September 16 at camp 27, I arise before 4:30 a.m. Although I did not pre-pack, planning to stay another day, I decide to move on. Having more "light" in the nylon tent than the canvas Tent I get dressed and pack sleep gear without artificial light, although working "by feel" sometimes. Then I eat breakfast by candlelight which is the first time ever in the nylon tent, making sure the candle in its (old sardine) can base is well isolated in the middle of the floor. As soon as I exit the tent the blackflies are very bad and it is gloomy, looking like rain. Before getting in the canoe I put on the headnet but the moderate headwind seems to be keeping them away so take it off.
At the outlet of the creek I stop on a small island to don my wading gear and the headnet. I witness a raven dive bombing an osprey, twisting and diving, which eventually drops the fish it is carrying. The raven is just being mean I think because it is doubtful the raven would still be nesting, unless it was hoping the osprey would drop the fish over land where it could eat it. Pleasantly surprised, even though the current is strong, I manage to paddle up the creek, occasionally poling off a shallow edge or the bank. Along the way I put up about 20 ducks together, a few isolated ones and a group of 20 Canada geese. When I reach the inlet of the creek and the upper lake, even though the headwind is now strong, I make good time reaching camp 28 by 11:30 a.m., back to the start point of the trip. Because of the wind I am able to remove the headnet after leaving the creek, but at camp have to put it on again.
Since I will be at this camp several days while Jeanette arranges a possible ride for me and my gear, I set up the canvas Tent. If necessary I would have to try to hitch a ride. A campfire does not deter the blackflies/gnats, but a refreshing bath and a dry shirt seem to help, removing my sweaty odour, attractive to the bugs. I have blackfly/gnat bites all over - legs, crotch, hands, neck - aie! I continue to hear many migrating waterfowl overhead, lots of snow geese.
Camp 28 (old camp 1) is 11 km from previous camp including paddling up the long meandering creek emptying from the upper lake into the large lake.
September 17. When I awake, the trees are dripping on the Tent, after raining hard much of last night. Up at 5:30 a.m. to candlelight, after I hang up the sleep gear, I also hang more wet clothes which I just cannot bear to put on. It is 10℃ and damp so I set up the stove and start it with the drier stovewood, some split kindling and birchbark from the cache I left in June. By 8 a.m. I am eating fresh cinnamon bannock, a mint, Parmesan cheese, bacon crumbles, berries (blueberries and lingonberries from camp 25) and hot water. By 10:30 a.m. a thunderstorm brings lightning, heavy rain and grape-size hail and I do some puzzles by candlelight because it is so dark. At 1:15 p.m., running low on stovewood, I go outside wearing only socks, boots and leather mitts to saw about 20 sticks of wood until it starts really pouring heavy so head back to Tent, with enough fuel for awhile. It is easier to dry bare skin than clothes, and no clothes I on I work faster to keep warm. At 2:20 p.m. I saw more stovewood, hopefully enough for tonight. At 3 p.m., rain has stopped so I dress and search until I find some more birchbark tinder, plus scout out some standing stovewood poles to fell later. I just make it back to the Tent and at 4 p.m. it starts to rain heavy again. At 5:30 p.m. rain has stopped and as arranged during a previous satellite phone call, I check for messages. There are two texts from Jeanette with information that Dave is arranging a ride for me probably for September 21 at 9 a.m. and that I should call again tomorrow for more information. Jeanette has been communicating with Dave back and forth to make arrangements, and this on her birthday, aie! I silently thank them both for all their help. Jeanette does such a good job of tracking forest fires and weather and when necessary helping me out by arranging pickups (to date float planes twice, a motorboat once and now a truck), plus keep the home front. Because temperature has warmed to 14℃, I let the stove die, take down the stovepipes, seal the stovepipe port and burn a mosquito coil with the Tent door closed while I am at the lake shore to make the satellite phone call.
It is sure good that I travelled yesterday. Today with torrential rain and hail it would have been bad. Thanks to the gods for giving me good travel weather. Because the tentative time of pickup is 9 a.m. I think about how I would get my gear the one km to the road in time, and decide the best plan would be to pre-portage as much as possible the evening before. I would still have to carry three loads on Saturday morning after breaking and packing camp. If necessary I could move camp to a site close to the road.
