Prior to the fire, I was just getting ready to head out on a canoe trip the skin boat was finished and ready to be tested, and I was working on some finetuning of other travel equipment. (I´ll cover the skin canoe and its construction in a separate post). During our sharings and reflections anbout the event and how to proceed from there, we came to the shared awareness that besides taking care of our immediate needs now, it was also necessary for us to continue following our passions. After our ceremony and material re-supplying, it was time for me to follow through on my trip…
Sometimes the creek was rather narrow...
I wanted to mainly explore parts of creek and river systems that I hadn´t checked out before, so I decided to take some renderedt and jerky along and supplement it with whatever I would fish and gather along the way. Fishing turned out to be poor, instead I got by with greens, insects and berries. The first three suns were quite rainy and so I got to really test and appreciate the raingear I had recently finished, which kept my upper body dry (though everything else was wet 😉 ).
Zagame (Moskito) and deerflies were pretty much constant companions, and when I wasn´t moving on foot or canoe the best way to keep them at bay was to build a fire.
Sometimes I observed rather comical events such as when I observed a beaver swimming around a curve in a creek and a duck approaching from the other side. As they made eye contact, they stared at each other for a couple seconds while drifting closer, and then simultaneously took off in their own ways – the duck flying away while quacking, the beaver splashing the water with his tail and diving away. Not sure who spooked whom first 🙂
Despite some minor leakage, the skin boat was holding up quite well and was going smoothly. One major disadnvantage (compared to fiberglass canoes of similar build) was the weight: After being in the water for a while or exposed to rain, the skins started swelling up and the weight increased tremendously. On portage trips it was necessary for me to carry the canoe and the equipment separately, whereas I´m usually able to carry everything in one trip.
A typical river scene as seen from the canoe
All in all, a very enjoyable trip, I enjoyed the continous exercise as well as the time for quiet contemplation and observation. After exploring all day for a Quarter Moon, it felt great to have the company of my campmates again and the amenities of a well-equipped basecamp. To be continued on other trips…