Day 9

Today began frigid. It was 11 C in our tent when we awoke, and that was with the sun shining on it. The air felt like midnight in autumn. Somehow the pressure has shot up 2o points over night. A cold sunny morning with north winds made us slow off the site though we hurried to make progress. Apprehensively we pressed on to Neskantaga First Nation, knowing we may be out of luck, it being Sunday. Directly after we pulled in, a nearly toothless, smiling native man pulled up in his van and asked about our trip. He told us the Northern was closed, but he kindly roused the owner of a local convenience store from her breakfast to open her place for us. Bill and I set off through the desolate settlement. Shacks and mobile homes with siding and aluminum roofing, converted to houses, flanked the gravel roads. The town was asleep save for a couple of young boys on bikes, and a mother carrying a child on her back. The woman who ran the store pulled in, smiling, as we sauntered up. We walked inside. We picked up some ground beef and various treats for ourselves and the guys. Good things for day 9. I saw a machete I liked and immediately decided on it, as I had been wanting one for awhile. A souvenir from my first visit to a Canadian first nations reserve. We set off and hours later pulled into Landsdowne House, the old location of Neskantaga before it moved. We had lunch on a grass field and explored the deserted lace that was apparently still used for mass, ceremonies, funerals, barbecues, etc. Pressing on, we’d found the headwinds and waves we’d been battling cut out completely, giving way to a calm, warm day. We pulled into a beach, and we have been relaxing all afternoon. Tom caught a good sized pike which we cleaned and fried as an hors d’oeuvre. Delicious. The sky is clear horizon to horizon, and the lake is like blue glass in an orange sunset. We’ve opted to take the south channel of he Attawapiskat which starts at the end of this massive lake. It is much shorter and could save us a lot of time, but the sets that are marked there are massive. We know they were marked in high water, and he have low water. So far each set has been 1-2 classes below the marked value, so in the true spirit of adventure the South Channel it will be. I sit here, perched on my rock over the shore, thinking about how tranquil this trip has been, how time virtually stops when you live this life. It’s only day 9, but many of us feel like it has already ended. We do try to live in the moment as much as we can, but time flies. I will turn in tonight, the low sun swinging along the horizon, and we’ll be listening to the echoes of the boys laughing and breaking sticks resonating across the lake.