North Knife Canoe Trip Second Session 2001 [Return to Photo Albums]    [Return to News]

North Knife 2001 Second Session

Day 1

We got all of our stuff packed and ready, as we left Chippewa at 2:00 pm for our long, long ride. Jeffers had followed us because Stevie wasn't feeling so good. As we drove and drove and slept and drove, we stopped for a bathroom break and Jeffers got gas. After we drove for what seemed an eternity we stopped at McDonalds, which we all mowed down in a matter of minutes. And as we headed back on our long journey to our halfway point at Lundar Beach, approximately 9:30 pm, we got our tents up. As we all headed down to the park we all enjoyed kicking frogs and playing at the park like little children. As we headed for our tents, it was very humid out, and we all had a very bad time going to bed. Jabo

Day 2

We woke up at 5:00 am. Everyone packed their tents, ate their breakfast (of course we had some cinnamon rolls), and got ready. Steve was feeling better and decided to continue with the trip. Then Jeffers, who only came to see if Steve was going to continue, went back to Chippewa. We got inside the van and drove our way north to Thompson. After 3 hours we stopped for a bathroom break. Then 3 hours later we arrived at this city called Thompson. David parked the van outside Walmart. Everyone was hungry after the six-hour drive, so we ate a couple of PB and J. Roger, Steve, Dan, Jabo and I went inside that Walmart to buy some things we needed for the trip. After some minutes, Pedro came in to buy some rain pants. David decided to buy the fishing licenses for Jabo, Dan and himself. Then the homeless, hungry man came by the van asking if we had some food, "a sandwhich" he said. So Roger gave the old man some of the leftovers from lunch and a couple of minutes later that guy told the rest of his family or friends to come and ask for food. Luckily, Steve saw like ten of them coming after the van, so we had some time to move. After a while, David came back with the licenses, so we had to meet Peter, the floatplane pilot, at the base. Then we had to go to the police department to tell them our plan. We parked again at the Walmart where we stayed and walked for an hour. David and Roger bought some delicious BBQ chicken for dinner. After that awesome dinner, we went back to our campsite, organized our bags for tomorrow, took a warm, 5-minute, 1 dollar [loony] shower and went to bed very excited. Bubba.

Day 3

After a cool, restful night's sleep, we rose at 5 am. We had all slept much better than the night before due to the more agreeable temperature. We quickly broke down our tents, ate some coffee cake, and took full advantage of our last opportunity to enjoy modern plumbing. We arrived at the airplane dock right on time, and within minutes we were packed and ready to go. The ride up was very exciting and provided great views of the wild Canadian landscape. It wasn't too long until not a single trace of man could be spotted. After about 1.5 hours of flying, we landed on North Knife Lake at the fishing lodge. We loaded the canoes and were on our way. The paddle to our lunch site was pretty easy. Our lunch consisted of pop-tarts and leftover potato chips. Soon the wind picked up and it started to rain. After some hard, wavy paddling, we found shelter behind a small island. Robert decided to fish, and on his first cast of the North Knife, he caught a northern pike. We paddle through harsh conditions until mid-afternoon when we found our campsite. The site was a long strip of beach that had picnic tables and firepits on it, probably for the fishing lodge's use. Pedro and Frenando made taco salad followed by banana pudding. Rob and I paddled to a rocky point to do some fishing. I caught a small northern but spent most the time with my lure hung up on a rock. Although it wasn't nearly dark, we all decided to turn in because we were exhausted and the blackflies and mosquitoes were coming out in force. We are also planning another bright and early start at 5:00 am. And trying to finish off the lake. Today was a good day, making about 15 miles, and we are all anticipating the rest of the trip with great excitement. Dan Masello

