Aug.19-20: Flatwater paddle through Mackenzie Mountains

I woke up to wolf calls this morning. The eerily drawn-out howls sounded closer than they probably were but still sent a shiver down my spine as I struggled out of my sleeping bag to open the front tent flap. No wolves outside, but I could hear members of our group already milling about the campfire down the trail at the main campsite area. I stepped out of the tent and took a deep breath of Northern air, admiring the surrounding scenery...blue sky, Rabbitkettle lake, mountains all around us. Not a bad way to start our first full day on the river.

After a breakfast of green pepper frittata (the food on this trip was amazing, by the way), we packed up our gear and loaded up the canoes. Al led us through some stretching exercises. We all mocked him for it, of course, but cooperated fully...many of us were feeling the effects of the first day on the river. :-) We continued this tradition of "morning stretching with Al" for the rest of the trip.

While on this flatwater portion of the trip, we all worked on improving our paddling skills and learning new techniques and terms. These included:

• Bracing - Holding one's paddle downward and slightly tilted in the water to stabilize a canoe. Some define the term as making downward and/or sweeping strokes to stabilize a canoe. I found this technique invaluable when going through rollercoaster waves.
• Eddying out - Term used to describe leaving the main current and entering an eddy. Eddying in was the opposite (leaving an eddy and entering the main current). With the often wildly varying current speeds across the width of the river, knowing this technique was absolutely essential.
• Ferrying - Maneuver used to cross a current with little or no downstream travel, using the current's force to move the boat sideways.

We all practiced eddying in, eddying out, and ferrying quite a bit in the first couple of days. We also switched paddling partners for part of the time. I was nervous about this at first; I had never paddled with anyone other than Jeff before. I found, however, that practising with another paddler useful in many ways. I paddled with Al, for example, who was one of the Canoe North guides, and he pointed out ways in which I could improve my stroke. It took some concentration to make the change, but found the "new" stroke much more energy-efficient. I also found it easier to match Al's stroke than Jeff's.

Wildlife glimpsed during this time included Dall sheep, ducks, and geese. We also noticed moose and bear tracks (black bear and grizzly) near and through our campsites. The bear tracks made me a bit nervous about straying too far from the campsite alone. We saw bears several times during the trip, and also wolves!

From time to time, we'd take a break while paddling to "raft" up with the other canoes, just drifting and letting the current take us downriver as we watched the scenery go by at a more leisurely pace. We used these breaks for mini-naps, drinking from our water bottles, passing around gorp (mixture of nuts, raisins, M&M's, beef jerky), and just to chat. I loved these float sessions, not so much because of the break but for the insta-community aspect. After about ten minutes (sometimes longer, especially if we decided to do a "floating lunch"), we'd push away from each other and start paddling as separate canoes again.

We camped on gravel bars along the river shore, generally not reaching our campsite until 6 or 7 pm every night, sometimes later. By the time we unloaded the canoes, set up the kitchen, our tents, pumped water, had Happy Hour, prepared/ate/cleaned up dinner, it was fairly late. I had brought a novel along on the trip but didn't open it even once the entire time. :-) I had also brought along a blank journal, but the entries tended to get shorter over the two weeks, with several entries merely consisting of "too tired to write". :-) I started getting into the habit of forcing myself to go to bed by 10:30 pm or so every night rather than linger with the night owls, even if it meant missing out on some of the late night readings and conversation. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who needs a full eight hours' sleep to feel completely human in the morning.

Friends who had taken the trip earlier in the season had said that there was very little darkness. In late August, the sun rose in the northeast and set in the northwest at about 10:30 pm. Getting to sleep was never a problem during the trip...I was usually fast asleep within a few minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

My morning ritual: Jeff and I would wake at about 7 am (via watch alarm). We'd take turns getting dressed since if both of us tried, we'd be knocking each other over with flailing limbs...the space inside the tent was pretty cozy. Then one of us would go off in search of the latrine and/or breakfast while the other packed up sleeping bags and our Thermorests. Breakfasts were a treat. One morning we had English muffins which were split, toasted, filled with tomato, fried bacon, cheese, a dab of mayo, and then put back in the Dutch oven for a few minutes until the cheese melted. The camp Dutch oven was a heavy iron pot with a lid and a handle. Coals could be heaped on top of the pot to provide an oven-like environment inside.

Several times we had oatmeal...although I'm generally not a huge oatmeal fan, I have to say I've changed my mind as a result of this trip (though I will have to learn to cook it like our guides did). Nothing like steaming hot oatmeal to warm you up on a cold morning, especially when mixed with fruit. For "Patterson porridge" (R.M. Patterson was the author of Dangerous River), you could sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top.

Keeping clean during the trip was always a challenge. Anyone helping in the camp kitchen had to wash their hands first; there was always a plastic tub of river water and a bar of soap in the vicinity for this purpose. Most of us had gone swimming in Rabbitkettle Lake, but the Nahanni River was much colder. Although a few, like Jeff, did jump into the river from the canoes on occasion, I contented myself with wading in and splashing my head and upper torso with the frigid water (trying very hard not to yell while I did so).

Several of us had "sun showers" of varying sizes. These were bags made of a heavy black plastic, with a shower nozzle. In theory, you filled the shower bag with water, let it warm in the sun, and then could hang it from a nearby branch, using the nozzle to control the water flow. In practice, however, we rarely had the luxury of having enough time to let the sun warm the water before using it, so we heated water over the fire instead. My first experience with a sun shower was when Frebis and Duane invited me to try theirs; they had hot water leftover from their own showers. I leaped (literally) at the chance, and wasted no time in trying it out...it was WONDERFUL to be completely clean again, even if it was only for a short time.

A quote from Aug.19th's issue of the Nahanni News (I think Karen wrote this):

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "It's a great day not to be dead."