George River Solo 2018

Day 29
Start Time: 8/12/2018 10:13 AM
Duration: 9:02
Distance / Total (km): 37.6 / 372.7

I was up at 7:00am, packed my bedding and moved over to the Pod for tea and oatmeal. There was a bit of sun but it did not last, still it was nice to pack up with everything dried out. I try not to dawdle as it is going to be a long day no matter where I end up. It still takes just over 3 hours, wasted some of that in a futile attempt to find a tent peg lost in the sand.

I was now in “familiar” territory, my third trip down the lower George and with 100km of lake ahead; it was to be a more sedate style of paddling. The sky was cloud covered and threatening, the wind from the southwest mostly helpful. There were patches of snow high up on the sheltered sides of the hills that rise 100 – 150m above the water. From these hills water flows from hidden lakes on the plateau, cascading down the face of the valley. I made good time to “Bald-Head Brook”, here there is a giant deposit of sand that towers over the water. At the water’s edge, I spot a single caribou track, the first of the trip. The next landmark is “the big rock”, a huge pyramid shaped rock in the middle of the lake.

I have about 20km left to reach the camp just before the weather station, the wind is picking up. A thunder and lightning storm passes about 10km ahead, the second of the day to miss to the north along with another that passed by to the south. Directly overhead, the clouds are light grey, perhaps I will get lucky. With 6km remaining it starts to rain, the wind really picks up pushing towards the eastern shore which is not where I want to be because it is more exposed and any camping ahead will be on the west side. I attempt to paddle generally towards the west but the wind is turning me broadside to the waves, I am not making much progress in any direction so it is time for a rethink. I turned the canoe into an “upstream ferry” position and gradually let the wind move me to the west, I am still not getting very far but at least I am now facing the waves and can maintain the proper angle. It takes more than a half hour of hard paddling to cover the less than 2km distance to the shelter of the western shoreline.

I pause for a break and while I do the wind dies, the cloud above me starts to break up a bit and the sun emerges. The weather delay cost me an hour, I decided to have a look at the marked camp up ahead, there is a series of beaches, I stopped at the most promising to have a look, the sand is very wet, I hoped for some clear dry ground behind the beach but didn’t find much so I decided to continue on. I knew that at the weather station I would find real gravel to camp on, it would be worth the extra time to avoid yet another night of sand. I reached the gravel beach and selected a spot back from the water, pea gravel and dirt with a little bit of grass mixed in, the downside was that it is right beside a mosquito breeding pool and was also infested with black flies. I was unprepared for the bugs (prepared meaning the proper gloves, a carefully tucked in head net) as a result savaged by the black flies, which attacked my wrists and neck. I set up the Pod with the Marmot directly in front. I made a mug of tea and a bag of Chicken Gumbo (Alpine Aire) which is always a tasty meal. Even with a coil burning, the mosquitos were annoying so after dinner I moved to the tent for relief. Last thing was to add a couple of ropes to the Pod in case high winds returned. It has been a long day on the water and I will certainly sleep well.