Day 4

We were going to wake up at 5:00 am, but since it was raining, we decided to sleep 45 minutes more. After we got our tents down and packed, we ate some grape nuts and pop tarts. In Canada, especially northern Canada, mosquitoes usually come out in the morning, so everybody was walking and eating at the same time. While putting our canoes in the water, Dave and I found some eagle feathers, and we decided to use them as decorative items on our canoe. Finally we were in the water and our feathers indicated some light wind coming from the northeast. So we paddled some miles, crossing the lake, resting at almost every point or turn. Some hours later we found a nice rocky island where we decided to eat our lunch. For lunch we had bagels, summer sausage, cheese, gorp, and oranges. After eating this nice meal, Roger, David, Pedro and I decided to lie down and take a 15 minute rest period. 20 minutes later we woke up and paddled again. We were impressed with the results we were having. We had almost cleared the lake by 2:30. Suddenly, Roger and Steve saw a weird, destroyed dock on some small island We paddled to see it and got out onto the island where we found some old, burned stove, an old mattress spring; all of us thought that there was a house there, but it had been burned or something like that. We found some burned forks, melted bottles, a door knob, broken dishes, a shovel (burned of course). After doing the work of archeologist, we decided to keep paddling. About 20 minutes later, we had cleared the lake. [And so we were officially way ahead of schedule!] We were feeling some nice current, which made us go a little faster. After a couple of miles and some fast water, we decided to stop at this big sand hill. It was a nice, windy campsite (with a great view). We set our tents, and while Rob was chopping some wood, Pedro and I decided to cook some dinner. Pedro was cooking some veggies while I was making my specialty: "Bubba's Trail Salad." It consists of chopping some onions, one tomato, a little bit of lettuce, and just spice it up with salt, seasoned salt, spicy pizza seasoning, and black pepper. We had a great meal after that. Some couscous and chocolate pudding. After this 30 km day, Dave, Dan, and Rob went fishing for about an hour. They caught some big fish, but we didn't keep anything. Bubba

Day 5

7/25/01 We woke up late, later than we were used to anyway, and found ourselves in another beautiful day. Our campsite was at the top of a hill with a small clearing, so we could see into the distance and we were happy with what we saw--not a cloud in the sky. Having our usual breakfast of grapenuts and adding a little fresh fruit to that, we started our day. Stern still had a cold, but said he was feeling better, but besides that, everything was perfect. We started paddling with the sun high in the sky and before we had time to get comfortable, we came into some fastwater. The river had a decent current and we were moving pretty fast, so we decided to stop paddling for a while and just relax. Fast water kept coming and after some hesitation in the way we should be going, we encountered the first set of rapids of the trip. We got through it with no difficulty; well, it was mainly a rock bed and the three-man canoe got stuck for a while. After the first set of rapids we knew there were more to come. The rapids were progressively getting larger and it seemed that they were at some distanced intervals. The three-man canoe (my canoe) got wet in most of them, while the other canoes did take in some water, but not as much. We went through about 5 sets, bailing in between each one and in general taking it slow, for we knew we were ahead of schedule. The last set of rapids were probably the biggest ones, and after some decent sized standing waves, we had lunch in a sandy shore to our right. Lunch was something we all enjoyed: bagels, summer sausage, pepperjack cheese, and gorp. We had gorp to spare. We got a chance to relax and basically enjoy the scenery. It seemed like an awkward place: the bird you hear are not too common in other places of the world; the trees were not too tall, and in some places were dead. We had seen a couple of bald eagles and some ducks during the day, but what we were amazed at was the number of artic terns that we found. We kept paddling after lunch and realized how close we were to our campsite, and after going through some fastwater, we found it. It was at the top of another hill. There was a sand side that went into the river and we had a good time jumping from it. We set our tents up and decided to go for a hike. The trees were some distance from each other and it was easy to walk. When we came back to our campsite we went for a small swim and washed ourselves. Bubba lost a flip-flop in the water and spent a bunch of time trying to dig it out with a paddle, succeeding after awhile. We killed some time getting dry by torturing horseflies until it was dinner time. Bubba and I cooked spaghetti and Steve made pudding. We took awhile cooking the spaghetti, and it was late when we finished dinner, so we basically went straight to bed. It seems like it's going to be another cold night (we had another cold night). Pedro del Castillo

