Day 1
Sunday 08/18
Sharon:
Morning
came and the weather is clear for flying out to our destination, Paull Lake.
As we enjoyed our blueberry pancakes, a guy pulled up to ask if we were
the party to fly out.
Peter: We would need two planes. The larger one was a Twin Otter.
They loaded all three canoes into the Twin Otter on top of each other with all our gear stored inside them.
Brent, Dawnna, Sandy, then me and Rick crawled over on the left side, onto folded seats and up righted the seat back to sit down. We were all in a row and each had a window to look out. The plane ride was amazingly smooth. “Better than the jets’ take off and landing,” said Rick. The view was beautiful, there are so many lakes dotted everywhere and rivers mostly running northeast to southwest.
The Twin Otter took off and left Missinipe about 10.00.
The other plane was a venerable De Haviland Canada DH2 Beaver
We tied Brent's aluminum canoe onto the floats of the Beaver, and took off with Peter, Mike and Warren inside.
We flew out over Otter Rapids, which we would see again in about a week
and went NNW for 60 km. to Paull Lake
Once we landed we unloaded the plane. 12 minutes later, our other group Peter, Warren and Mike came in a Beaver, a smaller plane carrying the rest of our gear and Brent’s canoe on the outside pontoon.
The Beaver landed, taxied in, unloaded and left; our last link with civilization and not to be seen for a week.
The view around Paull Lake and the warmth of the day would’ve made it nice to stay awhile. However, we lost a day because of rain so we started off down the lake.
If you would like to see this map in more detail, click here (but it is a big download). Then scroll right.
We paddled for about an hour and a half traveling southwest on Paull Lake.
Once in a while looking at our maps (each had one in case of getting separated). The distant voices of our fellow canoeists read the land to see exactly where we are on the lake. Peter and Mike have a disagreement; (Did we? I don't remember that) I’m not sure where we are.
At the end of Paull Lake, where it enters the Paull River, we stopped at 12.20, for lunch on a rock, built a fire and had the usual first day lunch of hot dogs.
Soon we come to a stop for lunch, we have a picture of the place,
but my mind can’t register the site. The weather brought sun, rain, clouds and hail that quickly passed over
us. As the hail dropped onto the
calm river it was an experience to see and hear the hail popping up all around
us. When I look back at Rick we
exchanged smiles; he was enjoying it too.
At the end of the lake we canoed into a narrow winding river with beautiful scenery and the calmness of the water. We noticed a beaver lodge on our left, rock embankment for shores and the forest was much different than Johnson River or Lac La Ronge area. We paddled the canoes along the ever so calm Paull River, turning to the left or the right and gliding over short and long stretches of water.
At its southwest end, Paull Lake drains into the start of the Paull River through a rapid. The trip guide lists the portages on the route in sequence, so this was P1, and it was listed as a class 2+ rapid. For non-canoers, a word about rapids.
Rapids
(Peter Speaking). Before the trip I had read the Saskatchewan Canoe Routes Classification of Rapids.
|
Classification of Rapids (under normal flow conditions) |
|
|
Class 1 |
Small and regular waves; easily navigated passages. Usually navigable by novice paddlers. |
|
Class 2 |
Regular, medium sized waves; low ledges; sweepers; log jams may be present; passages clear though narrow and requiring competent maneuvering. Inspection usually required. At least one member of team should be intermediate paddler. |
|
Class 3 |
Waves numerous, high and irregular; exposed rocks; strong eddies. Inspection strongly recommended. Upper limit for open canoe. Usually navigable by intermediate to expert paddlers. |
|
Class 4 |
Waves high, powerful and irregular; dangerous exposed rocks; boiling eddies; passages difficult to reconnoitre. Inspection mandatory. Powerful and precise maneuvering required. Rapids of this class, and over, should only be attempted by expert paddlers in covered canoes. |
|
Class 5 |
River channel extremely obstructed; ledges; violent and fast current; abrupt corners. Reconnoitring mandatory but difficult. |
|
Class 6 |
Difficulties of Class 5 carried to extremes of navigability. Definite risk of life involved. |
The route guide carries the warning: This canoe trip involves numerous rapids, but the cautious canoeist always has the option of making a portage if he/she considers the rapids too difficult. At the foot of any rapid, it is far better to be sorry one did not run the rapid than to be sorry one did!
At the time I did not realize that we had two other rapid novices on the trip, Sharon and Dawnna. Sharon always looked so calm and confident with Rick, but what she really thought was: Then our first rapid is ahead, excitement within us, making it or not making it, all these thoughts of what could happen and what did I get into now. Warren says the rapid grade Class 2+ (120 meters) and Rick spoke up that we are going first, (ok, ok). Off we paddle, my mind going over the strokes, draw, over draw, brace and eddy left or right. I’m trying to read the rapids; the downward V is an opening, is there one. We hit a rock, but the canoe runs smoothly over it. I listen to Rick’s commands and do what he tells me. Or so I thought, with all the commotion I’ve got everything wrong, but with Rick’s experience he gets us through. This goes by very quickly and before you know it, we eddy right. My first rapid, I should be excited; I am, I think, my body is shaky and my mind is racing.
Warren and Sandy waited at the bottom, ready to help rescue if needed.
I take out my camera to take pictures of our fellow canoeists. Now Warren and Sandy run the rapids, with river experience they paddle with ease (eddy left). Peter and Mike are canoeing together for the first time and run the rapids smoothly. Upstream and around the corner I hear the voices of Brent and Dawnna. They are hitting rocks and are stuck on one. Brent gets them loose and they spin around backwards. Before the curve of the river, they turn rightwards and paddle down a rapid slope perfectly. Dawnna and I cheer since we both ran our first rapids.
In fact, Mike and Peter ran the rapid, and hit a rock, but made it OK with only a small amount of water in the canoe.
We then had a calm paddle down the Paull River for 13 kilometres to the start of the next portage, P2, another class 2+ rapid. This rapid was in two parts.
Our third rapid is very narrow, the waves seem big and scary, but we all make it and eddy right. We plan our next rapid, which is immediate and off we go following Sandy and Warren. Mike and Peter follow us, but hit a rock at the top and come down backwards. They try to turn around but the canoe only makes it half way and they come down sideways. In my eyes, Warren looks worried for his dad Peter is in that canoe. After a couple of more round abouts, they’re coming down the right way and they make it. Rick compliments them on their trick maneuvers.
Mike and Peter took on some water during first set.
The second set needed a sharp left turn right following the first set.
They went down backwards after going too far right and hanging on a rock, but did not sink!
A further two kilometers of flat water brought us to P3, a class 1 rapid, which we ran easily. Just after P3, at 7.30 pm, we camped at a nice site on the west bank
Warren has decided where we are camping for the night along the narrows of the Paull River. There’s a huge beaver lodge to our right and not too far away there is a long rock embankment with enough clearing to put up our tents. We pull in and tie up our canoes. And to the amazement of us gals, the guys run up the sloped rock yelling to each other that they are getting the best tent site. They are running here and there, the best is taken first and a hat is thrown down for the claim. We giggle with amusement and casually walk up the rock to set up our tents. Sandy and Warren have a special Ethiopian dish called “Yeterkelt Wett.” The stew is very good and I asked for the recipe when we are home. We eat and talk into the night with the softness of the Northern Lights in the distance. The stars Jupiter and Saturn shine brightly at this time too as satellites cross the night sky.
