Canoe Trip revisited

This summer we travelled with two friends, who drive a Versa. Well, this vehicle did well under Ron's direction (and Sandi's nonplussed gaze), until he and the Versa encountered the road, in the state that you see it here. Ron fought the road, and the road won. He parked it on that patch of grass in the left of the photo. Then we drove on with winged Mercury carrying the canoes (you'll meet winged Mercury at the end of this entry), to the put-in point. The journey begins.

The first night on the lake (after a 7 k paddle, a 1 k portage, and a 2 k paddle) was magic. The moon nearly full, the warm fire, the mosquito-free air.

We travelled on then, the next day, heading south and then East. The wind blowing steady, if not a bit too stiffly, in our faces. After 12 ks we landed on the site on which we would spend two nights. Again the nightsky was a spectacle. Only pictures can do a reasonable job of conveying it. Here they are:

The red sky at night brought to us paddling delights as we, on day three, travelled over to the pictograph site on this lake. Ron and Sandi had never seen pictographs. This is a mystical experience. Again, the pictures will say more than I can.

 

Following this we headed over to a beach for a swim and some rock-skipping.

We found some tobacco offerings at the pictographs, so we took some along to the evening campfire.

On day four we headed back West and then North to prepare ourselves for the way out. Well the weather proved interesting. Beautiful and hot first (the cliffs were great too!), then rainy, then rainbowy. Mmmmm. 

We left (day five) before a second ridiculous day of rain would drench the lake (we drove home through rain and wind). We even managed some sailing, to accompany our carrying (Gandalf helped out a lot!).

Then, finally, winged Mercury bore us and our trusty crafts home through the storm. 

Could a Canadian summer end better than this?