Bloodvein River Trip Journal June 25 to July 10, 1998 [Return to Picture Book]     [Return to News]

        I awoke to the sound of rustling sheets. Everyone was up and changing into their trip clothes, but not a word was spoken. We folded our sheets and stacked them on our beds. Once finished, we gathered our belongings and walked over to the Trip House. After a few minutes, we climbed into the van and were off. We all slept until we reached the border, where we ran into a small delay. We waited in the van for over an hour while Mike and Eugenio talked to the border patrol. Soon enough, we were on our way again. The whole group faded back and forth into consciousness. We eventually made the turn off to our drop off point in the town of Red Lake, Ontario. After driving a dirt road, Mike and Ryan walked down a path to Black Bear Lodge to ask the owner, Kim, if we could use his property to put into Red Lake. After they returned with the good news that we could use his land, we unloaded the van and trailer and began the half-mile portage to Red Lake. We were quick and efficient.

        We put in on a bay of Red Lake and waived good-bye to the people at the fishing lodge. They told us that a foursome of older folks just left the morning before for the Bloodvein—we were headed to the Gammon. We began our short paddle to our first campsite. We camped on a small peninsula next to an old trapper cabin and a flashing light that marked the point. Eugenio, Jeff and I found an acceptable campsite. Our dinner was a fresh salad and chips. We turned in early because tomorrow will be a long day.

Day 2, June 26^th by Marshall

        Today we awoke bright and early (5:30am!) to get a taste of what this trip was going to be like. As a matter of fact, we didn’t get a taste, we got a mouthful. Today was filled with many difficult portages that came one after another. The sun was beating down on us. Our first portage of the day came after a long paddle through Pipestone Bay early in the morning. We entered the burnout here. The burnout made the portage even worse since no trees were left to shade us from the bright, hot sun. With plenty of energy, the group took this portage by storm and got most of the equipment across quickly. But on the second attempt to get the rest of the gear to the end, we ran into a problem. The straps on one of our food packs (which is the smallest but oddly the heaviest) broke, and the other strap was nearing the same doom. It took three of us to haul it across the portage.

        After this, no relief was found. Another portage awaited us just across the next lake. Running low on water and energy, we drudged across the portage. Following this portage, we entered Lund Lake and another portage awaited us on the other side. That portage led to a small pothole lake surrounded by floating moss. The first 50 yards of the next portage was a mushy, spongy kind of moss and we dragged our canoes across it. We took turns acting like sled dogs pulling the canoes through the moss as fast as we could. It was fun, but it wore us all out. We ate lunch after this portage and paddled to our campsite where we set in for a long night sleep.

Day 3, June 27^th by Kyle

        This morning we all woke up hoping to split off onto the Gammon route. After a ½ mile portage, we entered a long lake and Michael said "Bloodvein to the right, Gammon to the left." We headed left. Everyone's spirits were high. I was very excited. We were met with a few small portages and pull-overs in the morning. By lunch, we had entered Indian House Lake, a huge lake with many islands. We were out of the burnout too, for the most part. We ate lunch on a small island, and prepared for our next portage. A 3/4 mile (65 chains) portage waited for us on the other side of Indian House. After a long paddle, we roared across the portage in 20 minutes.

        On the other side of the portage, we had a short paddle and Marshall and I found the next portage, marked as a 45 chainer. As Mike and Ryan looked it over they told us to stay put and they would be back. After 30 minutes or more, they came back. The small creek marked on our maps had become impassable in the low water this summer. The portage had a second path which led to a small lake that had a creek draining from it, so Ryan and Mike left with a canoe to check out that option. Again, though it was impassable. Looking over the maps, Ryan and Mike were concerned that the next creek marked on the map would also be impassable-and it was 5 kilometers long.