Video of hailstorm with grape-size hailstones mid-morning September 17 that lasts for 10 minutes.
September 18, 5℃ rising to 12℃, gorgeous sunny, stove on all day. Walking about four km, I manage to finally find a good patch of lingonberries and a few crowberries, enough to finish out my stay. There is lots of fresh scat where a bear was also picking berries before me. Late afternoon when I check for messages from Jeanette there is good news that Dave has arranged my pickup for September 21 at 12 noon so I will have lots of time and not need to pre-portage. This way I do not need to worry about leaving my gear untended so close to the road. If for some reason the pickup is cancelled, I can set up camp at the road. Taking a walk to the road, I time the trip so I can calculate when I must leave camp. Finally my foot is much better and I still have no idea why it was sore.
September 19, 0℃ rising to 18℃, stove off after supper. Many snow geese and sandhill cranes fly over throughout the day. There are no messages when I check satellite phone at 5 p.m., no news is good news.
September 20, 3℃ rising to 10℃, stove on, steady heavy rainfall all day and still raining hard when I go to bed at 8 p.m. after pre-packing. Today is my last camp day, which is bittersweet, good to be getting a ride, sad to be leaving the bush, but I will not miss the shortening days, the reduced daylight, more forced time in Tent, more than my usual sleep time of seven hours. There are fresh wolf tracks in the sandy lakeshore. I did see recent bear tracks there when I first arrived, and fresh moose tracks one day the past week. It has been easy to tell the age of tracks because of heavy rain which wipes out any old tracks.
In need of a beard and hair cut after 16 weeks.
September 21, very cloudy, up at 4 a.m. to candlelight for packing sleep gear and eating breakfast. My supplies are getting lower, the "good" items like butter now finished, but I still have almost one week's worth of grub remaining. Because it looks like rain, I cover non-waterproof gear with tarp at camp until I place it under the canoe, the first carry, where I lay it 50 metres from the road. By 9:30 a.m. I have carried all the gear. It is always good to be early, better I wait than my ride wait, or worse leave. At 11:30 a.m. I am eating lunch sitting on a big pile of freshly cut spruce boughs beside a fire in a pit dug in the sandy soil. It sure looks like it might rain. There have been many trucks drive by on the road which is visible from my perch. A big truck slows down and it proves to be my ride half an hour early. He was not completely sure where I would be, but it turns out that he sees my fire, which I kept fairly big because I was burning mostly wet wood.
My gear easily fits into the back of a truck transport for the ride back to my vehicle. This type of transport is a first for me. A big thank-you to Dave for arranging the ride, to my wife Jeanette for interfacing between Dave and I, and to the driver Brian. Brian is the first person I have seen in 16 weeks, so I warn him to tell me to shut-up if I am talking too much. We, or at least I, have a good visit on the drive to where my vehicle is parked. A big thank-you also to Ric for letting me park my vehicle in a secure place for all this time.
(Ric Driediger, Churchill River Canoe Outfitters, http://churchillrivercanoe.com/)
As always I am in a bit of shock in switching from being by myself in the bush and all of a sudden travelling at speed in civilization. In my head I am already planning next year's trip where I hope to be able to take a different route to make my way across the height of land where I had to turn around this year.
My gear easily fits into the back of a truck transport for the ride back to my vehicle. This type of transport is a first for me. A big thank-you to Dave for arranging the ride, to my wife Jeanette for interfacing between Dave and I, and to the driver Brian. Brian is the first person I have seen in 16 weeks, so I warn him to tell me to shut-up if I am talking too much. We, or at least I, have a good visit on the drive to where my vehicle is parked. A big thank-you also to Ric for letting me park my vehicle in a secure place for all this time.
(Ric Driediger, Churchill River Canoe Outfitters, http://churchillrivercanoe.com/)
As always I am in a bit of shock in switching from being by myself in the bush and all of a sudden travelling at speed in civilization. In my head I am already planning next year's trip where I hope to be able to take a different route to make my way across the height of land where I had to turn around this year.