Captain’s Log - Day 1 from Shist Lake to Mandy Mine:
It was a bit of a scramble the last few days getting last minute stuff done with regards to business admin, finding little gadgets for the trip and forgetting where I had hidden them away, but we finally got it all together. It was a bit surreal to get on the water.
At first, I was gonna take Taiga, but then after talking to a few buddies that had traveled in Meridian Creek, they recommended not taking a dog, as I'd be wading through swamp and in and out of the canoe. With the new pup not being used to a canoe he’d probably be in a real mess by the time we got to Amisk Lake, so I thought it was best to leave him out for the first few days. Anyways, today’s paddle was just absolutely gorgeous. The sun was coming down, the loons were singing, the water was dead calm - it was just right. I had beautiful temperatures - it was sunny and just everything about it was just absolutely gorgeous. I could smell the air of the trees budding, just that smell of green, new spring in the air. You can smell the earth warming up - you can really smell it wafting across the waterways, which was really incredible. There was lots of loon calling and there were a number of eagles flying. I felt so happy just to be starting even though it was late. My head was still mush from trying to get everything straight, but when I started paddling I could just release everything and paddle. I just love that feeling! I was cruising through nature, and I was on my own and it was an overwhelming sense of freedom. Now, I could say I was starting a journey that I'll never forget.
As I paddled towards Flin Flon I could see the stack and came upon the old Mandy Mine site. Even though I left late in the afternoon, I managed to get where I wanted to on day one. I got here around 830 and I found a beautiful campsite. It was just absolutely gorgeous getting set up. I tried to find the carin marking the mine site, but for whatever reason is no longer here. That was a bit disappointing. After that, a fishing boat came by and they were fishing on the other side of the ridge from where I’m staying. They didn't see me but I could hear them laughing and giggling with the kids as they caught a few jacks and some walleye. I carried on with my chores. After the boat left, I heard a side by side on the trail, so I went out to meet them on the trail. It was a couple of young ladies with Bobby Brown out for a joyride doing some trail riding. They stopped and knew who I was right away! When I told them, “I'm on my way to Tuk,” they were excited to talk to me, so that was really great. They even gave me a beer!
I managed to get the tent and everything else set up by about 10 o'clock. It was getting dark and when I crawled into the tent I realized I didn't have my headlamp and I also realized I forgot my mosquito coils. The mosquitoes are horrendous so the tent was full of mosquitoes. I was fumbling around trying to use my light on my phone to kill mosquitoes.
I finally started making supper - Cheez Whiz and pita bread. I was up all night squishing mosquitoes against the side of the tent thinking that I had them all, but they kept on torturing me. By two o'clock in the morning I finally fell asleep only to wake up at six to the sound of Wings Over Kississing planes. The day before, on my paddle down the Schist Inlet Arm towards Channing a Wings Over Kississing plane buzzed me, which was really cool and he did a little bit of a top down just in front of me. And then about 500 meters away he touched the water and went back up into the air and I thought that was pretty cool!
It’s been very surreal to start the trip. It really couldn't have been better except for the mad scramble in the morning, but that's okay because we managed to get a few extra things in that I wasn't expecting to get done and see some people I wasn't expecting to see. I'm only one day behind and I am doing it all on my own. Tomorrow, I have the portage from Mandy Mine site over to Phantom Lake which would have been the old road the prospectors took when they were coming from Amisk Lake, up the Meridian Creek, so this is a very historical trail. That’s all from day one.
Over.
I am so excited to have you doing this historical First Nation's and Early Explorer Hwy. I have been reading a lot of reading since my trip to Nunavut. Thanks for sharing and taking me along.