| Bloodvein River Solo 2015 |
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Monday July 27 - Day 1 Time: 22 min Distance: 55km via DC-3 Turbo Otter It's all of a sudden a beehive of activity as the VA Boys pile out of their vehicle. First off the trailer are 4 red canoes, 3 Canyons and a NovaCraft Moisie, my Mohawk is dwarfed by this fleet of giants. Next thing the ground is covered with a plethora of dry bags, barrels, danglers and 4 giant coolers! We set to stripping the Moisie of its thwarts and seat, in the end one of the carrying thwarts needs to come off as well, the decks fortunately are not in the way. Good to finally know that there won't be a problem getting all five boats in on two flights. |
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Abruptly I'm being summoned and told
to get on the plane, I grab my camera and trusty purple 10L dry-bag
(contains a myriad of
MacGyver type items). I hop on and we are off for the 20 minute flight
to Artery
Lake. Ed the pilot gives us a smooth flight and a soft landing pulling
right
up to our campsite where there is a rare bit of a sand beach. We unload quickly and send the Otter back for flight number two. It feels a bit odd being here with none of my gear or a boat, nothing of mine apparently made the first flight, what if something important doesn't show up? About 90 minutes later the Otter returns, more piles of gear emerge including stuff I recognize as mine, boats are untied and mine is there. |
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| Our campsite is on a small spit with small sandy "beaches" on either side, I select a grassy spot furthest from the tip that offers a bit of shelter to put up my hut. I removed my gear from the piles and let the guys begin their next round of gear sorting and camp set-up. This is a solo trip for me but for tonight I'm just a 5th wheel staying out of the way. The lake is calm, the air is still very warm, I went off for a short paddle. When I returned it was apparently time for a game of campsite croquet (I did poorly) then after further chatting dinner preparations began. It was after 10:00 when a fine dinner of chorizo stuffed chicken thighs was served, just in time for the swarms of mosquitoes to arrive! We toughed it out for a while until they calmed down, I actually used a bit of DEET. More chatting around the fire until at 2:00am we all headed to our tents. |
Enjoy this
clip of the Otter landing on Artery Lake
Caltopo
Map
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