        Mike and Ryan decided that rather than risk trying to push through, we would backtrack and attempt to descend the Bloodvein. This news came like an axe to a tree. Our hopes went way down. First the Leyond was impassable due to low water, and now the Gammon. I was angry but then realized that this group was very good. So we camped near a cabin and hoped the weather would hold. While building a fire, Marshall and Eric created an elaborate structure of logs to hold the wagan stick and Jeff battled an obscene tick. After the mac & cheese dinner we headed to our tents. We have a lot of ground to make up in the next two days to get back on schedule.

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Day 4, July 28^th by Alex

        Mike awoke us at 6:30 during a break in the rain. As we were putting away our sleeping bags and air mattresses, it started to drizzle. We temporarily delayed leaving the tent until it stopped raining. We had raisin bran and date bars for breakfast and then loaded the canoes from the dock at the campsite. We paddled through intermittent rain while we backtracked through the long portage and Indian House Lake. By lunch, the rain had cleared and the sun was shining. It became very hot. We stopped at a talus formation for lunch, just before the mile portage which would put us on track for our new route down the Bloodvein. We had pb&j pilot biscuits, gorp and jerky for lunch. We ate quickly hoping to reduce our travel for Day 5. No one seemed to be upset by our backtracking-we pressed through.

        By afternoon the drizzle had returned. We tackled the mile portage which led into Knox Lake, essentially the headwaters of the Bloodvein. We broke the portage into two ½ mile segments and doubled back to get any remaining gear. Keeping with tradition, most everyone sprinted the last 50 yards of the portage when Knox Lake came into view. Thankfully, much of the burned-out part of the portage had been cleared and the low water made it pretty dry. In the middle there was a stream that cut through the portage. You had jump along roots and rocks to make it across dry, but most of us ended up wet to our waist. Eugenio tripped here and came out looking like a wet rat. Kyle made it to the end of the portage first and headed back and encouraged everyone on.

        After paddling Knox Lake, we made a short portage and paddled to our campsite. We camped on an island in Murdock Lake, a long, winding lake. It was getting late when we found the unmarked campsite that had once been used by fishermen as a camping spot. We immediately set up our tents and began dinner. The intermittent drizzle continued as we headed to bed. Tomorrow we will have to paddle nearly 40 miles to reach our layover site.

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Day 5, July 29^th by Eugenio

        We woke up at 5:15 to hit our big, long day. After Mike's call "everybody up," we quickly packed our gear to hit the day. We had to paddle almost 40 miles to get to our next campsite and to catch up on our schedule, so we started paddling by 6:00. We paddled for a long time through long lakes, stopping occasionally for water breaks. We paddled through Murdock and Larus Lakes and only had a few short portages in the morning. We made good time through the morning and ate a short lunch. We were already getting tired from a long morning of paddling in the heat.

        In the afternoon we continued our paddle and entered an area where the Bloodvein is like a long lake. We only had three portages in the afternoon; all were pretty short. We paddled almost the entire time. It was very hot and sunny and we got very tired. After our last portage around a small falls, we only had 4 clicks (4km) to our campsite. We noticed a big storm building behind us and paddled quickly to try to get to our campsite on Artery Lake. We stopped only for a few minutes at the Indian pictographs because of the building storm. Just as we were entering Artery Lake, Mike and Ryan told us to pull of and wait for the thunderstorm to pass. We were only a kilometer away from our campsite but waited on a small point for about 30 minutes for the storm to pass.

        We arrived exhausted, but happy, at our campsite around 8:00pm. We had been on the water for 14 hours! We ate dinner and most of us went to bed because we were so tired from the very long day. Justin and a couple of other guys stayed up since tomorrow was a layover day.

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Day 6, June 30^th by Kyle

        Today was the day of rest from our huge Day 5. We all enjoyed it and needed it, sleeping until 9:30am or 10:00am. Our campsite was a beautiful sight on the north side of Artery Lake with a great view of pine and rock islands. Our tents were set back in the jack pines and spruce. Alex made our pancakes and was busy around the kitchen as normal. Marshall and Eric went fishing and caught a few northern and walleye (one really nice walleye). After breakfast, Ryan, Justin, Eugenio, Eric, and Nick headed back to the pictographs to do a little cliff jumping on the 30 foot cliffs that the pictographs were painted on. They all piled into one canoe, leaving only a few inches of free board and not much legroom-very funny. They had a blast there.

