeks.  I camped at different sites 36 times, the shortest stay being two days, the longest eight.  The original plan was to canoe until mid-October, but had to cut it short because of a run-in with bad water.

Distance canoed was 477 km in Central Saskatchewan, the first three months in the centre area, with the remainder on the east side where I met up with my son for 10 days.  The country is in the Canadian Shield, which is exposed rock covered with a thin layer of soil but with lots of bare outcrops and low areas of muskeg.  This is boreal forest with the most common trees being jack pine, black spruce, white birch, balsam fir, tamarack, alder, willow and some poplar.  Various sections of bush get ravaged by forest fire each year, so associated smoke is common even if from a distant fire.  There are locations still black and burned to the rock, through every stage of regrowth up to old growth forest.  In the centre area I came across fly-in fishing lodges several times and the associated people.  On the east side I did not see anybody, but many of the trails I used were winter portage routes.  Northern and Central Saskatchewan contain 7% of Canada's fresh water with over 10,000 lakes and innumerable creeks and rivers.  It is said if you canoed your entire life you could not cover it all.  Beautiful beautiful country.

There were 46 portages with a total length of 12,570 metres.  Six portages were virgin ones where I could find no evidence of a previous trail so had to cut my own.  The remainder often needed a lot of clearing to make them passable when portaging gear and canoe.

I ran four rapids totalling 400 metres, but waded 45 rapids and "beaver creeks" with a distance of 6,950 metres.  What I call "beaver creeks" are narrow creeks, often deep, but winding and meandering back and forth, sometimes looping in the reverse direction.  They traverse dense marshy spongy ground, more water than soil, growing tall grass, reeds and brush.  There are dozens of  small beaver dams to be crossed and some taller dams requiring a short portage.  I have to pole, paddle, wade, push, pull, lift, line, tow.  Aie!  In many cases, travelling on a "beaver creek" is more difficult than portaging, which is saying a lot because portaging is not easy.

The food carried was supplemented daily with fresh salad (usually fireweed greens, sometimes birch or alder leaves), or later, berries (most commonly lingonberries, blueberries or bunchberries).  Freshly caught fish was eaten at least twice per week, usually northern pike but some walleye.

The most common wildlife seen on a daily basis were bald eagle, common merganser duck,  common raven, American crow, common loon, various gulls, red squirrel.  Seen periodically were Canada goose, Canada jay, ruffed grouse, spruce grouse, various warblers, various sparrows, black-capped chickadee, American robin, various woodpeckers, nuthatch, dark-eyed junco,  red-winged blackbird, common grackle, various ducks (mallard, bufflehead, teal), American white pelican, golden eagle, North American beaver, North American river otter, moose, black bear, various frogs and toads, common garter snake.  Of course more than all these were bugs, biting ones (mosquitoes, blackflies, sandflies, "horse" flies, wasps, bees), but also non-biters (butterflies, grasshoppers, various crawlers).

Central Saskatchewan 2016 Camp 1 (May 9 - 13)

Camp 1, about 13 km from my starting point.

A common merganser nest about 100 metres from shore but very close to my tent.  While fetching firewood I surprised the hen.  Afterwards, I avoided her area hoping she would not abandon the eggs.

Weather turned cold and snowy so I erected the canvas tent.

Central Saskatchewan 2016 Camp 2 (May 14 - 16)

Camp 2, canoeing 25 km from the first camp, a long day.  Typically I consider 16 km on flat water to be a good day.  I stopped to investigate several possible campsites and went farther than planned because recent forest fires had destroyed a lot of the bush, as seen on the opposite shore in the above photos.  There was no ideal campfire spot on this small island but luckily I did not have strong winds or high waves.

Central Saskatchewan 2016 Camp 3 (May 17 - 20)

Camp 3, eight km from previous camp and about one km from the lake outlet where I have to clear portages along a creek to get to the next lake.

The tarp shelter area was littered with winter scat from snowshoe hare (round pellets) and grouse or ptarmigan (long pellets).  My thought was that I would not want to have little kids in tow at this site as they would probably be eating all of this "granola".

A common garter snake living in the boulders beside my campsite would often sun itself during the heat of the day.

A red-tinged sunset from forest fire smoke.  This was one of the few days all season that I detected any evidence of distant forest fires.

There was a lot of very windy, cool weather buffeting my campsite near the lake so I put up the canvas tent inland about 100 metres.

Every waterway has beaver lodges and I saw many beavers.

Much to my consternation there was a very wide, very dirty all-terrain vehicle (ATV) trail where there used to be only a narrow portage, one that probably existed for hundreds of years before such things as motors.  Unfortunately the new trail overrides and erases portions of the old.  The new trail is several kilometres long, much too long for portaging my gear when there are shorter alternatives.  I spent seven hours clearing the four old portages along the creek which empties one lake into another, at times having to make use of the ATV trail.  Local Cree use this trail to ferry motor boats to and from the next lake.

I parked my canoe at the top end of the first uppermost unrunnable rapid and went on by foot to find and clear the canoe portages.

Three examples of areas of the old portages after clearing, much narrower and prettier than the scar that is the ATV trail.  Such typical trails are walking paths.

The five rapids join large pools of water which can be canoed to the next portage.  Different areas along the creek have been burned by forest fires over the years so there are various stages of growth.