Day 6

We woke up at 8:00 am, took down our tents, and had our grape nuts for breakfast. We got on the water at about 9 o'clock, then we had a few fast waters and some rapids, then the most exciting thing of the day happened. We were paddling along and all of a sudden a small black bear takes off running up a steep sand hill and near the top it turns around for a second, then took off out of sight. Everyone was really excited to see a bear. Then we came to some rapids where we had to have a short pullover past the first part because it was a big shoot. Dave and Bubba, though, shot the shoot unloaded and did just fine. So we shot the rest of the rapids and Dave and Bubba got stuck, but everything was fine and we kept going. We had a few more fast waters and decided to have lunch because we knew there was a long portage up ahead. So we stopped at a rocky shore and had sausage and cheese on tortillas for lunch. During lunch, Bubba and Dan both caught an artic grayling. It is a weird looking fish. When we got back on our way, we had some fast water then came to our long portage. While we were going to scout, Dan twisted his ankle so we all came back and started our portage. It was hard because it was thoroughly burned out and there were dead trees all over the ground [plus it was so hot]. The portage took a while, but we got through it all right. After the portage, we still had a lot of little rock gardens to get through. We all did all right on these. Then we came to our next portage of the day, which was a lot easier and shorter. So, we did that portage and got back on the water. We paddled for a few more minutes and came to our campsite at Kettle Falls. We brought up all of our gear, pitched our tents, and then went looking around while Rob and Dan made dinner. Kettle Falls is just amazing, and to our surprise, was not very buggy, which was good. When dinner was done, we ate our mac-and-cheese with vegetables and then I made the pudding, which was good. After that, we all just stood around and talked and read. It was pretty fun. Then we all went to bed relaxed because we knew tomorrow was a layover day. Stephen Sanders

Day 7

Layover Day. We all woke up kind of late this morning since today was our layover day. We started out by having oatmeal, then soup, then we all rested for a while. Then Bubba and Pedro made some awesome SPAM, and Stevie made potatoes. Then Bubba and Pedro made pancakes. Just as we were finishing eating them, it started to rain. It rained for a long time, then Stern and Rog got us up at about 8:15 and we made our delicious pizza, and then Bubba and Pedro, again, made brownies. Then, as we all went to bed, we slept very badly because it was hot and humid [and because we slept all day]. Later that night, it down poured again. Jabo

Day 8

We woke up around 8:00 at our campsite in Kettle Falls. As soon as we got our tents down and our Duluth packs tightly strapped, we started to portage around the falls. After our "tasty" grapenuts breakfast, we left the amazing view of the falls. The day was starting to clear, and the canoes moved faster every minute. We paddled safely through some fast water until we found our next portage, which was an easy portage and no one complained about it. A couple of minutes later, we had the sun on our back. Roger was trying to find a nice lunch spot when Dave Stern decided to cast near a stream that emptied into the North Knife River. The three men canoe (Pedro, Dan, Rob) came near us while Rob was trying to cast. Finally, Rob caught this big brook trout, which we decided to keep for dinner. Roger made a decision to take lunch near the stream. Almost every cast caught a trout. Dan caught a big northern pike. After a couple of hours, we decided to keep our trout and the northern. We were almost in the halfway point, so we had to load the canoes and leave that small shore. For the rest of the day, Dave and I had to drag those fist with our canoe. We even went through some nice rapids with the find hanging from our stern. Finally we saw a place to camp about 2:30. Pedro, Roger, and I bathed while Dan, Dave and Rob filleted the fish. We rested, napped, and then Dave and Rob cooked us some really amazing fish. Obviously, the trout was much better than the northern. Roger decided to cook us some chocolate chip muffin, which was a little burned but was pretty good. After Pedro and I cooked a blueberry muffin for tomorrow morning, Rob grabbed a can and organized a slingshot contest, which Pedro won, by the way. Bubba Fernando Mier

