Churchill River Saskatchewan canoe trip: August 13, 2007

Day 2

We awoke to rain and cooked our fish and eggs under the tarp. We had no choice but to pack up wet. In spite of the rain, we were thrilled to see a group of American White Pelicans across from our landing. We set off, briefly heading south, to try and locate a reported eagle’s nest. As the rain intensified, binoculars and camera were of no use. Frustrated, we gave up looking for the nest, and turned north-east on our route. Barbara did risk a quick photo of the pelicans.

The rain slacked off a bit as we stoically paddled onwards. Imagine our surprise when we were hailed from behind. Judy & Gord from Saskatoon overtook us and chatted for a while. They seemed a nice couple, so we paddled together for a while until lunch time. They had started before us, getting dropped off by their son at Pinehouse Lake. Last night they had camped just upstream of Needle Rapids, and saw our plane come in. We were on the same route and schedule as they were. We found some pictographs together, and then they took off while we photographed eagles.

Silent Rapids was really only a swift. But there were amazing whirlpools. We detoured around a big island to see another set of pictographs. Then we began beautiful Black Bear Island Lake. Route finding through the maze of islands was a challenge. The lack of significant topography made it tough to find our way. We had to stop to use the GPS on several occasions. We had 1:50000 maps, but realized that having a larger scale too would have helped give an overall view.

We made camp after a long paddle on a small unused site that had nice sloping bedrock and a view of the sunset. We made burritos for supper from dried ingredients. Barbara wanted fish, so Bill obliged by catching a small pike on the first cast. Our campsite was at E0451194 N6170696.