One More Portage, One More Sleep June 5, 2011

The next morning dawned clear and still. But soon Peter noticed an ominous looking cloud building to the northwest. Worried that a storm might prevent us from completing the last few kilometres to the portage to Cantara Lake, it was decided to wake the crew at 5:30 and set off along the shoreline. Perhaps it was the collective drowsiness, but we struggled to find the beginning of the portage. We paddled up and then down the shoreline, eventually stopping at a spot previously used as a campsite. The little path up the hill soon petered out. We bushwacked our way across to Cantara Lake. All of us dreaded the prospect of lugging all our gear across the burnt out forest - like so many thousands of giant charcoal-covered pickup sticks scattered in all directions. It would be an all day ordeal.

The forward party in our trek across to Cantara (John, Ginny and the two Mikes) followed the small lake's shoreline to the north until they came upon the cached fishing boats that we had been told were on the west side of the lake and were to be our rendezvous point with the float plane the following day. There, they discovered the elusive portage - "a superhighway" according to Ginny.  They hiked across it at speed, left their life jackets to mark the entry point on the Athabasca side and then travelled down the beach to share the good news.

We headed off and in short order were on the beach and transporting the canoes and heavy kitchen gear and food across to the Cantara side. The trip notes stated that the portage started with an uphill section. It neglected to say that the uphill section was just a couple of degrees off vertical! Canoes and some gear were pulled up using ropes. After that, it was a relatively flat and easy trek.

That left us with most of the sunny afternoon free. Brenda opted to read; Ginny and I to relax and chat. Peter, John and Mike S relaxed and tried fishing (without success) on Cantara Lake. Meanwhile, the three Intrepids in the group (Mike L, Kate and Tim) wanted to explore the dunes again, so they headed south five to six kilometres along the beach to our campsite of the previous night. There, another expanse of dunes extended to the southern shore of Athabasca. In addition to enjoying the beauty of the lake and the dunes, the three discovered a remarkably clear set of bear prints over our prints at that previous campsite.

That night Ginny, John and Mike S camped on the Cantara side to protect the kitchen site from any marauding bears. The Fretz contingent opted to camp on the Athabasca side in hopes of enjoying a second spectacular sunset over the lake. One last sleep in the wilderness.