Rocking and Partying on the River May 31

We were now on the Williams River and hoping that after the confluence, more water would make for more running of the rapids and less lining. Indeed there were some nice little runs, but the water levels were still low and lining was frequent. The hard work was reflected in the generally horizontal posture at lunch.

This look upriver at our canoes and lunch site shows the devastation that a

fire had wrought on the boreal forest a decade earlier.

Ginny found us another great campsite although the access was on the vertical side. Once everything was hauled up the bench, it was a great place to tent and to celebrate Tim's 28th birthday. The lemon cheesecakes were courtesy of Kate and Mike L. and the birthday candle was dug out of John and Ginny's emergency supplies.

After supper, Peter and Ginny hiked north and were rewarded with their first view of some really big dunes.

Carswell River, Water on the Rocks May 30, 2011

Our morning started on a tiny stream connecting Carswell Lake to a smaller unnamed lake to the north. A short while later, we left the lakes behind and began to navigate the river. The water was low resulting in rocks - big ones, small ones, rounded ones, sharp ones. Rocks to be avoided, scudded over and lined through.

The day finished with a long tiring lining. Ginny and John finished first and found us a great campsite on a beautiful island at the confluence of the William and Carswell Rivers.

The site soon became one rather extensive drying rack for wet clothing from all that lining.

Another super supper ensued.

Cruising Carswell May 29, 2011

Our objective for the first day on the water was to have most of Carswell Lake south of us by the time we camped that evening, so after a little paring down of equipment, we were up and on the lake early.

Mike S. was quick on the pick up when it came to the solo canoe - not an easy task given the moderate cross-winds when not in the lee along the northwest shore.

We had lunch on an large island in the middle of Carswell Lake. We shared it with a sow and her cubs. Both parties kept their distance.

Later in the afternoon, we experienced some confusion and disagreement as to the location of the exit from the lake...

As we searched, the wind rose significantly, and three of our boats had an encounter with a small waterspout/whirlwind. It was strong enough to turn one of the canoes and Kate's pink tuque was spun off her head. Eventually Mike's GPS came through and we carried on through a series of narrows and openings.

When we got into these calmer waters, Mike S. tried his luck fishing and caught two lake trout both deemed too big for supper and thus released.

We managed to put in more than 27 kilometres before we camped for the night along an active game trail on a narrow isthmus of land that separated a small northern section of the lake from the main body.

Here we enjoyed another gourmet meal complete with beer, wine, a brilliant coleslaw made with two kinds of cabbage, peppers, and a delicious assortment of fruit.

There was plenty of evidence of bears in the site, so those who set up tents in the "burbs" at each end of our elongated encampment armed themselves with metal lids and spoons. All slept undisturbed, however.

Surviving the Semchuk May 28, 2011

The next morning we were up by 5:30, anxious to make deadline of 6:00 p.m. for getting to the Cluff Lake Mine site. We needed an employee escort to cross three kilometres of road that crosses the north end of the mine site. And they go off-shift at 6:00.

We packed and ate quickly, spurred on by a very healthy and voracious mosquito population. Our little convoy of three vehicles headed back through Green Lake and then north, passing near Beauval where we stopped to refuel and learned with some alarm that after leaving La Loche, there would be no place to refuel for the 270 km. north of that community and the 270 km. back. The 540 km. was way out of the range for John and Ginny's truck and dicey for ours even with a 5 gal jerry can of gasoline. At the Beauval station, they had only one small jerry can, but we were assured that we would be able to buy more at the Northern or Home Hardware in Buffalo Narrows, so we trekked on.

We arrived in Buffalo at 9:30 to find both stores closed. The only action seemed to centre

around a large aluminum-sided building called The Snack Shack. While John and Peter went to chat up the local constabulary to glean all possible information regarding the Semchuk Trail and refueling possibilities, some of us decided to explore that story behind a super-sized snack shack. It turned out that it did indeed offer quite a wide variety of snacks, but was also a full grocery store and offered a variety of other wares- including fishing gear, DVDs, a huge assortment of bug sprays, and several pair of orange coveralls. There were no jerry cans, however. Undaunted, our crew decided to fill in a few other gaps in their packing emerging with three travel mugs, a flashlight, a toothbrush and a supply of toilet paper.

At around ten o'clock, the aforementioned Northern and Home Hardware stores opened and yielded a collection of nine jerry cans in two sizes. While these were being filled at a local gas station, Peter followed a very helpful local resident who was interested in our adventure to meet the owner of a fishing camp on Carswell Lake. This turned out to be very fortuitous as we got permission to park our trucks at the camp.

Thus reprovisioned, we headed north again to La Loche location of the infamous 19 km Methy Portage that was a critical part of the fur trade route. For those who want to know more check out http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/portage_la_loche.html.

In La Loche, we refueled one last time before turning north again up the Semchuk Trail - a winter road created to take supplies to Uranium City and now maintained (sort of) up to Carswell Lake. We had been warned that the road was very rough and that we should have multiple spares for each vehicle. The trail lived up to its reputation - 270 of rough gravel punctuated by sharp protruding rocks, bone-jarring "rough spots" and patches of soft sand that periodically threatened to pull us off the road and into assorted roadside water bodies or deep ditches. We averaged less than 60 km per hour for the first 150 km and even less on the balance of the road. We DID however, arrive at the mine site by 5:00, phoned the mine staff and were escorted over three kilometres of quite decent road . On the other side was about a twenty-minute ride to the south end of Carswell Lake on a road which compared to the first 240 km seemed fabulous.

We stopped first at a campsite comprised of several wall tents, an over-sized generator, a karaoke machine, a liquor board store supply of alcohol, and several over-sized trucks bearing Alberta plates. We sauntered down the road a little and found the fishing camp where we were to leave our trucks. It had been badly ransacked by bears, but otherwise seemed a pretty spot. We returned to our vehicles and met the Alberta fishermen who turned out to be very generous giving us several pounds of fresh pickerel with which to supplement our already lavish supper of moose tenderloins, boiled potatoes, corn on the cob and salad.

Green Lake Rendezvous May 27, 2011

Brenda flew in from Ottawa and Kate & Mike from Vancouver. All three arrived in Saskatoon on Thursday evening and we (the three imports, Peter, Tim & I set off for Green Lake on Friday just after lunch. Bears, deer and moose en route added entertainment as did our supper stop. We indulged in "Indian Tacos" (beef tacos on bannock) and beaver tails at a little cafe with a very limited menu (Indian Tacos, cheese sandwiches, beaver tails, and coffee) in a converted railway station in Green Lake. Part museum, the old converted station and its proud owners shared stories of Métis culture and history in the area.

Then it was off to the Fink ranch, a few kilometres down the road. An hour later, the Alberta contingent - John & Ginny and Mike S. - rolled in.

We camped in the farmyard together with four cats and three rather portly canines.