The Lonely Land
What I can tell you about our trip is: we followed the trip and book by Sigurd Olson called “The Lonely Land”. We did the upper part of the Churchill River…which means that starting at Ile la Crosse, Saskatchewan, we paddled lakes connected by whitewater to the next lake. We did all our communication for transportation at the beginning and end via long distance phone, if possible, or letters via snail mail.
When we arrived at our start point in the town of Ile la Crosse by bus, our canoes had not arrived yet. We had to wait 2 days until they got there. The other not so happy news was that the river level was up 7 feet. And, as we found out, portages were not visible as they were underwater in many places.
What this meant most of the time was, the volume was great enough that if we stayed just to the side of the cresting waves in the middle, we could run most of the "portages, especially knowing that there would be quiet lake water at the end. I know we paddled over at least one waterfall mentioned in Sigurd’s book. However, we were not adjusted to that the first “portage” we came to. And that is where one canoe dumped. I will tell that whole story some time, if you wish. I will say that the only thing we lost was our cookkit. And these wonderful ladies were very creative in making a new kit over the days. This country is Cree Nation country, and they were extremely helpful to us also. We had 2 eighteen foot wood/canvas Chestnut canoes.
It was an amazing adventure…but more than we bargained for at times. Would I have chosen not to go??? Never.