Captain's log, day number nine from Pawistic on the Hanson Lake Highway to Dog Rapids:
We packed up camp at the government campground by the Hanson Lake highway. We got up at six o'clock. Dave was kind enough to cook us eggs and had coffee ready for us in the morning. And so we had coffee and eggs and got the rest of our gear together. Just as we were finishing up, Angie Gryber pulled up with their side by side and trailer to haul our equipment over the highway to their yard. They have a nice beach where we could pack and load our canoes which made it very convenient. We didn't have to paddle our gear over from the campsite, which was only a couple 100 meter paddle, but then we'd have to load it and unload the canoe at the highway which, you know, would have been an extra hour for sure.
So yeah, it was very kind of them. So we took all our gear over with their side by side and then we just had to paddle our canoes a little ways to the highway and it was a very easy to portage the canoes over the highway.
So while we're loading up the equipment, we had another very nice surprise. Alan and Heather Vowles happened to be driving by on their way home to Devon, Alberta and spotted up packing up so stopped by for a quick visit. I had seen Alan and Heather a few times over the first few days of my trip. When I stayed at Greg East’s house they were there for my official departure party and Alan had helped get some supplies to me while I was doing a couple of the tough portages from Boot Lake to Meridian Creek. So that was very awesome to see them again. We got some pictures and they got some pictures of us taking off and it was a very beautiful sunny day. Not too hot yet.
OH right! Our campground friends from Medicine Hat gave us each a beers to have when we do our next portage, so you know, we could have a beer at the end of the portage trail. So that was kind of nice.
So we had about a five kilometer paddle up to the Birch Lake Portage trail. It was nice having some paddling partners. The wind was behind us so it was just a nice, easy paddle to Birch Lake Portage. The portage was only about 400 meters long, which was kind of nice. Not a big long one. It was an easy portage and only took us three loads to get everything across to the other side. It was very warm already and it was getting close to about 10 o'clock, I guess, because we left the boat dock at 830.
We enjoyed our beer on the other side and took some pictures and managed to make our way up the a beautiful part of the Sturgeon Weir River. We saw some people out there. We saw some cabins above the rapids and the people were there hanging out and fishing. It was so nice to see people out on the land. We just carried on our way and then we had a couple of motor boats pass us who waved at us as they went by. About 12 o'clock we reached the narrow section where there was a little island that was a beautiful spot to have our lunch, so we pulled up there and had lunch.
Bill and I went swimming which was really refreshing. So we went for a swim and then loaded up the canoe again and carried on to make our way up to Dog Rapids and actually made pretty good time.
We got to Dog Rapids to a beautiful campsite on an island at about about 330. So it was a little early, but you know, it was Dave’s first time paddling a canoe all summer so we wanted to break him in easy. There are going to be some tough days and he's gonna have to solo the canoe all the way to South End.
So anyhow, we also wanted to go do some fishing for supper. When we got out there we ran into some young fellows that were from North Battleford. One of them has a cabin in the Pawistic Lodge area so they were just finishing cleaning up their catches on an island and they were just going to have a beer break and head home, so we had a nice chat with them while we unloaded our boats and got our tent set up. All three of us went in a canoe to the rapids. We dropped Dave off on the shore and Billy and I fished below the rapids and it didn't take long for us to get a nice size walleye and a nice sized jack, and that was good enough for supper. We went back to camp and cooked up supper and had some tea and and now we’re sitting around the fire telling stories.
This is always the best part of canoe tripping with the fellows. Especially guys that have been canoeing for all their life, you know, telling old stories.
Sadly, though, Bill Jeffries has to go home tomorrow. He's meeting a friend that's coming into town so he can’t paddle the rest of the way with us to Pelican Narrows. I kind of burned up all his time when he was waiting for me to get up to the Hanson Lake Highway. Anyhow, it was nice to have a day with him and a night to chat and now we get to see him off tomorrow morning.
And, yeah, that's it for today.
Over and out.