        We also did a little cliff jumping at our campsite. The cliffs were smaller than the pictograph cliffs but still very fun. Just about everyone jumped. The water gave us a lot of relief because it was so hot and sunny.

        At dinner, the pizzas were good, but we still all need a little practice with the outback oven. By evening the bugs got pretty bad too. It was a beautiful day though and I felt especially good after our huge day yesterday and overcoming our disappointment at the Gammon headwaters.

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Day 7, July 1^st by Jeff

        At 6:15 this morning, we awoke and got moving. We were a little slower than usual this morning since it had been a layover day yesterday. After such a peaceful, relaxing layover day, though we were full of energy. The weather was beautiful and almost cloudless as we put the canoes into the water and began paddling. Almost immediately we hit some fastwater that got us excited about the coming rapids we would encounter next.

        The rapids were short but sweet. A large wave sat between rocks on the left; whitewater with shallow rocks were on the right. The approach had to be just right to make it through. We unloaded the canoes and studied the current. Mike and Eugenio went down first. After all canoes had shot it, we all were successful except Alex and Nick, who capsized after grabbing their gunwales. We got them out of the water and dried out quickly.

        The rest of the day was a fun mix of portages and fast water. In the morning, after a pullover with rollers (made life easy), we crossed into Manitoba. We passed some girls who were camping just across the border. In the afternoon, we passed through Bushy and Stonehouse Lakes, and at one point stopped to climb around a talus formation called Split Rock. The day passed quickly.

        Master chefs Luke and I made excellent spaghetti for dinner. Before long we were in our tents and asleep. The day closed with clear skies. Our campsite was next to some rapids where Mike had seen a mysterious helicopter on previous trips. The helicopter never showed, though we did meet two guys from the Ministry of Natural Resources, who portaged past us, going up stream. The site was beautiful and it ended a very fun day perfectly.

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Day 8, July 2^nd by Nick

        We awoke to the pitter-patter of rain at the surprisingly late hour of 7:15. When the rain slowed, we broke camp and hastily ate breakfast. This was a rainy day to say the least. All morning the rain kept coming, and most of the morning we paddled and portaged with our heads down to keep the water from hitting our faces. Occasionally, in the short breaks from the rain, someone would sing a few songs until the rain began again.

        By lunch, the rain had not let up, though it seemed to break for just enough time to put some pilot biscuits together. The lunch spot was a portage around a falls and the end of the portage was very steep. The rain made the end of portage more difficult. The rocks were unbelievably slippery and many of us fell.

        As we pulled up to a rather long portage, we ran into an Outward Bound group headed up the Bloodvein to Wallace Lake---hmmm. We waited for an hour for them to complete the portage, all the while we were in our canoes getting pelted by the rain. We completed the portage in about 45 minutes, completely soaked by the rain. Many of us fell on the portage too. The beginning and the end were both very slippery; the beginning was rock, the end was mud.

        It was quite a day. We went to bed with clearing skies next to some rapids. Camping next to rapids is actually quite nice and helps you get to sleep.

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Day 9, July 3^th by Luke

        With everyone a little down after the previous day's events and weather, we awoke to a very clear and very cool day. Paddling away from our campsite, we found ourselves wandering through the morning mist of a fresh July day. Having missed several opportunities to shoot rapids on Day 8 due to the inclement weather and low water, we made up for lost chances moving in and out of whitewater for most of the day. Just before lunch, we came to the Gammon confluence off to our left. We stopped briefly at a survey marker placed by A. Gammon on a cliff overlooking the Bloodvein.

