Day 12

Today, hot and exhausted, 30 k into our afternoon we neared the confluence of the north and south channels. We are now on the Attawapiskat proper. To celebrate we got out on a point right on the confluence and sacrificed the watermelon. Nick did a fantastic job as tripper today that we let him have the first swing at it. I managed a photo that I’m proud of, taken at the exact moment of contact. We continued on the river, which is absolutely massive by the standards I’m used to. It is about 250m wide on average, with fast flowing current its whole width. We have an ambitious plan to cover 45k tomorrow, make it to a beautiful hunt cabin, and possibly have a pit day there. We pulled off today and are staying in a reasonable sparse section of forest. It is by no means a site where anyone has ever stayed, and so is covered with moss, fallen logs, and rosebushes and saplings. Bill and I went to town with our machetes upon our arrival, and now we’re in our tents, our only complaints the humidity and the deer flies, both of which will be gone soon.