When we awake at the Norman Wells lodge the weather is cold and rainy. The lead guide pulls me aside first thing and wants to have a talk about the weather. Rain had always been a possibility, it had been in the forecast for weeks now. We had also just come from sleeping in tents in -8 weather, so to me, the rain was not a deterrent. I had confidence in the group that we had. I suggested that she discuss the matter with Bill and the item was then tabled to the entire group around the breakfast table.
The options were the following:
1) Carry on as planned - knowing that Friday the weather looked terrible and cold
2) Get motoboats to support us
3) Not go and do some fishing and hiking out of Deline or Norman Wells
Obviously the plan had been the canoe the Great Bear River, and that is what I wanted to accomplish, but the weather had to be considered. Being in canoes all day in the rain is not ideal. The discussion on the matter was very good. People were given the opportunity to ask questions and voice their thoughts or opinion on the matter.
In the end, it was suggested (by Richard I think) - could we not combine Day 1 and 2 into today, and do Day 3 leg on the second day, and Day 4 on the third day? What this meant was that today would be a long day. Ultimately Bill decided that he would cover the cost of shuttling the canoes across the Great Bear Lake to the mouth of the river. This would save us 10km of paddling and allow us to accomplish this new itinerary. We are grateful to Richard and Bill for these suggestions and decisions, as they would ultimately lead to everything going much more smoothly for us.
So we communicated to the guides in Deline that this is what we were doing, and communicated with the Deline people that we would be needing their shuttle service, and then off we went on our plane to Deline.
Once we arrived we were shuttled down in trucks to the lake edge. There was quite a bit of standing around while boats were retrieved and gear was sorted out. The morning is still cool and drizzling on and off. We have lunch or pack ourselves some sandwiches before shuttling to the river. We receive a really interesting talk with one of the local natives about the history of the area, and he suggests that we all make offerings to the land and water to guide as safely. We all take this seriously as we want to have a safe trip. He also tells a story of seing an eagle on the first day being good luck and how somtimes you will then see them everyday as if they are watching out for you. I bring this up because we did indeed see eagles every day. It gave me a nice feeling to see them after hearing this story.
We start getting the canoes across, the gear across, and finally all of us shuttled across the the mounth of the river.
Once we are on the other side, we start loading up canoes with gear and getting the canoe skirts on. It was a bit chaotic and I didn't feel like we were getting a ton of direction on how to load things or put on the skirt (I had to do it 3 times I think before I got it right as I didn't have the right pieces). After a brief pow wow with our team guides, we finally get into our canoes and start heading down the river.
With Erik in the bow, and me in the stern, we set off. I absolutely love being in a boat on the water. I really miss paddling actually. I haven't done a ton of canoeing, but I was on a dragonboat team for years, and rowed for years and have done a fair amount of canoeing/kayaking for pleasure. It didn't take me long to feel comfortable steering us down the river. I'm grateful for Erik...my powerhouse...in the bow.
We paddle for about 1.5 hours, and then stop for a break. We then have another 2.5 hours of paddling before reaching our campsite. The rain is absolutely torential today. It seems almost surreal at some stages. It is absolutely raining cats and dogs and pelting us as we try to make progress. There is little joy on today's segment of the trip. We can't even really enjoy the scenery as its hard to see it!
One thing that is truly remarkable however, is how clear the water is, and how fast the river is running. Sometime you're not sure you're travelling very fast at all, but then you look down and you can see the river rocks at the bottom of the river zipping past you. Its really amazing and a bit dizzying actually.
The other thing is that there isn't really a shoreline on this river. There are hardly any places where you can bring the canoes up onto the shore, which is why we need to reach certain milestone every day in order to camp. You don't need to get your feet wet in order to get out of the canoe, you can literally pull up alongside the shore and step right out onto land. Its like the river edge and bed was just sort of cut out of the earth...like a swimming pool.
Luckily once we get to the campsite, we are given a bit of reprieve for us to be able to get our tents up and our tarps up. We are all a bit cold and tired. As we sit under the tarps the wind starts up and the storm really gets going. We are finally driven to our tents as we need to take the tarps down before the collapse on our heads. I can't thank myself enough for making sure that I had rain gear on this trip...the other thing that has been wonderful and which I have worn nearly every day is a green fleece set and fleece socks. I looked like a bit of a leprechaun, but they are so cuddly and warm.
We crawl into our tent and amazingly its quite warm. With our tents being pelted by rain and wind, we slip off to sleep.
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