        Perhaps most notable from the morning was a set of three rapids that Mike says are his favorite of the trip, and possibly of any trip he's taken. Running between and island on your left and the shore on the right, you are pushed through a chute no wider than 20 feet across and at times even narrower. First you set up to the right and are pushed hard left, then you swing around and turn back right into a small whirlpool. At the other end of the whirlpool, you have to shoot down the center of a 3 foot drop into a pool at the end. The shoot takes only a minute or so, and though perhaps not the most technical of the rapids we shot during the day, they were exhilarating and left every member of the group with a pounding chest.

        However exciting the day might have been with several sets of rapids, we found our greatest challenge at our campsite, "Shark Rapids". It is an enormous flow of water squeezed through a narrow bend and is named shark rapids for its ability to take a stable Penobscot and pull it under the water for 50 yards making it appear like a shark just under the surface of the water. The low water accentuated the traps and hazards in the rapids. You must set up to the right of the rapids to avoid a rock near the top, but not go too far right or you will fall into a hydraulic on the right side. You then must ride out a series of enormous white waves down the chute. We studied "shark" for a while before attempting it. After nine attempts at shooting the rapids, we tallied a perfect nine successful runs. It is an amazing ride with a huge drop, and we were more respectful of the river than ever after shooting "shark."

        The day finished with a delicious black bean & rice burrito dinner and swimming at the base of the rapids in our PFDs. I really feel we joined together as a group and successfully overcame the adversity of the trip, conquering fears and hesitations in the process. Rebounding from a depressing Day 8, the Bloodvein River trip of 1998 came together on Day 9.

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Day 10, June 4^th by Justin

        We woke to the sound of Thompson telling us to grab our raingear because it looked like it might rain. It was cold, even for 6:00am, so the window and door coverings in our tent were zipped near the top. We got dressed and hopped out of our tents; the air was crisp and cold, and then noticed there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Thompson had fooled all of us.

        There was a thick mist that rose off the river like flames off the top of the water. It was almost perfect: the mist, the crisp, cool air and the roar of the rapids. I sat on the rocks in awe, eating my raisin bran and banana nut bar. It didn't take any of us very long to finish eating and we loaded the packs and wanagans into the canoes. After a quick toothbrush break on the water, we started our paddling day.

        We paddled through a marshy area for a while and caught a glimpse of a moose near the shore. It was eating grass in knee deep water. After it disappeared into the pines, we paddled into the last lake of the trip, Katunigan Lake, finally stopping for a much needed water break. It's hard to believe that we are nearing the end of the trip. We continued paddling through the morning, singing patriotic songs and the national anthem since it was the Fourth of July. I asked Wilson, since he's country boy and singing cadet to sing "I'm Proud to be an American." It took him a while to remember the words, but then he sang it. I got goose bumps.

        After a short break we hit a couple of portages. On the second portage, Eric lost sight of the path and fell, twisting his ankle. Luke and I found him pretty quickly though, since he hadn't gone far off the trail. His ankle wasn't badly hurt, so we moved on.

        We stopped for lunch at a campsite on a portage next to some enormous rapids. We ate our lunch and all went to sleep. It was beautiful and sunny. Thompson woke us and told us to finish the portage, so we rose and started the job. Some of us noticed that Thompson's tent was pitched. When we finished the portage, Wilson and Thompson called us out onto some rocks to let us know we were actually at our campsite. We had done an entire day's work before lunch.

        We had a lazy afternoon, many of us sleeping. Later, we wanted to swim in the base of the rapids, so Wilson jumped in to test it for us, but hit us butt on a shallow rock when he jumped in. We were still able to swim though, further downstream.

        Kornman cooked up some fresh french fries and then Mike's Meal for dinner. It was all very tasty and gratifying. We wrapped up the day playing the Name Game with celebrities-Luke won. We cleaned up the kitchen, circled up for our usual day's debriefing and called it an early evening.