Day 9

We woke up in sticky sleeping bags and tents that seemed more like a sauna at the time; it was very hot. It was about 8:30 when we were getting breakfast. Being glad to get out into a somewhat cold air, we enjoyed our grapenuts with apricots and had Bubba's blueberry muffin, which was really good. We started paddling and had some fastwater which eventually led us into some rapids. After scouting them we thought they were doable, so we shot them loaded. Dan sacrificed his ride on the rapids so that the three man canoe would not be too heavy. We kept paddling for some time, having a little fastwater and flat water current most of the time. Right when we had decided that the day was ridiculously hot for such a northern place, it was lunch time. Lunch was as always good, not only because you get food, but mainly because you get a break and relax for a while. We were all very hot, yet satisfied with our lunch and left our lunchsite ready for more paddling. It was not too long before we came to a set of rapids where we knew we had some portaging to do. We shot some rapids and some fastwater until we came to our first portage of the day. We had to line the canoes first for some distance, and then came to a place we knew we had to portage. It was a set of rapids that went straight between two huge rocks and had a massive standing wave at the bottom. Roger's canoe came there first, then the threeman, and at last Stern, who did not do the lining and shot with Fernando through a small fall. We finished the portage and came to a big pool with more rapids down at the bottom, which we shot. After not too long of a paddle, we came to yet another set of rapids, which was more like a fall and we decided to camp there. Some of us had a little swim down the current, while others fished. Jabo and Dan caught really big fish, which made our swimming a little more scary. It was early so we had to wait a couple of hours before we could cook dinner. Dan and Steve made rice; it was the best rice I have had in days. Fernando made a Brownie, which was really good too. After that, we didn't do much. We basically sat watching the rapids having crazy talks about deadly polar bears, tundra people [the first mention of tundra people in the journal!], and humming birds on sticks. We had a good laugh and went to bed. Pedro del Castillo

Day 10

We woke up around 8:00 this morning on our rocky out-post overlooking tumbling falls and the most generous pike hole we had ever come across. It was a beautiful day; there was a strong breeze (but not quite a wind) and it was about 70 degrees. After a delicious as always breakfast of grapenuts spiced up with cinnamon apples, powdered milk, and sugar, we packed, loaded our canoes, and set of on today's stretch of the North Knife River. As the morning rolled on, the formerly strong breeze became a headwind and the air temperature rose significantly. At about 11:00 we arrived at a pretty rough stretch of rapids; we decided to portage. The portage was perhaps the easiest true portage I have ever been a part of. We shot more rapids, and after about one hour, we stopped for lunch on the riverbank. We ate the usual summer sausage, cheese, tortillas, and Pringles with kudos bars (which were like little pieces of heaven). We ate lunch none too soon as we found out because within minutes of finishing our meals a big storm came in. The rain came very suddenly, so we all hurried up and threw on our raingear (I was in such a hurry that I put my rainpants on inside out). The raid came down in sheets, with drops the size of marbles and hail. And, as abruptly and suddenly as the rain overtook us, it passed on. It was a very interesting sight because we could actually see the rain moving up the river. We paddled and shot rapids (in some we took on water) and paddled more before we saw that familiar blur on the surface of the water again. Another downpour hit us, and when it was over, we had to pull over and bail out our canoes. We paddled for about another hour before we spotted another advancing storm cloud. This time we were smart and decided to go ashore. We pulled our canoes up on a broad rocky point. We all proceeded to put on our raingear, find our own little piece of rock, curl up with our PFD as a pillow and fall asleep. After a surprisingly restful and wet half hour, we loaded up and were once again on our way. Soon, we found our campsite. The campsite is along a very calm stretch of the river, probably the calmest we've camped at. It is sand near the river, and rocky beyond that. The site is actually a point that sticks out with the river gently curving around it, forming a nearly right angle. Our side of the river is very flat and rises gently from the river, but the other side rises very abruptly, and is very high, like the wall of a canyon. As soon as we got the tents up, it started to rain again, which facilitated about a 45-minute rest, which was well received by all. Eventually we came out, and Pedro and Bubba started dinner. I went fishing and caught a 7 or 8 pound pike and was very pleased. We ate tuna alfredo followed by caramel pudding, both of which were delicious. After dinner, we skipped rocks, threw rocks, and colleted rocks, and when the bugs got too bad, we cleaned up and called it a night. Today was a good day. Dan Masello

