"Beggars can't be choosers"or so the old expression goes. I trust this blog goes through but the internet connection is sporadic at best where I am located in Calgary.
Life is full of firsts and last Sunday was the first time I filpped a kayak or canoe -except practising wet exits and re-entry. The effort it took to "steer wrestle" (because I am in Calgary just down the road from the Stampede Grounds) my swamped kayak to shore is sobering and reinforces the need to constantly check assumptions and emphasize safety. Unfortunately I don't have a buddy at this point and checking my own assumptions "apparently" lacks objectivity.
What to do now? While I admit I was a silly bugger trying to carry cart wheels, tent, sitting pad, thermorest, and two 10 L dry bags full of electronic gear and personal affects on the cowling in a river rated as intermediate, after a few days of post trauma reflections I believe I have to remount the "bicycle" after the crash and try it again. As we know, that is what it takes to learn to ride a bike and it is also inevitable one will crash a bike over time.
I was trying to carry all the gear and provisions needed to complete the variety of topography in the 5100 km across Canada in a kayak chosen to withstand the pounding of portages and the like and not for cargo space. The reality is that the need for wheels to carry around 9 dams and many portages before getting to Thunder Bay is at odds with stability on the big lakes like Winnipeg. Also, the need to carry 3 weeks of food to take on the remoteness and likelihood of "being shore bound" while waiting out storms on Lake Winnipeg (my brother in law Jim Munro was marooned for 12 days in 1970 while waiting out such a storm and had to resort to eating gull eggs), is impractical in my kayak while also carrying other gear like a spare stove and fuel.
With this context, I have decided to amend my plans as follows. I will jettison any gear which is superfluous to getting me to The Pas, Manitoba and forego Lake Winnipeg -likely for sections of Lakes Winnipegosis and Manitoba. From there I will make my way to the Winnipeg River by car. Regardless of how much of the Winnipeg River I can do (getting around 6 dams will prove to be more time consuming without wheels), I will be in Kenora July 8 to meet up with Bob Salmond to take on the Lake of the Woods, Rainy River, Fort Frances stretch as planned. Similarly,as planned Bobs Rieder and Rebagliati will be my "buddies" through to the NE end of Quetico. Consequently I can safely get to Thunder Bay.
In Thunder Bay I plan to rent a "heavy volume" kayak, sufficient storage capacity within the hatches, to allow for the provisions needed to take on the long stretches required to complete Lakes Superior and Huron. Bill Climie, an experienced Kayaker on Lake Superior, will join me for a few days of paddling and I hope to pick up "local knowledge" from him; having a buddy will be wonderful. Once at the French River on Georgian Bay, I will meet up with son Wyatt and get to North Bay. In time I will have to rent a car to get back to Thunder Bay to both return rental kayak and retrieve my own, which will be sufficient for the Ottawa and St Lawrence Rivers. In North Bay I will be joined by Don Bayne, John Gordon, and John Fee (Team Whistler) and we will canoe the Mattawa River.
This journey clearly has a mind of its own, won't be constrained by agenda, and is proving to be dynamic and fluid. I have decided to hold "my ticket to ride"because after all the definition of Odyssey is a set of wanderings and they can't all be packaged in pretty little bows. I ask you to stay tuned and pray that I learn from my mistake and am willing to objectively check my assumptions, particularly in regard to those uncertainties which will be presented to me moment by moment.
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