| Bloodvein River Solo 2015 |
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Sunday Aug 2 – Day 7
Time: 8 hours Distance: 17.4 km I woke up at 7:00am to a completely clear sky. I made the usual tea & oatmeal, slowly gathering my stuff. By 9:00 some cloud started to appear and the wind resumed. I left at 9:50 under full cloud cover and a brisk headwind; these conditions would be present throughout the day. |
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| It took a couple of hours to reach the rapid/portage, above the drop there were tricky whirlpools which nearly sent me swimming as I went for the eddy on RL, I admit to being a bit inattentive as it was the first bit of actual current. It was fairly easy lining / dragging to the bottom along the left shore rocks. |
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The wind was howling on the other side, I decided to take a fishing break (I’m a hack at fishing), naturally I had my lure snagged immediately! Managed to unsnag, made a few casts, had a pike nibbling, 10 minutes, had enough!
It was hard paddling from here on, lots of twists and turns but even though there was direction changes the wind always seemed to do likewise. I’d get the occasion reprieve and then a turn and back to the slog. By late in the day I was cursing at the prevailing wind and wondering if it ever goes away….will I face this for the next two weeks? I saw a couple of motorboats, probably the same ones I had seen a couple of days earlier on my way east, they are likely from the outpost camp on Sabourine Lake. Funny thing about these boats, they speed by and then stop, once I get close they once again speed off a couple of hundred metres then stop. As soon as I get a bit closer they repeat. I stopped to check out a campsite, well established but clearly not used in a very long time, grass growing in the fire spot and an old brown stubby lying next to it. |
| I considered stopping for a dinner break and then paddling until dark to perhaps take advantage of the usual evening calm. Decided to head for my previous camp 4 where I arrived at 5:50pm. It was still windy, there had been a bit of rain over the past hour and the temperature was dropping, a dinner break would have taken an hour at least. The next marked campsite was a significant distance, it made little sense to continue, no need to turn this day into a 12 hour struggle against the wind. I set up the hut and cooked a MIAB, Santa Fe Rice w/ Chicken. I was feeling a bit tired, there is no rush, no point in overdoing it, tomorrow the conditions will be better…….. |
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