DTB Update June 24

June 24 and we are on Little Dog Island in the middle of Lake of the Woods.

We finished off the Winnipeg River with our arrival at Kenora and Lake of the Woods. We were happy to be off the Winnipeg as the flood conditions really made paddling difficult and slow. However, few mishaps and everyone made it although many teams were hours behind the faster teams on some days.

Kenora and Lake of the Woods now another challenge. Everyone here seems to have a motor boat and all go full speed everywhere. A person can even pull up to the Safeway pier and shop then back into the boat and back out to the family house on an island. Ran into old ski friends from Winnipeg and another time.

The first trip on Lake of the Woods would be a two day affair with a camp out half way. We were on the water at 0700 and were led by Rick of the Borealis team as this was his home area. The day was calm and we again were fortunate as this big lake could be nasty. Rick led us on a circuitous route through islands and channels and after a 9 hour paddle inhot and muggy conditions, we arrived at Little Dog Island, apparently a favorite camping place of David Thompson and the Voyageurs. It should have been called Tick Island, they were everywhere. Big thunbderstorm in the night and the tent floor was wet in the AM. Took off in windier conditions the next day and just around the corner was a great camping spot!

The wind picked up all day and finally we arrived at a crew change spot and the organizers felt the winds were too high to continue that day so we took our canoes by trailer to the camp spot, Asanabe Camp Ground. It was a very nice spot and a good place to finally rest up after two very hard paddling days.