We Made It! JESSICA LAKE – Day Sixty Eight

JESSICA LAKE – Day Sixty Eight

You would be hard pressed to think of a more fabulous time than our last full day on the water. It began with a foggy, flat morning where the sun’s rays were illuminated in the haze and birds flew out from the grasses as we passed. Some Canadian geese scared the life out of me, taking off full speed a few feet away, where they were hidden in the weeds. When we reached the widest parts of Crowduck Lake, spanning multiple kilometers in all directions we had expected wind (which from any direction would have been unfortunate) and were lucky to have the flattest day of all time. We coasted on towards Big Whiteshell Lake.

Erik almost took a swim in a swamp, after taking the worse of two paths on the portage out of Crowduck Lake. I found him clinging to a tree with one hand holding a tree, trying not to topple into the waist deep mud in every direction. At the end of the portage a very kind couple offered us fresh carrots and cucumbers from their garden. Which was a real lifesaver, as we had planned a nutritious lunch of granola bars and leftover candy. After a meandering river and a flat, easy portage we found ourselves at an incredible campsite for our final night and cooked up our favourite meal of shepherd’s pie and brownies.

Ten weeks is a long time. So waking up on the last morning and realizing you will see your family and home for the first time in over two months put a huge smile on our faces. Well more mine, Erik was still mostly asleep. So we turned on some music and had a little dance party while we packed up our site for the last time. We did our final portage of the summer – something I won’t miss this fall – over a rocky 1.5km trail onto Jessica Lake. We were thrilled at how far we came and excited to see everyone back home, but so very sad to wave goodbye to the wild and our way of life here.