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Day 11, July 5^th by Eric

        Up early as usual, we set off on our 29 km day. It was longer than yesterday, mainly because we had more portages. Nick and I finally got the rather large sleeping pad under control and stuffed into our Duluth pack. We paddled and portaged all morning, shooting occasional fast water or low-class rapids. The scenery was beautiful. Some spots had rock climbing several feet high while others parts the shield just sloped gently into the river. Unfortunately, I feel a bit sick today.

        We stopped for lunch at the head of a portage around a huge gorge. We had reentered some burnout from about 10 years ago, and the jack pines were all five to six feet high. I entertained everyone with my moose drinking technique at the edge of the river. I think everyone will look forward to a day's rest and relaxation tomorrow during our layover day. It seems that everyone is a bit irritable today, probably tired from the last few days. Today is hot and sunny, only making everyone a bit more tired.

        After lunch, we portaged up and around the gorge; a fairly long walk, with some steep spots. The path was marked with rock cairns along the top edge of the cliff that looked into the gorge. It was beautiful there.

        In the afternoon, the river split into 3 channels. We took the middle, portaged around a waterfall, then shot a short set of rapids after it. Shortly after that last portage, we arrived at our campsite at Manitou Rapids, tired from the heat and many portages.

        Just before dinner, as we all relaxed, a black bear swam across the river just a few yards upstream from the rapids and our campsite. Eugenio, Justin and I watched it swim then disappear on shore. It was an amazing site.

        These truly are men of the north, very knowledgeable and capable. Some of the guys will be receiving their fifth tam. I wonder what it will be like to receive my first.

        Around 10:00pm, everyone but Justin and Eugenio had gone to bed. Late that night, Justin and Eugenio woke Nick and I up. They were watching the northern lights. It was an awesome sight. They were brilliant and reached all over the sky. It was another one of my firsts during this trip, and another wonderful Canadian day.

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Day 12, July 6^th by Eric

Layover day at Manitou rapids and we slept late, waking up to pancakes. Michael made some syrup from the dried strawberries, water and sugar. Apparently, the bear had not come to eat our food during the night. The day was another hot and sunny one.

        Most everyone took a soap dip in the morning to clean up by the little sand beach just downstream of the rapids. In the afternoon, most everyone grabbed their PFDs and tried to walk up the rapids, normally ending up being sucked down by the current. Ryan and Justin swam to the far shore next to some cliffs while the rest of us made a journey to an island in the middle of the rapids. Slipping and going down the rapids was fun, except the occasional rock that you bumped on your way down.

        As the afternoon wore on, some of us took hikes while others read or worked on crosswords. By the end of the day and after having finished our pizzas and cookie cake, we were all rested. It was another great day in a great place.

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Day 13, July 7^th by Jeff

        We started the day early at 6:00am. Since we had enjoyed a restful layover day, I felt ready to take on any challenges the day had for us. For breakfast, we ate raisin bran and strawberry muffin bars.

        By 10:30am, I was ready for lunch. We had made some small portages around rapids, but mostly we paddled. We stopped for an early lunch in front of a tough portage on steep shield. The gorp and pilot biscuits were great! We also used some Velvetta on some crackers. After lunch, we continued to cover the few clicks we had left (we only had to travel 20 clicks today.) The current of the river made our travel fairly quick and we did shoot some moderate rapids, while portaging others. By one o'clock we had reached our campsite on a beautiful island separated form mainland by two falls, Ankuisi Falls. Our campsites was beautiful with a large flat shield area for the kitchen. Many of us slept or talked here for a few hours, while others relaxed on the other side of the island closest to the falls. Alex made Mac & Cheese for dinner, while Kyle and Marshall took care of tomorrow's breakfast bars.

        While the sun was still setting, Ryan called us up on top of the far, high end of the island. We were all very excited thinking we would soon be receiving our tams. Michael and Ryan talked about what a great trip we had had so far and how it was the people who made the trip a success and fun. Finally our tams were handed out. They were beautiful. Most of us received the Lindsay, though Alex, Marshall and Kyle earned the Red Robertson since they had already received the Lindsay.

