To the Bay or Bust...an adventure of historic proportions
by straighthairedcurly
August 3, 1989 Day 15 (Otoskwin River before Kakgiwizida Lake) 13 miles “The ups and downs continue. I used to feel I had a better handle on my emotions, but now they jerk me around. 500 miles. What the h*** are we doing trying to paddle 500 miles in 21 days? Sometimes I think we will never make it, and other times I am so psyched about it. I wish I would never get tired. Or that the wind would blow with us someday. But some things can’t be had.” (personal journal)
“We are actually on trail! We have canoed one whole day, cooked out, and are now in the tent. Unbelievable! It was so nice and cool today. All day the mist was rising from the river and blowing at us. It was a fascinating experience. Not that I haven’t seen mist moving before, but that it was moving so fast.” (group journal)
“Awesome rapids on the Otoskwin. We shot a lot of great stuff. The girls like the technical rapids although they thought the one BIG chute was pretty fun, too.” (trip journal)
August 4, 1989 Day 16 (Otoskwin R, between Kakgiwizida. L. & Ozhiski L.) 22 miles There are not many journal entries for these 2 days. We were pushing pretty hard to put miles behind our canoe. 500 miles in 3 weeks is a lot of miles to cover. Fortunately the daylight hours are plentiful.
August 5, 1989 Day 17 (Ozhiski Lake) 27 miles We entertained ourselves in the canoes by thinking of “One Hundred Ways to Murder Flies”. This was an ongoing obsession throughout the trip. Our group journal has lists of techniques (real and imaginary) as well as drawings from our Flycatching Contest. “A few highlights from the list of techniques: 1. Thwack them with a red wool sock 2. Dip in chocolate and eat them 3. Spike ‘em with a hairbrush 4. Spray them with seam sealer until their legs and wings are stuck together 5. Trap one in a deck of cards and shuffle them to death 6. Feed them Kris’ curry rice 7. Lay out a thin layer of biscuit dough, wait until the flies land, roll them up in it, slice, and bake 8. Don’t brush your teeth for 5 days, then breath on them as they fly by
This continues for pages, along with at 5 different designs for elaborate fly catching machines.”
August 6, 1989 Day 18 (Otoskwin R. after Ozhiski L.) 20 miles “My stomach hurts!!! We just had the most humongous meal. We started with Wally, the walleye that Biene caught on Ozhiski Lake this morning. He rode along with us all day just hanging out on his stringer. He even shot rapids except that he kept swimming into my paddle when we would back ferry. After eating Wally, we had pizza complete with pepperoni, black olives, mushrooms, and 2 kinds of cheese (provolone and mozzarella). Then, yes, then we ate a huge chocolate cake w/ yummy chocolate frosting. Few of us could finish. We stopped early today, because it was that or get caught on a 4 mile portage when it got dark.” (group journal) Quote from Each Day a New Beginning that I felt was very appropriate to add to the group journal: “We don’t know how to appreciate the calm without the occasional storm that pushes us to new limits of ourselves.”
