Month: August 2018

Carol and Glenn have certainly had their fair share of challenges and obstacles on Lake Winnipeg!  I (Carol’s daughter) have not heard from them in about 2 weeks!  But I knew everything was OK based on their daily SPOT check-ins and Progress Reports that Glenn’s Uncle John has been creating!

First of all, Tuesday, August 14th was their 100th day on this adventure from Vancouver, British Columbia to Ottawa, Ontario!  And they are still having a blast and smiling everyday! Congratulations!!

Lake Winnipeg is the 6th largest freshwater lake in Canada, exceeding Lake Ontario in size!  It is a very shallow lake with unpredictable winds that create high waves.  One of the biggest obstacles they have had are these waves.  And they actually capsized about a week ago!  They are OK but had quite the scare and quite the amount of items to dry out!

Fortunately, they did not lose any items but they did lose time from drying!  The capsize happened day 5 on Lake Winnipeg.  After a long day of paddling, around an extremely large point called Long Point, Carol and Glenn were unable to find a campsite.  They were tired but had to keep going, the winds picked up and flipped them right over!  This area of Lake Winnipeg is completely remote, no people, no cell service, no roads, no towns, no boats just the wild!

Along with capsizing Carol and Glenn have had their fair share of animal obstacles! A few days ago they came across a really nice campsite (which are hard to come by) but it was already taken by a pack of wolves!  They decided to let the wolves have their own campsite and continued on!  This put them at a record of 11 hours in one day in a canoe!

Also, the next day, while Glenn was doing the supper dishes on a beach,he was startled by Carol as he saw her shadow and thought she was a bear!. They both had a chuckle and Glenn continued to rinse the dishes only to see a bear approaching for real. With a spatula in hand he started yelling at the bear. The bear took notice. Only after banging their limited pots and pans together the bear left.

Maybe Carol was wearing this as she approached Glenn and scared him! (These are really 2 waterproof Skully Bags. One has all their clothes for 3 seasons.  The other has sleeping gear).

The below picture is a portion of Lake Winnipeg that Glenn’s Uncle John has created to show how they are by-passing coves to save time!  When the weather is good Carol and Glenn take advantage of crossing wider more open spaces of water!  The largest hop was 25 kilometers with a few small rocky islands in between.

Some very helpful locals at Grand Rapids ( where they started on Lake Winnipeg ) said if there is a north east wind, find a deep cove and be prepared to spend 2 days or more there as the lake is too dangerous for anyone to be on.

As of Aug. 27th they have spent 7 days on land and 9 paddling.  Carol and Glenn spend almost as much time on land waiting for winds to end as they do in the water! Thankfully there are nice beaches that they find along the way that that they totally enjoy exploring.

Keep up the amazing paddling!!!!!!

Carol and Glenn have made it to Lake Winnipeg and are travelling down the western shoreline until they arrive in Winnipeg. They expect to be on this lake anywhere from 3-6 weeks, weather depending.  Before arriving at this lake they were on the beautiful Cedar Lake, Manitoba.

The picture above is of the sun setting on Cedar Lake, Manitoba.  The haze was created by the burning forest fires in Alberta and British Columbia.  There were many islands and bays that they had to guide through on Cedar Lake.  Carol and Glenn had to pull out all of their resources to guide them through this lake which included their GPS, compass and map.

At one of their campsites on Cedar lake they were greeted by local fishermen.  They gave Carol and Glenn Pickerel and an update on the current weather!

After Cedar Lake they made it to Lake Winnipeg which has been a challenge already!  It is a very big lake with regular windy conditions and violent storms.  They have been winded already for a few days. Fortunately, the fishermen in the above picture warned them of the winds coming and they were able to find a protected campsite which is in the picture below. They will wait for the wind to die down and continue on their adventure!

Carol and Glenn have been passing by and camping on a variety of First Nations land.  Each time they have been welcomed to stay for as long as they need and have had the opportunity to learn about their culture and the importance of their land. “The waters flow free to all those that pass,” is a quote they have heard more than once.

                                

Keep on Paddling!

Carol and Glenn are very excited to be in Manitoba already!  They are almost finished paddling the Saskatchewan River and will be heading into Lake Winnipeg very shortly! Below is a picture of a map to show just how intricate and maze like the Saskatchewan River is.  They had to watch very carefully where the main current of the river flowed and used a GPS to guide them through the most challenging parts.  As the main waterway splits into many branches and arteries.

Carol and Glenn are very happy to be finished with the Saskatchewan River. Below is a picture of the Saskatchewan River Delta by Basia Irland, National Geographic. This section of the river has the largest fresh water delta in North America.  This particular area covers 10,000 square km!

The Saskatchewan River Delta is a sensitive area that plays an important role for the Metis and Cree First Nations and other communities in the area.  It is also one of the oldest and most important historic Hudson Bay Fur Trading post communities in Western Canada.  Carol and Glenn were able to find a beautiful camp site in the delta.

But they had to get into their tent pretty quick as the mosquitoes have been very intense!

That night they had a special visitor, a coyote.  The coyote approached their tent and barked and howled at them for 5 minutes before swimming back to the mainland.  The coyote was more than likely protecting her young as they are often quite timid and quiet.  Below is another picture on the Saskatchewan River Delta with a storm rolling in!

In a few days, Carol and Glenn will take on Lake Winnipeg which can be unpredictable in terms of wind, current and shallow waters so they may need to do some paddling at night! They predict they will be on this lake anywhere from 3-6 weeks!

Keep on Paddling!