The next morning, we scooted our gear down the edge of the bench and set off in the canoes. It was only a few corners until we turned west to see a very tall dune which rose before us straight out of the deep blue river. The juxtaposition of sand and water was made all the more unreal by the thick boreal forest on the other river bank. Paddling slowed or ceased as we all took it all in.
Not long later, we pulled in and set off to explore the dunes. These are an interesting formation which are both the most northerly active sand dunes in the world and the largest active sand dunes in North America. On the dunes we found the characteristic wind sculpted 3-sided rocks, some very tenacious plants and lots of evidence of caribou including skull, horns and tracks.
If you want to learn more about the dunes use the following link: http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/athabasca_sand_dunes.html
Later, we used the height of the dunes to survey the upcoming challenges of the river.
After careful consideration and planning a combination of running rapids, lining and lifting over two ledges, we were back on the river executing the plan.
Running the rapids....
Waiting for others to run the rapids...
Lining...
Lifting...
Further down the river, we stopped for lunch and took another hike on the dunes.
Later in the afternoon there were more rocks, more ledges. Smoke in the sky interacted with the sun and rocks to produce an unworldly copper sheen on the rocky ledges.
By evening the smell of smoke was noticeable as well, and the sun appeared as a small hot pink ball in the blue grey sky.
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