Advertisement
Published: September 24th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Woke up today in a whirlwind and only had time to down a cold cup of instant coffee before we were on the lake trying to beat the rain (which we didn't) and the wind (which we didn't) as we made our way back to the Quetico Park entrance. Yep, we're on our way back home. In the rain. The rain did eventually ease up right around the time that we were shooting some rapids (which was real thrilling, actually) so all looked good... UNTIL we hit the Deux Rivieres.
At first it felt like we were in Egypt, canoeing through papyrus plants on the Nile, but then it was like we were in Vietnam—we had to get out of the canoe and trudge through the mud while someone strung the canoe down the leech infested shallow "river," which was really more like just water, muddy muddy water, pooling for a long, curvy sort stretch of land.
And it was hard (!) to walk through that sledge. We sank into the ground a lot further than I would have thought possible and had to keep walking in order to maintain balance. Not falling should have earned an Olympic medal
in Balance. That said, Mom should have earned a gold medal in Comedy for her five minute 'sway... sway... sway... FALL! into the mud and squelch! as she tries to get back up' performance that I very, very luckily got on video. When you weren't sinking or falling or almost falling though, your feet were being shot up by our own Charlie, which was really a combination of weeds that would scrape up your legs and sticks that would impale your feet. It hurt. We didn't have shoes because it was just plain easier to walk in the slop barefoot than with shoes. Mom painfully and yet quite enjoyably demonstrated this fact. We didn't want to ruin pants so our skin and feet were sacrificed in favor of our pride.
We finally got past the three beaver dams that were the root cause of the dry river. One had broken and therefore ruined the water retention system that was supposed to keep water levels high. And man, was I thankful for them holding back the water in order to make paddling feasible. I was a little let down we didn't see a moose after we got past Deux Rivieres,
especially after these two guys we met at the second (and worst to cross) beaver dam who told us they saw the same moose and calf we saw yesterday. I actually do remember seeing them around the lake yesterday when I thought about it. They got to see the moose for 20 minutes and got a lot of pictures up real close! Ah!! Regret, regret...
The rest of the day, after our muddy adventure on the Deux Riviere, was pretty standard. Two portages, a sun burn, and several a capella Beatles/Zeppelin/INXS/Toto songs sung by yours truly later, we arrived back on Pickerel Lake and found a suitable last campsite. It was again a pretty standard evening—freeze dried supper, freeze dried dessert, wash in the lake and relax for an hour before falling asleep one more time on hard rock and, by now, gross and damp and Deux Riviere muddy clothing wad pillow. Oh.. home, I miss you. Dozens of pillows... I miss you.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.177s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 28; qc: 111; dbt: 0.1238s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Sarah
non-member comment
http://grillsblog.com
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often. Sarah http://grillsblog.com