Day 11

We were awoken a little after 8 to the noise of an air horn, and it was announced that we were going to have an extra layover day. So we got up and ate some oatmeal, and then some of us went swimming and then we just kind of sat around until lunch, at which point we decided to cross the river to climb this big sand hill. We climbed up the hill and ate sausage and cheese on tortillas with Pringles and granola bars. After we ate, we stood and just admired the view from the top of the hill. Then we got into a group and took some pictures. Then it was explained that we would have gotten our tams but Camp didn't order enough and we would pick them up on the ride back to camp. We went back to the campsite and lie around some more, then we brought out one of our surprise foods. It turned out to be snails. Everyone tried them except Dan, and we saved some for dinner. All of a sudden the wind picked up, and two of our tents blew over. So, we got them back up again, and sat around and talked and slept until dinner. For dinner, we had fried snails, which was really good, refried beans with cheese, onion and garlic added. Dave decided this was his specialty, so he cooked. Pedro made crystal light and Bubba made a chocolate chip cake. It was all very good. After dinner, we cleaned up and made a fire. Then we all went to sleep. Stephen Sanders

Day 12

We woke up later this morning. We had grapenuts with dehydrated apples and muffins for breakfast. We headed off and within minutes we had our first rapids. We paddled with a nice tailwind, and a nice sunny day. We paddled about 18 clicks to our campsite, where it was windy so there were no bugs. Then we all went swimming and some of us washed our clothes. And then Dan pulled out a brand new bar of soap and it felt like we were in heaven [so true!]. After we all sat around, some of us slept, then Sterno and Roger pulled out the Gorp. After that, Stevie, Bubba, and Pedro made spaghetti, and I made chocolate/butterscotch pudding. It was all good. And later that evening Roger went crazy and started making a bunch of stone castle things that were balanced on top of another. Then we took a group pictures and called it a night and hit the sack. Jabo

Day 13

We woke up around 8 o'clock and took our time because we knew we had a short day and the weather was beautiful. We got our stuff ready then ate oatmeal. We took down our tents and got on the water. I designated this day CD day, which stands for Craig Drift day. We designated it that because today is my friend's birthday from back home and today we just drifted the whole day. Along the way, some people fished and Roger built another pile of rocks and Dan broke his fishing rod. We drifted the whole day until lunch, when we arrived at our campsite. We ate lunch, which was summer sausage on tortillas and some on pilot crackers because we ran out of tortillas. We also had pizza flavored Pringles and gorp. After lunch we rested for a bit, then we started building things with rocks. Roger built a tower on a big rock in the middle of a small pool, then Bubba, Pedro, Dave and I built a wall out of rocks. It was about 2 feet high and about 5 feet long and a foot deep and on the outside were huge rocks, and it was filled in with smaller ones. After we finished the wall, we went swimming and washed. Swimming was fun because of the strong current. You would start walking out and get carried downstream. After swimming we set up our tents and played some game called scissors, which was really frustrating because we couldn't figure it out and only Roger and Dave knew how to play. After awhile, Pedro and I figured it out. Then it rained, so we went to our tent and fell asleep. Roger cooked dinner, which was tuna alfredo. It was very good. Then, we had lemon pudding, which wasn't very good. After that, the bugs came out, so we went back to our tents and we went to sleep. Stephen Sanders

