Day 25, September 9, 2009
Oh what a day. I just finished an almost midnight snack of “mashed” potatoes with Shane which couldn’t have tasted any better. Before this we had a short lesson on how to make a fire with Kim that turned into lets see how many matches we can use. This had happened after a debrief on the beach which was just a few feet from our current favorite CII rapid in Canada. We had spent several hours enjoying Wavy Rapids. Fist by jumping into it feet and nose first. Some were a bit scared at first because of how intense the water was running and also because I had jumped in first and ran into some rocks. But the sense of adventure kicked in and soon everyone was wanting seconds and thirds of that helping. It seemed that most came out with sore hands or buns but it didn’t stop us from running it with empty canoes. Even then, we probably didn’t run it properly and a couple canoes even filled to their limit.
Prior to this we encountered not only or first but first and a half log jam and no bread to put it on. This proved to be tricky at first but with a good team effort we got through it and absolutely destroyed the portage in record time. Right before the log jam the group enjoyed six different rapids. Some short, some long, others with many rocks that seemed impossible to avoid them all. Right before we hit out first rapid we canoed past several miles of marsh and saw many beaver lodges (Thanks Shane). We didn’t see any beavers but saw a pair of otters that were trying to either communicate to each other or to us but we haven’t had the WEA course on animal language so we have no idea what they were saying. This was a much sweeter part of the day then when we stopped to pick wild cranberries that we saw on the side of the river. We all picked as much as we could and once we got back in our canoes we realized that they weren’t ripe and tasted very tart and bitter.
Just a hour before this we started this great adventure with a song and march created by Ron to help us remember the seven principles of LNT. I feel this was a good idea to have a little lesson before we get in our canoes for the rest of the day, and to also get us moving and a little more energetic. I know I’m usually not into moving like that in the morning but it was fun and it just seemed right or good when it happened. By 7:15 AM me and my tent group of Matt, and Kim, were up and soon out of the tent, Big Agnes. The other new groups are Cassi, Pete, Jake, and Grant in one of the four person tents and Josh, Ron, Sean, and Shane in the other. When we found out what our new groups are I know everyone was excited because it was new people to hangout and cook with and hopefully nobody snores in our new groups.
As I rap this up I realize I’m grateful for our today and all the new experiences we had. I feel also grateful for getting to spend time in the canoe with Sean and having a good time at our new, mosquito free, spacious, and almost LNT approved spot (because of the fire). Though it seems that this trip may be coming to an end we still have a long way to go. I know I’m in no hurry because this is our classroom. Time for bed.
Nathan Barr
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