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).
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).