Day 14

We woke up at about 8:30 and packed everything quickly, for we knew rain was coming. After having breakfast, we left our campsite and were happy because we wouldn't have to deal with those insane artic terns anymore. We paddled in our rain gear through some fastwater and didn't really get any rain, just a few showers now and then. We knew our next campsite was not far away, so when the sky cleared out we took our chance and just drifted. It wasn't before too long that we came to a halt. We were confused by this, or at least my canoe was, for it was too early for lunch. I hoped that what we had stopped for was something we had been looking forward to seeing for days . . . "TUNDRA!!!" we all said as we broke through a small layer of trees that had prevented us from seeing this deserted place. It was flat, very flat, flat as the eye could see, treeless flat; with moss and very, very small things growing in it. We could still see patches of trees every now and then, but were impressed by the tundra's main feature: its nothingness. After taking a couple of pictures next to a tundra-lake, and feeling like we were at a Star Wars planet looking for Sand People, we went back to our canoes and kept on drifting. The sun had come out and after not too long we came to a very small set of rapids, which we shot in the blink of an eye. Immediately after we shot them, we heard a deep rumbling sound that we knew had to be Teepee Falls. It was a really nice place, more like large rapids than actual waterfalls, but still a good place to camp. I for one was disappointed to see how small they were since they are the only feature marked on the North Knife River on the provincial Manitoba map. Anyway, we had lunch, and after portaging all of our things to the other side of the falls set our tents up. We didn't do much after this; most of us washed in the water and just lay out in the sun for a while until it started to rain. When the rain ended, two rainbows came out and we saw our chance to make dinner, which was rice, and after that we all enjoyed Bubba's chocolate and caramel BEAUTIFUL pudding. We cleaned everything up and went to bed knowing that the next day would be our layover day. Pedro del Castillo

Day 15

Today was our third and final layover day. We all woke up at whatever time we wanted and ate oatmeal. After a little while of just sitting around, Roger sent Steve and Bubba on a mission to cross the river and find the treasure which the first session campers had left us. Although it seemed simple, it was not-at least for Steve and Bubba. About ten feet into the river, a "huge boil" flipped their canoe. They made it safely back to shore, but the canoe went for a rough ride down Teepee Falls. After rescuing the canoe, Pedro and David successfully got the treasure. The treasure was a pilot biscuit tin carefully duct-taped containing pictures of Alex, 7 Tastations, and some thoughtful notes from the first session trip. Soon it began to rain, and we all retreated to our tents for a couple of hours. After reading and napping for a couple of hours, we came out to some delicious fried spam, very burnt popcorn, and yummy as always kipper snacks. Later, some of us were fishing and Rob caught probably a 15-pound pike. For our second course of lunch, Pedro and I made some pancakes; they were exquisite. Before we knew it, it was dinner time. (All we really did today was eat!) We started by eating David's surprise, whish was roast beef spread-it wasn't too bad. Then, we ate potatoes au gratin. Finally, we ate pizza, which was delicious, as always. During the course of the day, we had all been taking our turns drawing what we believed Tundra people and mimeguesu would look like. After dinner, we voted on the best ones-Bubba drew the best tundra person, and Rob drew the best Mimeguesu. Those two split the extra piece of chocolate cake that we ate for dessert. After sitting around the campfire, fishing, and just shooting the breeze, we decided to turn in and sleep well for the long day ahead tomorrow. Dan Masello

Day 16

We woke up at 6:00 knowing that we had our longest day of paddling ahead. We had a good grapenuts and muffin breakfast and before long we were on the water. Fastwater came and was gone as quickly as was possible and right when we were putting our PFD's on for something that looked bigger than mere fastwater, we saw a moose. It was not a full grown bull moose, for his rack was not that big, but we were all impressed by its size. It just stood there looking back at us as if we were the ones who were strange to see in these parts. We kept on going and soon enough we got tour first marked rapids. The map said, "shoot with care, big waves but no rocks," so after a quick glance at them, we shot them. The map was right, but not too accurate, for the waves were huge. All three canoes got water in them, especially the threeman, which was about to tip. We got to the shore and bailed. On the shore, we couldn't resist to go up and look for TUNDRA. There it was again, that enormous nothingness made you feel small and exposed. We kept paddling light heartedly until lunch, which we had at an island. We had done a good pull and after some rapids, which were actually pretty fun to shoot, we came to what would become our lunchsite. Before the rapids we had come across a small cabin. The people who went inside said it was spooky and had lots of interesting things [including a shotgun, as I recall]. We kept paddling after lunch, heading north as we had been doing for awhile. We paddled uneventfully until we came to fastwater. Then, we noticed the campsite we were originally heading for. We kept going. It wasn't before long that we started looking for our new campsite. We thought about Tundra, some small islands, and finally came to a place where our old "friends", some artic terns, lived. We set camp and didn't wait too long to walk over to the Tundra. Dinner was cooked in the rain before long and we all enjoyed it. It had been raining for awhile and didn't really look like it would stop soon, so everybody went into their tents while Fernando and I cooked a muffin. Soon, we were all in our tents trying to go to sleep for we knew that tomorrow we would have to wake up early to catch high tide at the Delta. Pedro del Castillo

