Strong winds

Today seemed like March-come-early with wild, gusty winds.  I had to make my way once again to York for the winter meeting of the York Place board.  I did much better in terms of time than I did two weeks ago when York seemed to be pulling away from me faster than I was driving.  Travelling secondary roads, though, I had to pay attention along the way not to let the wind get the best of the car when I passed from protected wooded areas into the open stretches with fields on both sides of the road.

The drive was not all work; I was not without entertainment.  With the wind blowing relentlessly from left to right, I came upon a astonishing sight.  At the foot of a driveway leading to a large old farmhouse was a man with a leaf blower attempting to blow the leaves back up the driveway -- right to left.  There he was looking a bit like Charles Schulz's Pig-pen, enshrouded there in the driveway in a cloud of swirling dust and leaves, as opposed to Pig-pen's cloud of dust.

I guess what I was seeing was leaf blowing on the day's list of things to do.  No matter what.  At any rate that gritty man made me smile every time I recalled the sight of him.

A long haul

Today we paddled from our Chisholm Brook campsite through Umsaskis Lake, Long Lake and Harvey Pond. It was a very hard day for Tal and me. We seem to be better at rips and rapids than we are long stretches of lake and headwinds in intermittent rain. Consistently, we were at the end of the line. On a positive note, however, we didn't lose ground as we did on our first day out and, when all was said and done, we made the distance. A T-shirt that Chickie and Pat Harristhal sold in their shop at Canadian Border Outfitters outside Ely MN, which had "Shut Up and Paddle" on the front, was my mantra for the day.

Of course, it wasn't all gloom. We saw our first moose up close on the approach to the American Realty Road bridge crossing the thoroughfare between Umsaskis and Long Lakes. She was watchful as our flotilla approached, but continued eating until about the third canoe passed under the bridge, only then slowing moving back into the tall bushes. We were pretty far behind and my camera's focal length power is limited, so I didn't get a very good, close, well-composed shot.

We have camped at the ruins of the Long Lake Dam, a very picturesque spot. The ruins of the dam might seem runnable both from the water and from the campsite bluff, but the literature I've seen suggests strongly trying it to be a bad idea, there being submerged spikes which could seriously damage a canoe. A short portage is required, so the canoes were brought out of the water and to the campsite for the night.

This afternoon has provided Tal the second opportunity he has had to use his flyrod, the first having been at Churchill Dam Tuesday afternoon. While none of the fishermen in the group (Colin, Eric, Tal) have caught anything they could keep, watching them in action is a pleasure.

Headwinds

Yesterday afternoon was a terribly difficult time. I was in no way prepared for such a formidable start, five miles of paddling into a relentless, howling headwind. By the time we approached Scofield Point, despite several all-group rest stops, Tal and I were so tired that we didn't quite make it to the campsite. When we tried to round the point, our canoe was caught broadside by the wind and we simply couldn't keep paddling straight long enough to complete the turn.

Colin was in the single canoe in sweep position; he recommended that we paddle to the bank on the back side of the point, which we did. Exhausted, we carried our personal gear up the shore to the campsite. We weren't quite alone in our failure, but we didn't make it by a considerably larger margin than a few of the others. Colin assisted folks with gear while Alana and Eric ferried canoes. What a beginning.

But, Scofield Point was certainly worth the pain, I must say. As we set up our tent and camp life was established, the wind died down and we took a short walk along the bank soaking up the stillness and the quiet.


We arrived and ate late enough that we needed headlamps again before the cleanup was finished, but what a meal -- a delicious concoction of black beans and salsa, sauteed onion and ground meat for burritos and a dessert of ginger-brownie cake baked over the campfire. Divine! Have I mentioned that Alana is a personal chef?

It rained in the night, a nice sound on the tent fly. And, as Tal and I were waking in the pre-dawn, we heard very distinct footsteps outside and moving past our tent. Moments later came a terrible snap followed by a loud crash. A moose had come through the campsite, getting tangled in one of the lines securing the tarp over the table and fireplace. Very exciting! We should have seen moose eating in the marshy area at the back of the point after dawn, but with the unusual wind direction continuing overnight, they with their acute sense of smell stayed away.

With the overnight rain came a change in wind direction to what Alana and Colin had expected for yesterday. So, today we paddled back to Churchill Dam with -- a headwind. Somehow, we were more ready for it today than yesterday and, though hard, we kept up pretty well.