        The rest of the evening was fun. Most of us talked and some of us had a batting contest with pebbles and driftwood. It was a tough, but short day, and the tams lifted everyone's spirits. I fell asleep anticipating the next few days with excitement. I love not knowing what will happen tomorrow and facing the challenges as they come, one at a time.

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Day 14, July 8^th by Eugenio

        Day fourteen was actually our last full paddling day. We woke up at 5:45 and had our normal breakfast of grapenuts and datebars. We hit the water by 6:20. We had to paddle about 15 miles today. I thought it would be a pretty simple day, but actually it wasn't. It was a lot of paddling with not very many portages.

        After a turn in the river, we saw another moose and her calf. It may have been a woodland caribou, but we weren't certain. I think this was the fifth moose we had seen. A little while later, we suddenly saw some otters. About seven of them were playing in the water, jumping and shooting up and down. A while later, we came to a class 3 rapids that was very fun to shoot, and pretty wet.

        We then took a shortcut through a very shallow and narrow part of the river. There were a ton of beaver dams which we had to pull-over. At another point, the map showed an island surrounded by two rapids, but the low water had dried up one of the rapids. It must have been a falls, because we pulled over it. It was strange because the river just ended on the one branch where the rapids or falls was supposed to be.

        Lunch was at a very rocky place and as usual, Michael scared me when he woke everyone up from their afternoon nap by yelling "everybody up, let's go!"

        We eventually reached the last rapids of the trip. We swam here for quite a while because it was so hot. We were tired from the morning because of all the pullovers and paddling. Just after the last rapids, we got to our last campsite on the river. Kornman and Nick made dinner and we cleaned all of the kitchen gear really well. It looked like it may rain but it never did. We went to bed after chatting for a while. I can't believe the trip is almost over.

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Day 15, July 9^th by Alex

        Another early morning on the Bloodvein. Before we left camp, Michael gathered us in a circle to explain the plan for the final two days. We set off paddling to a bright, sunny day. It was not long before the river opened up and there were many islands to negotiate. After about two hours, we arrived at the ferry landing. We pulled the canoes out of the water and took a few pictures. Some of us walked around the Bloodvein Indian Reservation for a few minutes. We came back to the landing, waited and watched for the Edgar Wood Ferry. At 10:45, we heard the horn of the ferry and Dru (our pick-up driver) say "Howdy boys!" We loaded the canoes and set off on the ferry to cross Lake Winnipeg. The trip across Winnipeg took quite a while, but we all enjoyed some food and signed the guest book on the ferry.

        At Mathieson Landing, we departed the ferry and began the drive home. We drove through Manitoba and into the "Peg" (local lingo for Winnipeg city.) For dinner, we stopped at Subway in Morris, Manitoba. We also called Michael's sister and sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

        After crossing the border back into the US, we drove until we reached a campground in Maple Lake, MN-it was late. We set up our tents in the dark and went to bed.

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Day 16, July 10^th by Marshall

        We awoke at 6:00 to sneak out of the campsite (CW). In the next town, we stopped to have breakfast in a park where we all devoured our frosted flakes with fresh milk, doughnuts, and pastries. After this sugar filled breakfast, we jumped back into the van on our final track towards camp.
        We stopped in at Norway beach to take showers and change into fresh clothes. Some of us went to bathe in the lake while others cleaned off the 16 days of smell and dirt in the shower. After we changed, we hardly even recognized each other.

        We headed to the car wash to clean the van before we arrived back at camp. Then, we drove down Cap Endres Road and took a final stop at the camp sign for a picture. We drove into camp, were greeted by everyone and cleaned everything in the Trip House. We were finished with our wonderful expedition down the Bloodvein River. What a great trip!

Fin

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