We woke up early early Saturday morning shivering and speedily consuming our breakfasts, some of us turning our plate of eggs, pancake, and bacon into a sloppy, sticky, taco mess. After a brief lesson on paddling we hopped into the canoes and we were off! The first portage was an intimidating 140 rods and very hilly and rocky. The rest afterwards were much shorter, however our journey went on for quite a long time. After about four hours of paddling and lugging our fat packs through portage after portage we stopped for a delicious lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After the first bite we knew that happiness in that moment WAS peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After lunch we ran into a wee bit of a problem when we found that our destination of Jordan Lake was all full :( But we portaged one more time and paddled into a channel with tall rock faces on both sides. The rocks were streaked with black and orange and after some contemplation we realized that they were remnants of tribal folk paintings. Just around the bend we checked out a few sites but they were either not real sites or they all seemed to be full. Finally we spotted a large rounded smooth boulder on a point out in the distance. We canoed over quickly despite our weariness and checked out the area. It was beautiful and perfect and indeed a legitimate campsite. After scoping on the latrine ;) we settled down and cooked some delicious hot dogs for dinner. That night after we cleaned up from dinner we laid out on the rock face staring up at the
extremely starry night sky. We saw an amazing amount of shooting starts, four or five in just ten minutes. But eventually we grew weary and cold and we ducked into our beds for a (hopefully) warm night in the wilderness.
FUN FACT: Our site was actually a mere four miles from Canada!
Day two, we woke up at the perfect time and ate the most wonderful breakfast, eggs, bacon, and hash browns. After a slow morning we went out in the canoes and did a mapping exercise of an island nearby. We had to canoe around the island slowly drawing the angles and proportions that we saw. When we were finished we compared them to the actual map found that they were not too shabby. Afterwards we headed to a portage nearby and did some much needed botanizing! We did a vegetation inventory, so basically mapping the plants along the path and noting the differences in plants in the higher and lower areas. Our stomaches were aching and we finally realized that it was 3 o clock so we picked up and headed back to our campsite for lunch. After lunch we worked on our Andy Goldsworthy imitation projects, which was to create a land art project. Finally it was too dark and cold to continue so we ate our beef stroganoff and headed to bed for the night.
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| The makings of Ian's project. |
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| Morgan's project. |
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| Ian's vegetation inventory. |
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| The faded paintings. |
Early on the third day we awoke to a frigid morning, and a scrumptious breakfast or french toast. With storm clouds on the horizon and a desire to put away the equipment dry, we broke camp and began our trip to Deception lake. On the way back we met up with Julie's group at a nearby portage. That night Catherine cooked us some Mac and Cheese while the rest of us worked on our water colors; thanks Catherine! Then we prepared ourselves for the fourth day's trip out. On the morning of the fourth day, we wrote one last reflection and made our last attempts at a watercolor. Afterwards, we set out for Snowbank and a ride to a hot shower.
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| Ian's watercolor. |
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| Morgan's watercolor. |
P.S. BIG thanks to Doug for preparing the majority of our meals (and everything else)!
-- Morgan Harty & Ian Clark
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