George River Solo 2018

Day 23
Start Time: 8/6/2018 3:15 PM
Duration: 4:36 (includes portaging of gear)
Distance / Total (km): 4.9 / 281.4

On these trips, I always look forward to a night in a cabin. Unfortunately, it often turns out to be a letdown especially during a mid-summer trip and this time was no exception. I drifted off to sleep listening to music, a couple of hours later I woke to find my coil had burnt out and the mosquitos were bugging me incessantly. I tried covering up, I tried putting on a head net, and neither was comfortable so I lit another piece of coil, which helped temporarily. I slept on and off until10:30am. I sat around for a bit before going down to the boat to get three of my remaining eggs. The wind is really blowing hard out of the south and it is warm. By noon, I had finished breakfast and started thinking about moving on.

It is probably about an hour to the portage, doubtful that I will get any further today; hopefully I can find a sheltered spot for the Pod and get most or all of my loads across. There was a brief rain shower at 1:50pm, the wind calmed a bit as the system passed. The packing is going slow, I started to move stuff down to the beach. I noted that the water level was lower than in 2010, the relevancy of this is unknown.

At 3:15, I set off with darkening cloud bearing down on me, out comes the rain jacket. The wind and current pushed me quickly to the R2 – R3 combo in just a few minutes, both were pretty easy runs, just waves and a couple of easily avoided pour overs. I did a quick pump at the end, made the turn and ran through the small R1. I have set up a GoTo (the portage) with the GPS using my waypoint from 2010, good thing, as there is essentially no sign of a take out along the shore. I was creeping towards the upcoming R5, the GPS indicated I was on the waypoint but I could see nothing. I tied up the canoe to some bushes, I hopped out and clambered up the steep bush covered bank, maybe 10m back from the water was a small clear piece of ground with several trails leading away. Unloading was a chore, each time I removed a bag I tried to pull up the boat, it was not until I had unloaded almost everything that I could finally pull the canoe up over the bank and through the undergrowth to the clearing.

I headed off with the first load, my blue barrel and the Pod, the trail that started well faded quickly; I stumbled around in the thick undergrowth until I found another trail. Following this one was short lived as it also faded away in the bushes. There were some low spots that were very wet and the small trees in this area made going in a straight line difficult. Eventually I came to a clear trail and followed it to near the end. I dumped my load and returned for the second, as I went I tried to find a better route. This time I got lost near the end, the landing was beside a fairly large tree but It was not the only tree along the shore, I ended up going way past the start and spent far too much time and energy stumbling around before spotting my gear. The black flies were horrible; they were sneaking in under my head net and nibbling on my neck and ears.

With three loads now moved I had the critical gear, I picked a spot for the Pod and set it up and then close by the Marmot. I decided to go back for the last gear load, by now I’m getting the hang of the trail. This trip is faster and with less pain as I get to know the signs (ie: at the small tree with the funky bent branch go left even though the trail seems to go right, or, at the low wet spot do the right zig and the left zag in order to hit the trail when it resumes on the other side). I had a short break before deciding to go back for “danglers” and perhaps move the canoe part way. In the end, I just dragged the canoe the entire way, it felt good to have everything moved over with just a short carry down to the water left for the morning.

Into the Pod to change clothing and recover, I lit a coil and went on a massive bug kill. Next up I made tea and a bag of Stroganoff with Beef & Noodles (Backpackers Panty), not horrible, not great, not for me! The whole process of the portage, four gear carries plus the boat drag and setting up the two tents had taken 4 hours! That is a ratio of 4:1 hiking to paddling for the day! It’s good that it is all done, sets me up well for tomorrow which has a lot of rapids and fast water…..I am going to sleep well tonight in the bug free Marmot.