I woke a couple of times in the early morning, most notably around
9:00am when a motorboat went past. I got up for real a bit after
11:00am, drank my leftover tea with some hunks of cheese and a wrap. I
was in no hurry to get on the water, the sky was covered in the now
familiar shades of grey and it felt a bit cool. The wind had died to a
slight breeze which was a nice change. I made a small fire to burn
trash; naturally as soon as it went out I remembered another stash of
trash that would now have to wait for next time. I had no firm
destination in mind for today, the journal notes I was following
(Thanks Rambling Boy) had done a short day followed by a long day,
maybe I could split the total into two equal days. It was 1:45pm when I
finally hit the water, a new low (high?). Once around the campsite
point a view to the west revealed a few bits of blue sky, these would
grow over the next hour or so to become mostly sunny and warmer as well
getting up into the low 20’s.
Following the notes I easily located the small pictograph site and then
on to rapid #10 (all rapid numbers taken from the Hap Wilson guide) and
the marine railway. The railway was very well made, all metal with
smooth rollers, oh why can’t all portages be this easy! There were two
motorboats at the rapid; a third would join them a few minutes later. I
pulled the canoe up and over and paddled off across the open water to
the MB/ON border.
There is a prominent sign on a rock point, “Welcome To Atikaki PP with
a nice graphic of an eagle, the sun & trees. On the other side
“Welcome To Woodland Cariboo” (text only) and “For Permits and
Regulations contact MNR Red Lake”. The contrast struck me, Ontario was
all about rules and regs should you dare to enter while Manitoba was
more like “here is the great nature we have, come in and enjoy”.
Reinforces what I’ve been thinking, Ontario doesn’t welcome visitors
unless they are planning to spend money on excessive commercial
endeavours and/or “world class events” Goes along with the $10 per
night charge on the Ontario side versus the free for all on the
Manitoba side. Within sight is the outpost camp where all the
motorboats have been coming from, the main building is quite large and
fairly recent construction.
The maps call refer to this are as Artery Lake in spite of being
separated by rapid #10 from the main part of Artery, at the west end is
rapid #11. This rapid was pretty much as described by HW, easy run, I
expected a bit more. At the bottom there is a Canadian Heritage Rivers
plaque bolted to the rock and a decent campsite. The following few km
are easy paddling through small open bits separated by short narrows.
The sun is out and I’m getting a bit baked, I drift a bit in actual
current!!! (1-1.4 kmph). Rapid #12 is a dead simple little CII, round
the corner a slight swift followed by a CI which isn’t much more.
There is a great rock formation at the next narrows, the wall of
granite is splitting off in a huge section, and below it are the
remnants of a previous splinter. Huge chunks of rock piled about. It’s
about a km further to #14 Moosebone Rapids, the first CIII of the trip.
There is a short portage on RL and supposedly a nice camp. I hopped out
of the boat to have a look, great open area of flat rock right beside
the ledge, another camp area up the hill with lots of good tent sites.
It’s 4:45, a very short day but other than a marked site just
downstream there is nothing for quite a distance and several possible
portages. Since I’m not on a schedule I called it a day bringing my
gear along the trail to the rocks.
Figured I’d kill some time fishing, I set up the rod and made a cast, a
near instant bite and I reeled in a good sized walleye. Even though I
hoped for something it never occurred to me it would happen so fast?
After my hack job of filleting I had two nice pieces, more than enough
for me. I sautéed some orange pepper and made a batch of hash browns
which turned out ok for a first time effort. The fish was tasty and
filling, wow, it’s only 7:00pm and dinner is done.
I took care of the dishes and then carried the essentials up the hill
to set up the hut on the moss. I settled in to review the day as the
sun set behind the opposing shore and the day turned into night. There
had been a few bugs especially when vising the woods back of camp, used
a bit of DEET for that then back to the hut for protection. I somehow
managed to while away the time studying the upcoming river, there were
a number of potential portages coming up, maybe I’ll get to Stonehouse
rapids tomorrow, any further would be ambitious given its midnight now
and an early start is unlikely.
