Day 1, Thursday,
June 15
Getting there
Mike has a large trailer fitted with a box and with racks for canoes above. Equipment can be carried in the box, but it tends to wet (or dusty) and dirty so packing it in the car is preferable, except for the passenger room it takes up. Warren, Brent, Mike, Darryl and Jason arrived from Saskatoon at Neis Beach at 2 pm, in Brent's Dodge Ram towing Mike’s trailer with Brent’s canoe on top. For the rest of the trip we would use the extra accommodation of Peter's Caprice Wagon. The Caprice is a classic 'full size' American V8 car, with towing capability and up to 8 seats. We ate a quick sausage and beer lunch while packing all the baggage into the rear of the Caprice (we traveled with six people in the two front seats) loaded Warren’s and Peter’s canoes on the trailer and hitched it up. We left Neis at about 3 pm for La Ronge.
We gassed up, as usual, at the Mohawk station in Air Ronge, (fishing licenses for residents were now $25, but included free sunglasses!), then stopped at the A&W for a hamburger dinner. These were eaten in a huge rush, Brent attempting to swallow all of his during the 50 foot walk back to the car. We continued for about 27 km to the put in on Nemeiben Lake, unloaded the Caprice and unhitched the trailer. We had previously experienced a significant problem in some parts of the north with parked cars being vandalized, so we always try to leave the cars in a reliable place. For this trip we would leave the car with Ric’s Churchill River Canoe Outfitters at Missinipe, at the end of our trip. However, this was 60 km away from our put in point so Peter and Brent made the shuttle run to Missinipe and were driven back by Ric’s shuttler (a summer intern -sorry didn't get his name!). The road is primarily an access to a remote northern uranium mine, and at the start has a sign 'Caution, Large trucks next 406 km' - the trucks are large, 30 wheelers, and travel fast on the rather narrow gravel road. Cars usually collect a few more stone chips.
The rest of the party spent their two free hours loading up the canoes and psyching up for a cool paddle into strong headwinds. The skies threatened rain, but it never materialized. A good half hour of entertainment was provided by a fisherman who was attempting to get his boat out of the water and up onto his trailer. When the shuttle party returned, we hitched up the trailer and the intern and Caprice left.
The Start
We started
paddling at 7.30 pm, with high hopes of making 10 kilometers and maybe more.
But the dark skies made it seem later than it really was.
From the Government campground on Nemeiben
Lake, the route follows a generally northerly direction up North and Bague Bays
to the first of the ‘Six Portages’ to the Churchill River.
Frequent reference to map and compass is advised to avoid getting lost on
this large lake.
Brent charged ahead showing a fine disregard for this last piece of
advice. Once out of the initial
little bay, he was forging ahead to the west, and we soon had to whistle him
back from an excursion to the wrong side of Stewart
Peninsula. In fact, we had 25 kilometers of northward travel to do first
before turning west! Paddling to the north was
hard against a stiff head wind, so we stopped at 8.30 pm after a mere hour of
paddling. We found a nice campsite
on ‘Check Mark Island’ (km 5).
Although we had had dinner at the A&W, and everyone had agreed that this would be the evening meal, no one could resist snacks of Brent’s beef jerky, and an initial libation (for the four drinking members of the party) of four ounces of rye whisky each. Peter spilled some of his rye but was allowed an extra ration. Peter said he spilled the rye on purpose to appease the rain gods. Mike also took an extra ration but he appeared to regret this the next morning. Lesson learned: Always plan a meal for every evening, even if you expect to have just eaten.