Mary River

Mary River

It was a cool morning but it had stayed dry. There was a porcupine wondering through camp which Sam pointed out, sauntering down to the river and then back into the bushes by our tent. I snuck after it with my camera and conveniently chased it right towards Sam who took some great photos. It wasn’t overly concerned and nearly wondered right into Sam until he wisely decided to move and avoid an unfortunate stabbing. Every time I got too close it would turn its back on me and present me with a backside of quills.

After breakfast we packed the canoes. We were on the point of launching when we saw a youngish Woodland Caribou come down to the water’s edge on the other side of the river, wade in, swim the river and land just upstream of us. I was taking photos with the 400 mm lens and could see its eyes rolling with alarm. As soon as it landed it headed back up the river and disappeared into the bush. Very exciting and only about 100 yds away when it landed on our side.

Sam and I paddled together again, Sam in the back, we did better today, but definitely had the heaviest canoe (four of us could hardly lift it to the water!).

We had a great day canoeing. Some fantastic cliffs. Nothing too rough, we did not wear our wet suits but there were some reasonable rapids. We stopped at the Gate and Pulpit Rock and most of us walked up to the peak above it, about 600 m of elevation. Quite rough going over scree but only about 45 minutes of actual climbing. The rest of the time was spent looking at the spectacular views over the river and the cliffs downstream.

We had a very tasty cold rice, beet, carrot, and chickpea salad for lunch when we got back and bit of a rest, and then headed off down river again.

We camped 8 km south of the Gate, on river left on a big broad stony beach. Sam and I both had a good wash in the river, changed, and were about to settle down and relax a bit when a vicious wind blew up suddenly and blew Mike’s tent into the river. Peter did a great job rescuing it, sprinting out into the river waste deep. There was quite a lot of rain later in the evening, fortunately Luke had put up the two tarps so we were well-sheltered.

Dinner was goulash with fresh bread, very tasty, the remnants of the wine followed by bread, butter and jam for desert!

We helped wash up and then headed for bed after 11 pm. Rain had stopped by then.