August 7, 1989 Day 19 (Kabania Lake) 15 miles “We’ve had long days, but a lot of that is because the wind has blown hard against us every time we have a lake to cross. The wind has slowed us considerably. Today we did the 5.5 mile stretch of rapids into Kabania Lake. We tried to find the portage and couldn’t, so we set out to see what the rapids were like. Some big water, but we shot everything except 2 short stretches that we lined. It was a tiring, but fun, 5 hours.” (trip journal)
August 8, 1989 Day 20 (Attawapiskat Lake) 27 miles “We reached Lansdowne House at 6:10 pm EST. The Hudson Bay Store manager was kind enough to let us buy some supplies even though he had closed at 5:30. Biene had to buy a raincoat because she had left hers on an esker the day before.” (trip journal)
August 9, 1989 Day 21 (Attawapiskat River past Windsor Lake) 28 miles “The Femmes du Nord (alias tan and sexy sun goddesses) are absolutely cruising down the Attawapiskat River (we did 27 miles yesterday) and absorbing some rays. During lunch we invented the ‘swim and switch’. The steps are quite simple and easy to follow: 1) Everyone dons their boots 2) Everyone launches out of her position in the canoe 3) Swim around to a new position 4) Climb back in Note: recommended for hot and sunny days only.” (Morgan - group journal)
August 10, 1989 Day 22 (Beteau Lake) 25 miles “Being on trail is soooooo great! It’s raining now and we are all cozy in our tents. We camped fairly early again today, which is a very nice and needed thing. I was beginning to get crabby a lot because I was so tired. Sorry everyone. I still love you all a lot and am having a great trip.” (Lisa - group journal)
“Our campsite is so gorgeous. The pine trees are towering over our mossy, clear tent site overlooking the river. I LOVE THIS CAMPSITE. We even have the perfect biff! Thank you Morgan and Nissa for blessing us with your biff constructing talents.” (Lisa - group journal)
August 11, 1989 Day 23 (Attawapiskat River) 32 miles “After a day like today, it is almost possible to forget all the bad in the world. It is almost possible to forget everything outside this little world with seven people, three canoes, and everything we need to survive. The river is with us now for the rest of the trip. We have a little less than 300 miles to go and will drop 650 feet in elevation. I feel strong and trim and healthy. And happy. I don’t know if this trip has been a total success, but it certainly hasn’t been the flop it could have been. I feel bad for last year’s group not completing their trip. I know it must have been hard for the counselor because I just went through 10 days of the same crap. Granted, I didn’t bust a canoe or have a camper who wanted to go home. But I did have an injury to self, an injured camper, plus no way out of Cross Lake and subsequently no way out of Thompson, plus a camper who drank poison, and 6 girls whose mood swings bordered on manic depressive. But we all hung on, and it paid off. Never say quit until everything and then some has been tried (or your 35 days are all used up). The river just keeps talking, roaring, laughing, sighing. And we are with it all the way.” (personal journal)
August 12, 1989 Day 24 (Attawapiskat River north of Pym Island) 37 miles “Kiss a rock. Hug a tree. Love the river. This pretty much sums up my feelings lately. I’ve been in love with the wilderness, with its moods and many faces. I’ve felt invigorated by the breeze on my face. I’ve swaggered along the river banks feeling strong and healthy and confident. I’ve laughed easily and cried little. The mileage has been brutal, but the rewards many.” (personal journal)
“We are awesome! We whipped off 37 miles and still had HOURS to hang around our campsite.” (Kris - group journal)
August 13, 1989 Day 25 (Attawapiskat River) 27 miles “The scenery began to show distinct changes. High sand cliffs (slumped in many areas) began lining the river, and these led down to soggy, gravel shores. What fun I had last night getting my feet (in my dry shoes!) suctioned twice into the muck.” (Nissa - group journal) It was incredibly challenging to try to wash our dirty feet in the river and get them safely tucked into dry shoes with the shoreline full of a “quick mud” like material.
“The river has become more shallow and the rapids we come upon consist of shallow, gentle standing waves. This at first seemed extremely easy, but their shallowness was something we had to be careful of. Carrie and I paddled through the end of one with only about 6 inch deep water without grounding once. We saw a black bear walking on the shore about 30 feet away from us as we paddled. I’ve never seen one so close in the wild. Speaking of wildlife, two river otters peeked their heads out of the water and stared at us as we ate our split pea soup and biscuit dinner. How curious, how bizarre.” (Nissa - group journal)
August 14, 1989 Day 26 (Attawapiskat River) 32 miles We are growing some alfalfa sprouts today. Some fresh greens will taste good.
August 15, 1989 Day 27 (Attawapiskat River before Muketei River) 30 miles “So far nothing on the Attawapiskat River has even come close to the rapids we shot on a 5 mile stretch of the Otoskwin, but it is still a fun river. The scenery is not what one would expect for Ontario. Much of the scenery during the last 2 days looks like it belongs out west in Arizona or something. We are all very tired after doing the big mileage lately, but we should have no trouble fitting in a layover day soon.” (trip journal)
August 16, 1989 Day 28 (Attawapiskat River after Missisa River) 25 miles Long days, but still wonderful to be out on trail.
August 17, 1989 Day 29 (layover day) We earned this layover day. It was Morgan’s birthday so we had a relaxing, food filled, celebratory day. This is the only layover day we will be able to fit into this 3 week route.
