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Day 4; Monday, September 6
Around 4 in the morning, Warren crawled out to see the sunrise. Morning was cold and windy. We sat around and drank warm coffee to get ourselves moving. The day started getting darker and darker as the clouds moved in.
Breakfast in the cold We left the camp at 09.00 and the rain started. Just a gentle drizzle which no-one really noticed. We ran the fast water to the Ledge. Everone ran this in fine style, almost dry, with Warren instructing from the shore. The novice sternsmen did just fine, although Elaine caused a little bit of a panic when she started out heading for an unrunnable channel. The yells from the shore corrected their course in time.
Elaine and Karen going over the ledge. The weather continued cool and the rain got a little heavier. You don't notice the rain when you have just had 40 gallons of water dumped into your lap! We watched a line of 16 canoes heading for the portage at Mosquito Rapid. This was part of the large group that made Corner Rapids seem so crowded the day before. Warren had decided that our group was capable of running Murray, so we paddled off in a different direction. At the top of Murray, Entrance Rapids, everyone had a chance to learn how to back-paddle through haystacks to avoid getting wet. Everyone was successful here.
Elaine, Rick and Andy backpaddling hard. On the second part of Murray, the other canoes were meant to follow Warren through the rapid and then back paddle out to the safety of a large eddy to avoid getting swept down through the really big part of the rapid, Murray3. Peter and Joan followed, back paddling like mad - and broadsided right into the biggest haystack which gently rolled them over. Peter gulped his usual quota of water, Warren issued several very confusing instructions to the aluminum canoe gang, and then took off in pursuit. The aluminum canoe gang correctly interpreted the instructions ("Stay here", followed by, "What the hell, go on down!") and then successfully navigated all of Murray3 without sinking or capsizing. Meanwhile, Warren and Karen caught up to Peter, Joan and their upside-down canoe as it splooshed through the final haystacks of Murray 2 (with Joan tenderly asking Peter if he was OK - and receiving a choked response). Then, three seconds later they were swept into Murray 3 and proceeded to experience all of the much bigger haystacks of Murray 3, ending in the big whirlpool caused by Murray Falls joining Murrary Rapids. Luckily, Warren managed to catch Peter before he got recirculated.
Joan also avoided getting recirculated. She got her toes around a rock, and was able to hold on to the canoe long enough for Warren to throw her a rope.
Joan hanging onto the rope, bracing against the current. Unless you are doing it on purpose, getting recirculated around and around isn't much fun. First you think you are safe, and then you discover that you are being sucked back into the haystacks again. This can continue for awhile. The aluminum canoe gang went ashore and watched the proceedings. We tipped most of the water out of the canoe, then bailed the rest out. Peter and Joan then changed into drier clothes. There weren't many because most were already being worn because of the cold weather.
We then continued down the final haystacks before Devil Lake, but Peter and Joan pinned broadside on a rock. Joan said ‘What shall we do?’ and Peter answered ‘Wait for Warren’. Warren and Karen soon arrived, expertly eddied out behind the next downstream rock. Warren instructed first Joan and then Peter to get out and stand on the rock upstream of the canoe. He then threw the throw rope (accurately enough to hit Peter on the head), and told them how to let the canoe down on the rope until it was floating below the rock. They then boarded and continued down.
Unfortunately the canoe was pointing upriver when they boarded and their subsequent passage through the remaining haystacks to Devil Lake was messy. Since they were both soaked, Warren said to continue paddling across Devil (into a strong headwind) to keep warm. Meanwhile, Elaine, Rick and Andy had been waiting above the last rapid for the drama to complete. Warren waved them ahead, and then proceeded over the small ledge and into the haystacks. As Warren and Karen watched, they first dipped the one gunwhale under water, then everyone in the canoe recoiled away from the inrushing water, which dipped the other one under water. This continued about 5 times, until the canoe had a miniscule amount of freeboard left. Elaine, at the helm, tried to get the canoe to shore which was only 5 feet away. But it was too late, and the bow of the canoe got swept back into the haystacks. Two more little gunwhale dips, and the canoe slowly and gracefully sank underneath them. Apparently there were comments from the crew: "Can we abandon ship now?". Since they were okay, and there wasn't really any more rapid to go, Karen and Warren took pictures, then threw them a line and dragged them to shore.
Swim Time: the little channel to the right of the big rock is what sank them! Headwinds and rain all the way across Devil Lake. Not good for all the wet people in our group. Eventually, everyone arrived the the portage trail above Otter Rapids. Enthusiasm fior running whitewater was greatly diminished and no-one was willing to go in the stern of a canoe. Warren volunteered to run all the canoes down, one at a time, with or without passengers. That said, people were willing to go in the bow, so a heavy pack was unloaded from each canoe and portaged, just to ensure that as little water as possible was taken on. To get a feel for how the rapid was running, Warren ran his canoe first with Elaine. Uneventful.
Past the ledge. He then went down in Peter’s canoe with Peter in the bow. Another uneventful run except for a 360 degree spin just above the ledge. Warren had accidentally placed the bow into an eddy, which turned the canoe around, so Warren just kept the canoe spinning, "No problem, lots of time" Warren then hiked back up the portage trail a third time to run the aluminum canoe down with Karen.
Yes, there is a canoe down there somewhere. Swimming Otter Rapids is fun. We had originally thought we might do this. Given the weather, and the fact that most people had already been swimming one way or another, no one wanted to swim Otter Rapids. Surprise, surprise. We loaded the canoes and began the 5 km paddle to through Otter Lake to Missinipe.
Leaving Otter Rapids. The paddling started in a strong headwind, and as we rounded the successive points on Otter Lake, the headwind turned into a quartering gale which made it very difficult to steer a course. Peter and Joan led the flotilla into Osprey Wings landing, and Peter strode off for CRCO. Ric had already coupled the trailer and Peter returned with the Caprice. Everyone got their dry clothes out of the car and changed out of their wet clothes, using various pickups and other vehicles to preserve a degree of modesty, all the while slapping mosquitos while hopping on one leg trying to get underpants on. We called Joyce to advise of our schedule and to order dinner. Finally we left Missinipe at 15.00. Everyone declined the traditional ice creams at the Churchill River Trading Post, and the car heater was on full blast. We stopped in La Ronge at Mohawk for gas and snacks (Rick had been cold and wanted to go to a hotel for coffee and soup, but he was out voted, then at Mohawk he spurned hot coffee and chose an icy drink from the refridgerator). We then picked up our Voyageur certificates from the bureau at La Ronge and continued home to Emma Lake via the Anglin Lake road so Andy and Karen could see some Canadian scenery of trees and water.
We didn't look too bad at the end either. We were home at 18.30, welcomed by Joyce, Sandy, Keiran, Max and a dinner of chilli and rice, beer, wine, hot tub, and stories. Joan and Elaine took off for Saskatoon, having to go to work on Tuesday. Unemployed Rick stayed overnight and relaxed. |
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Please send all comments to warren.long@shaw.ca Go to: Warren's CanoeingPages Go to: Warren and Sandy's Home Page |
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