Ready…Set…Launch!
I was up before everyone, which is what usually happens when we go camping. Something about being away from the city and all of the demands of every day life really allows me to sleep better, and I enjoy my solitude in the mornings.
Once everyone was up and had breakfast, we mobilized pretty quickly. I took care of the permits and everyone else set up their packs at the launch site.
The canoes arrived shortly after, and we loaded them up with our gear and headed down Smoke Lake. Eight of us departed, as Brad and Phung had to work and would be joining us in the evening…
Packing up for Smoke Lake*.
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Smoke Lake is relatively large lake to cross. From the launch point to the portage landing it’s almost a six kilometer paddle**. Someone had the idea of actually using one of our tarps to create a sail, to aid our crossing…
The sail of the century*.
Click to enlarge…
After about a half hour we finally got the sail up and ready to go. Of course, as luck would have it, the wind died, leaving us with a big blue banner.
The wind being nonexistent made life easy in terms of paddling, though. It’s a lot less effort when there is no head wind to worry about.
We reached the portage point and made quick work of the land crossing.
The mighty legs of Tien aided us in our quick portage*.
Click to enlarge…
The second leg of the journey involved traversing south for a little while and then curving back up north. Of course, once we rounded the corner to head north again the wind decided to spring up, uninvited. This made the last leg of our journey very tiring.
Not only was the wind in our faces, but all of the sites that we originally wanted were taken. Add the fact that we had to find two sites*** instead of just one (that were relatively close to each other), and you’ll have added a good chunk of time. Needless to say when all was said and done we earned our dinners and our delicious bevvies.
For more camping goodness, you can check out Dave’s Version.
* – Photo courtesy of Isha.
** – That’s almost 4 miles for you American Bloggers.
*** – Interior campsites have a maximum allowance of 9 people.
Filed under: Anecdotes, Friends, Special Events | 9 Comments »
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