Day 17

After a cold-long-rainy night, we woke up at 5:45 am. This was so we could reach the high tides. About 45 minutes later we were on the water. We found out that it was a cold foggy morning. Stern and I were amazed at the mist. After a couple of miles, we got to some fast water. The big waves hit my bow and my legs got soaked. Most of us were pretty wet because of our rainy night. A couple of rapids later, the threeman canoe sank. Dave Stern and I went for the rescue-we grabbed their canoe and some of their paddles. Finally we got them in warm, dry clothes. Everyone was worried about tipping, but nothing bad happened. Roger's canoe started floating, and we followed them. We were paddling through a long stretch of rapids, the threeman canoe was recovering their strength and they had their heads up high. My canoe was in front and we were coming to this bend on the river. Suddenly, I turned to my left and saw a puppy timber wolf. I raised my paddle and alerted the other canoes. Stern was pretty excited since he is a wolf lover. The puppy looked at us and went running back into the woods. After talking and enjoying our comments about the wolf, we kept paddling. After a few miles, we found another rocky set of rapids. Dave and I went first, then after we celebrated, we saw Roger's canoe tipping. So we went to shore and unloaded our canoe in order to save Roger's packs. Then I go in the water to save their canoe. With Stern's help, we saved the canoe, the packs, and all the other gear they had inside their canoe. After they dried and got warm, we kept paddling through the fog and the wind. This day had been one of the weirdest days on a canoe trip that someone could have. It was 10:00 am and we were already past the midpoint. As we got to the delta, the wind was cold and the trees got shorter. This different landscape told us that we were near the Bay. For a couple of hours, we paddled through the islands and waited for the threeman to get themselves off of rock beds (since the water was so much more shallow and they were heavy) About 12:05, we saw an opening-it was Hudson's Bay. Since we were running a little late, we had lost the high tide and some of us stepped out of the canoes and pulled them to shore [I think we all got in the water here]. We found the shack in which we were going to spend the night, so we decided to set the tents, dry our equipment, and have our PBJ pilot crackers. We rested for the rest of the day admiring the Bay and the tundra landscape! At 6:30, we cooked ourselves some couscous and a chocolate chip muffin; we were talking and laughing about every single thing that happened during the trip. We also wondered about the weird day we all had lived, but closed the day with a great line: "Yeah, but we saw a wolf!" That was the way we decided to close the day of tipping and cold weather: "We saw a wolf" Bubba Fernando Mier

Day 18

We got up at about 7 o'clock and got our stuff all packed up. We hiked down a trail to where our food was and got our breakfast: today we were having grapenuts with fruit. Since it was the last day of grapenuts, Dave tried putting jelly in his grapenut. He said it was pretty good. After breakfast, we went back up to the shack and we stayed and talked for a while because our pickup wasn't until 10:50 am, so we stayed around until 9:40 and then started loading our gear into our canoes. Then Bubba asked if there was a polar bear in the water. Stern pulled out his binoculars and looked at it. It turned out it was our pickup, Jack. He had arrived an hour early. So we got in our canoes and paddled out to his boat. There, we loaded our canoes into his boat and we started our ride to Churchill. The ride took about an hour and was pretty cold. When we got near Churchill, we could see the belugas coming up out of the water. There were a lot of them. When we came into Churchill, we portaged our gear to the train. We loaded up our gear and got out pilot crackers with peanut butter and jelly. After lunch, we all went and took showers in the Town Centre. After the showers, we could walk around town, so we walked to some gift shops and some people bought souvenirs. Outside, one of the gift shops was a group of small Eskimo puppies; they were really cute. After a while of walking around, we all met at 5:00 pm at the Town Centre and went to eat dinner at a place called Gypsy's. There, we all ate cheeseburgers and fries. After we ate we went back to the train station to wait for our train. We waited for awhile. Finally, they let us on the train; it was the first time on a train for a lot of us. The train wasn't too crowded, so we had plenty of room. On the train, us campers were in one car, and the counselors were in another, so the campers sat around and talked for awhile. The four of us started playing hearts until 11 o'clock and Pedro won, then we all laid down and went to sleep. Stephen Sanders

