Sun, Sand, and Snow June 2, 2011

The next morning John and Peter read about the upcoming river. There were more rapids, more boulder fields and a longish portage according to the trip notes.

Our trip down the river was largely uneventful - a nice run, some lining - until we came to the first ledge. A careful survey of the river led to the conclusion that we had to make a 750-metre portage over the dunes. There were two good-sized ledges and some pretty ugly rocky stretches in between. The sand and heat led to many of us imaging ourselves trekking across the Sahara, the trek made much harder by the soft sand and the rather heavy loads which resulted from our gastronomic tastes. We made multiple trips in stages.

People were inventive. Ginny solved two very different problems - overheating and a huge armful of uncontrollable paddles - by stripping off her shirt and using it to tie the paddles together, yielding them almost manageable.

The portage began and ended with sandy near-verticals. John, Mike and Mike met the latter challenge by partially packing the canoes with gear and sliding them down the sand at the end.

Cross-country trek over, we celebrated its completion with a lunch which included the creation of the Williams River Special- an open-faced sandwich on rye bread, topped with peanut butter, nutella and leftover chocolate pie. I was assured that it was a gastronomic delight. It certainly was a calorie bomb!

More running and lining in the afternoon. At the bottom of one such run we discovered some patches of quicksand! The real thing!

Brenda caught a couple of pictures of Mike S clowning around in it.

We were never in danger of

losing him completely, but he was in very real danger of losing one of his boots. It took a long time and lots of sweat to finally pull it free.

Back on the water, we searched for a good campsite and found one not too far down river. Campsite agreed upon, we laughed and hooted as the warm and somewhat muddy Mike intentionally fell face first into the Williams River. The notoriously water-phobic John followed to everyone's surprise and soon it was a "planking" party as one after another of fully-clothed crew paddled, then laid out full-length in the relatively warm river. Baths, hair washing and laundry followed just before it started to cloud over.

Soon we were putting up tents and a tarp to provide shelter from an increasingly strong and cold wind. Just three hours later, we experienced our first snow flurries.

The campsite was a fascinating one as it was at the interface of the boreal forest and the encroaching dunes. Our "kitchen" was dotted with clumps of pink moccasins just about to bloom. Ginny surrounded each with small vertical branches in an attempt to keep our feet from trampling them.