Bears, Storms, & Castles. Oh my!

Our second part of our Dryden Area trip started on Bending lake where we paddled to a beach oasis to camp at for the night. It was quite the treat of a spot that it seemed many stayed at. It was hard to say goodbye to that campsite the next morning. We knew we had a lot of paddling on this section of our trip (approximately 20km a day) but it had gorgeous views along the way. The portages were so much shorter than the first section and that made us very happy. The first portage was right beside a set of rapids and that’s where the humidity hit us like a wall. Although this portage was short, it was incredibly steep and it felt like a little victory when we got everything to the other side. Of course, by this time all of our stuff was nice and dry since the last down pour that we were due for another soaking. So again we got stuck on a portage in , what felt like a hurricane, getting drenched. André didn’t mind the thunderstorm but I on the other hand was terrified, which we laughed about later. Lots more paddling continued and we came across two families that took the break in the weather as their chance to get the heck out of dodge. Our next campsite was another beautiful beach spot on Dibble lake that also was well maintained from frequent visitors. It was also a very spacious site that could fit more than 4 tents for sure. We planned to stay at this site for two nights because we were just going for a day trip to White Otter Castle the next day and then heading back the same way. The next day was very laid back but of course still had lots of paddling as well. From Dibble lake we travelled through two pothole lakes and arrived in White Otter lake. We passed many perfect campsites, some of which were on beaches, on our way over to White Otter Castle. We toured around the castle and learned about it’s history. We also had the pleasure of meeting Heather Sorko, a fellow paddler. After our day trip it was very nice to come back to a camp that was already set up. We relaxed and made a little fire that night. The next day we started to head back to our planned meeting spot where Turtle river and the 622 meet. On our return, we did however come across some stickers that were removed from signs that we had placed just a few days prior. We didn’t appreciate seeing this but re-stickered and moved on. We made our way to out campsite on an island in Turtle river. Apparently, we just made it in time to the island when the rain came pouring down Fortunately, we were able to string up a tarp to hide under until it settled a little bit later. Once the rain came to a stop we quickly set up our tents and ate dinner because we knew there was a bad thunderstorm heading for us very soon. The storm was very loud but didn’t last too long, so settling in to fall asleep wasn’t an issue (especially not for André who fell asleep during the thunder). The next day was our last day and so we were excited to get going. We paddled over 15km and luckily only had two very short portages. We paddled through the wind and rain trying to beat another thunderstorm that was set to start in the middle of the afternoon. As we got closer to our meeting spot the weather began to clear and we even got to see a black bear and her two cubs. After such a big day we were so thrilled to come around a bend and see our Dryden Path of the Paddle members (Tim and Ember) waiting for us.

We took a well deserved break in Dryden and had the privilege of staying with the Path of the Paddle members Tim and Ember Mckillop. We would liked to give the whole Mckillop family a big thank you for being so generous and helpful. We would also like to thank Garth Gillis for all his hard work and preparation. 

Written by Tanice Edited by André