Day 19

After a long night of tossing and turning on the train, we woke up at 6:30 am to meet up with David and Roger in the Dining car. All the breakfasts seemed so delicious compared to grapenuts and instant oatmeal. The train chugged on for a few more hours while we slept, talked, and played cards. Around noon, the train finally pulled into Thompson, Manitoba. We got out of the train, unloaded our canoes and gear, and Roger and I went with our pilot, Patrick's wife to pick up the van and trailer. Before we knew it, we were loaded and heading south. We stopped to buy some groceries and we had McDonald's for lunch, which tasted heavenly. Then we drove and drove and drove. At about 7 o'clock, we ate a dinner of ham, turkey, or roast beef sandwiches, BBQ chips, and apple juice. As with all the other meals of late, it was very good. Finally, we pulled into our campsite at around 8 pm. It was the same site we had stayed at on our way up, at Lundar Beach on Lake Manitoba. We played around on the swings and talked about our trip presentation. The sunset was beautiful and there were some great rainbows. Soon we went to bed in eager anticipation of returning to camp tomorrow. Dan Masello

Day 20

We stayed at Lundar beach last night. It was a windy day. We got our tents down, quickly, loaded the van for our long drive again. Didn't seem long. After we started, we reached the border. We had no problems at the border. We drove for another while longer then we reached Bemidji and we washed and cleaned the van. Then we drove to Diamond Point, which in on Bemidji Lake. We sat around there for a few hours, and then drove to Andrusia Lake for a treasure hunt for our Tams and Shirts. As Stevie tromped through the swamp, he found them. We put them on, got our pictures taken, and drove into camp 10 minutes later. Jabo

The Secret Package

SURPRISE!

To those of the "NORTH KNIFE" 2nd session: The 1st session trip bestows upon you a gift of goodwill. We are proud you have come so far, saddened we didn't see you this year. Enjoy the rest of the trip. -- God bless Camp Chippewa!

• Enjoy our best canoeist, "Alex," and the candies; hope your trip is all you wanted it to be. -- Steve Robertson

• I'm sure by now its day 14 or 15 and you all wish you were at home in a your nice comfy beds like I am. -- Curtis Cox

• Hey guys, hope you're having a good trip. Stern, what's up! Havin' fun I hope. Pedro did you get the watch band and the letter? I hope so. Well, hope to talk to all of you again sometime. -- Matt Bremyer

• Remember that as you smell horribly, I am relaxing at home, full of food. Please think about how right now is the last time that you will ever be able to sit back and enjoy a Canadian as a camper. ENJOY IT! Good luck on the rest of the trip, and remember, purple octopi never fly with angry tocks! Goodbye. -- Brian Schwadron. PS To the Mexicans-Ojala que tendras la major viaje de tu vida! Buena suerte!

• Hi guys, I bet you're enjoying your time up here right now, but a must watch out for the artic terns because Mike Terry walked too close to one and it got him. -- Chris Cox.

• Hey guys, have fun with Alex. Enjoy the showers at the Churchill community center. See you all when you get back. -- Adam

• What's up guys? I want you all to raise your right hand. Now turn your head 90 degrees in that direction. Next lower your head and breathe in deeply through your nose. If you are still conscious, you are cleaner than I was a month ago. Have fun with Alex and the bugs. -- Nate.

The End

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