August 18, 1989 Day 30 (Attawapiskat River, end of Matateto map) 27 miles No journal entries. However, on one of these days, we came across some natives from Attawapiskat fishing for sturgeon. They come up the river in the summer and set up fishing camps where they stay for a week or more. We stayed at a past fishing camp one night and had seen the massive skulls of the sturgeon sitting on the rocky shore. The group we passed, held up a 6+ foot long sturgeon to show us. Wow, that is one ugly looking fish.
August 19, 1989 Day 31 (Attawapiskat River, beginning of Kapiskao map) 25 miles No journal entries specific to this day, but we did have a running list of “Excuses to Stop Paddling” that reached 89 excuses. A few highlights: 1. Check sunburn 2. Wipe sweat from forehead 3. Hair in your mouth 4. Check smelly armpits 5. Something in your eye 6. Check fishing rod 7. Look at leech swimming by 8. Adjust hat 9. Switch from kneeling to sitting (or vice versa) 10. Check map 11. Check arm hairs 12. Pluck annoying arm hairs 13. Check tan line 14.Put on sunscreen and so on and so on up to… #89) Ready ourselves (clothes wise) for encounters with civilization.
August 20, 1989 Day 32 (Attawapiskat River) 26 miles “Laughing. High cliffs. Beautiful scenery. Ignoring the drizzle. Enjoying the fast water. Maybe even feeling a little cocky. Suddenly, a frightening reminder of our fragility in the wilderness. One of the canoes breaches a rock. Not a hard rapids. Just a lapse of attention for a moment. Swamped. Gear floating away...packs, paddles, duffer seat. The canoe bending around a rock. Carrie and I paddled around scooping up as much gear as we could. Lost 2 paddles and the duffer seat. The canoe was folded on a boulder. Thank God for ABS...it bounced right back into shape. Suddenly the weather seemed dangerously cold. We rushed to set up camp. All people are warm and safe...egos a little bent around the edges, lots of wet gear. Tomorrow we’ll pick up and go on. I need strength, I’m tired. Everything is fine, but I’m tired. Thankful, but tired.” (personal journal)
August 21, 1989 Day 33 (Attawapiskat River) 30 miles Seals followed us on the river today. We must be getting close to James Bay.
August 22, 1989 Day 34 (town of Attawapiskat) 25 miles “Made it to the town of Attawapiskat with no trouble. Our days were relatively short compared to the Otoskwin R. and we had enough time for a layover day and an extra day (tomorrow) to paddle out to James Bay. We arrived here the same day as a group from Camp Wanapitei. They ended up with this route because the Severin River was closed to travel due to the forest fires. We had met them earlier in our route. They are a large group (15 people) of boys and girls with 3 guides. Very nice. The people in Attawapiskat have been very friendly. A couple natives took us to see some soapstone carvings and have supplied us with information about paddling to the Bay.” (trip journal)
August 23, 1989 Day 35 (town of Attawapiskat, traveled out to James Bay) We ended up with motorboat transport out to James Bay today since the wind was too strong to paddle. The landscape was desolate, but beautiful. We wandered around for quite awhile just soaking it in. We were invited to a teepee where they smoke snow geese. We sat and talked with some nice women and sang lots of songs around a campfire. We were given a braid of sweet grass and some bark carvings by folks we befriended.” (trip journal)
August 24, 1989 Day 36 (flew out to Kapakasing) “Summary: Generally a good route. Some beautiful scenery on the Attawapiskat and some great whitewater on the Otoskwin. In general, the whitewater on the Attawapiskat is easy but fun, especially dropping over the shallow limestone ledges and traveling through the labyrinth rapids. The wildlife is varied. Lots of geese, ducks, bald eagles, bears, river otters, caribou, and even seals near the end. Lots of bird life. Bring a bird book. We had lots of east and north winds so plan accordingly. We only needed 2.5 days for Kabania and Attawapiskat Lakes, but the other camp group had worse winds and needed 4 days.” (trip journal)
Final thoughts 30 years later: This was an incredibly difficult trip, but is also the most memorable trip I have ever taken. The emotional ups and downs, the mental challenge of planning numerous alternate rotes, the physical challenge of traveling 500 miles in 21 days all took their toll. But they also created amazing memories and forged us all into strong, confident women. If we could handle all that, we could handle anything...and we have.
Donate - BWCA.com