Gently does it...

Howard writes...

Hello from Quetico!

I feel almost like we are on a holiday rather than an adventure... A holiday is where you put on weight, and adventure when you lose it! What a great day, whatever, though...

We set off from Atikoken at 7am, and reached the Stanton Bay car park at 7h30. Our first portage was about 800m down to Pickerel Lake, and Jim insisted on helping with the canoe and heavy food pack... Great, my rest day! This is apparently the easiest portage we will have, and so a good reference for Imi. Well, it was slow as he stumbled, stubbornly resisting help, but moving with purpose and dignity a few metres behind me. We finally reached the water and our awaiting canoe and food bag, thanks to Jim. Imi openly acknowledged that it was tougher than he had envisaged, and a wake-up reality check. I also had a huge wake-up reality check: These portages are going to be very slow, and unless I make them a high-intensity, personal-growth lesson in patience, they will be adventure breakers for me! The option is no option, and I'll be sharing with you how I progress as the only pupil in my class! Those who know me well will probably be muttering that these lessons are well overdue!

At 8h33, I launched the canoe with Imi in the bow, me jumping in, and soon the team was paddling with the perfect synchronicity we had last year on the Yukon. The 20+ deg C water was a real pleasant change from that icy Yukon. Swimming stuff....

As we got out into the open water of Pickerel, a strongish head-wind picked up and the adventure struggle upped a few notches as waves occasionally popped over the bow. But, gee, it felt sooooo nice to be on the water, in the wilderness, numerous densely-wooded islands around. I know this sounds passe, and many of you have experienced it but this sudden peace just came across me, as the freedom and tranquility of our expedition was now a reality.

We paddled for 3hrs, not saying a word; we both knew this was time for engaging the self and connecting back to life on the water, and valuing the sometimes-silent team experience together.

The plan was a flexible plan, but we did anticipate at least a six-hour day. Well, this trip is about exploring, and as we came around a corner and into a wind-shadowed island corridor, in front of us was this perfect campsite opportunity. The decision was easy: let's stop for lunch. Well, as we beached, it was clear it was idyllic, a Huck Fynn place, and Imi made the suggestion that maybe we should just stay here overnight! So here we are, still here, and just a perfect day of swimming, meditating, intense discussions, and a tranquil lakeside dinner.

I sense we both just wanted this easy day, as I said to Imi: no better way to seemingly avoid the capitulation step from the comforts of normal life to the pleasurable hardships of adventure life. We are now well on the way, and are both really looking forward to a sunrise start and the first real portage 4km away.

That will all be tomorrow's story!

With the sun now 'set' behind our backdrop forest, I hear the unmistakable call of a loon as I prepare myself for Imi's blog dictation. Sadly, his writing project last night did not achieve the immediate success we had both hoped for, so we are back to the dictate-and-then-type process.

Here is the result. 
See Howard's previous blog post.