Up at 5:30am this morning at the Super 8 hotel. Must say that the bed was comfortable! Had continental breakfast and away we went to the Johnson Lake put in. The road was super rough but the Subaru handled the pot holes and loose rock like a champ. Arranged all our gear, locked up the car and paddled onto Johnson Lake at 8:30am. Spent the whole year thinking about this moment and here it is!

There is something about getting away in the wilderness that gets in your blood, that is a direct quote from Greg Negard. The first portage was 525 meters so it was a wakeup call for all of us. At the portage out of Johnson Lake, we landed on a marshy bog. The whole piece of land moved when Dad got out of the canoe. I stepped into what I thought was shallow muddy water to lift out a Duluth pack from the canoe and WHAMMM! My right leg went straight down into the muck. Not even sure how deep that was, probably would have consumed me whole if I stepped in with both feet! Now, paddling onto Douglas Lake and making good time. We were not in a rush and just wanted to scope out a good campsite on this Lake. If the campsite was nice, we could paddle back here on the day before we leave the park. That way we are not paddling so hard on the last day out.

Jackson’s Mom had made small sandwiches on sweet dinner rolls and we stopped to hammer down a few of them. After lunch we went into Hatchet Lake, almost like a light switch, the wind kicked up and we knew there was going to be a tough paddle ahead of us. Wind, waves and white caps… the 3 W’s were working their magic and we had to paddle hard to keep up with the speed of the Lake. There was a campsite on the north run of Hatchet that we decided to stay on for the evening. With rain and thunderstorms in the forecast for this evening, it was crucial to find a place to set up camp and get the tent and tarp up for shelter. Meanwhile, there is a forest fire going on in Saskatchewan, causing a smoky haze to drowned out the sun and you could smell a faint burnt smell in the air all day long. Now at camp, checking the place out and I noticed a problem and had to take care of it right away. There was a tree down on the path to our tent and it this definitely was a job for the Sawvivor camping saw! Had Dad take a video of Jackson and I cutting the tree and throwing it to the side. The tree was already dead and would make great fire wood for the evening.

Soon as Jackson and I got to camp we were itching to go fishing! Dad said we have to set up camp before we go out fishing. We were bummed but Dad was right, need to get the place set up in case of bad weather, and rainy clouds were on their way. We finished setting up camp and Dad pointed out the calmest part of the lake which was the shore line across the bay. Jackson and I tied up our rods and headed out. We paddled across the bay and then drifted all the way down the shore (no bites) with the wind pushing us at a good pace. The wind was actually pushing us to fast and with the waves and wind working together; it was difficult to keep the canoe going straight. We were definitely off course and the wind picked up even more now. Needed to head back to camp now! Started paddling into the wind and Jackson would hunker down when a gust of wind hit us. The wind was so great that it took the side of the canoe and turned us into the shore! We were in trouble as we were heading away from camp and in the wrong direction straight into a rock pile. Jackson and I back paddled for our lives and was able to avoid the danger. That wind was pushing us around and it felt like we were going to do a complete 360. The wind was not letting us get to our destination. Jackson and I had no choice but to pull off on the shore 200 yards from camp. We could see Dad walk to the edge of the campsite to look at us. We waved and so did he. Just before we went out on this excursion, Dad went over some signals for the whistles we all have around our necks. He told us to use our whistles when in trouble and to send a signal of 2 long, 1 short, and 1 long whistle like Grandpa Wally Bredemeier would use on the locomotive. That was our safe whistle and not a distress signal. We waited it out for about 30 min but the situation was not getting any better. Finally, we got the canoe pointed in the right direction and paddled hard to get to our campsite. Our adrenaline was rushing as we pulled into the campsite. Dad said we should have paddled back on the shoreline, covered from the wind and then crossed the lake. Sometimes we learn the hard way! This is a perfect example of taking caution in a light weight canoe with heavier than normal wind gusts.

7:30pm rolled around and so did the thunderstorm! Dad headed into the tent first when the rain started to come down. We were all pretty wiped out from the long car ride, paddling, and portaging. I thought some relaxation with the rain coming down would put me right to sleep. Boy was I wrong about the magnitude of this storm! First of all, I was on the side of the tent, Jackson and Dad were on level ground but I must have had a slope of at least 45 degrees! Throughout the night, I kept slipping off the Big Agnes air mattress. Fell asleep to lightning flashes, rolling thunder that carried on for miles and pouring rain, somehow managed to fall asleep in all that!