The day of reckoning was upon us. We had looked over the maps and decided that we could get across from the Johnson river to the Geike river system by portaging a 2 km height of land. As far as we knew no one else had ever tried it and it might not be possible. In that case it would be back down the Johnson river with our tails between our legs.

It was a short paddle over to our designed crossing spot. There definitely was no trail. As far as we could tell, no one ever came upstream from Johnson Falls.

When we saw our crossing spot we were somewhat discouraged. The area had been burned out within the last 10 years and the new growth was quite thick. The burned trees were still there and most had fallen over. Worse still the branches on the dead pines had fallen off and left short spikes.

On the first trip across the portage we took the packs. This allowed us to see where we were going and maybe find a trail for carrying the canoes. After portage the day before, I had realized that I couldn't carry the canoe by myself through the trees. Mike and I agreed that we would both carry the canoe so we carried all our packs. Mike carried the heavy canvas food back and my clothes/sleeping bag pack; in total about 70 lbs. I carried the waterproof pack with tent and sleeping pad and Mike's clothes/sleeping pack. This was also about 70 lbs because Mike's clothes/sleeping bag pack was twice as heavy as mine (he claimed it was his heavy air mattress that made it weigh so much but I think it was his shaving kit).

We carried the second pack turned sideways on top of the one strapped to our backs and used one strap on the second pack as a tump line. On previous trips we had tried putting the second pack on in front but it made it too hard to see where you were going. I had the big waterproof bag at the bottom and it was a real pain. First the straps were attached together at the top of the bag and they dug into my shoulders. Second it was tall enough that the pack on top pushed my head forward. I was complaining within a few minutes.

Everyone else only carried one pack; that left 1 pack each for Alan and Tim to carry on the next trip. Rick and Warren were each going to carry their own canoe by themselves.

Rick had brought surveyor's tape to mark our trail. I was skeptical that it would do any good but it turned out to be a really good idea (although while walking with packs, I grumbled about it taking too long). He also wanted to have a couple of saws ready, which I thought was crazy. There was no way we could cut down 2 km of trees with with a couple of 2 foot saws. Rick and I sniped at each other over the saws until Tim made fun of us.

Off we went, with Rick leading the way most of the time. Using the compass and looking ahead, he picked a good path. Someone coming behind tied a red marker to a tree every once and a while. At first the trees were quite thick and we had to weave back and forth. The walking was fairly tough because of all the dead fall resting about 1 to 2 feet off the ground. The dead pines all had spikes where there branches had fallen off; it was amazing that none of our packs were damaged.

As we went the trees got further apart. We even found a meadow. After about 2 km we hit the lake dead on. We had made it.

While we were walking with the packs, Warren had followed me for a while. The weight of the packs and the heavy undergrowth had me stumbling. Warren was wearing sandals and never misstepped. He told me that I should be concentrating more on where I was putting my feet and not just letting them go where ever. Warren often gave advice but he did in a way that made you listen and not get mad. I wish I could learn his secret because people usually get mad at me when I tell them what they are doing wrong. Anyway I started paying more attention to where I was walking and it was less effort. Of course I still staggered some because I am a klutz.

While at the small lake on the Geike river system, we stopped and drank some water. It was turning into a hot day for northern Saskatchewan (high 20's). We thought that we were probably the only people who had ever been here in recent memory, but we found an empty, rusty pop can. That was kind of depressing.

After resting for a while we headed back. We started following the tape markers back, but we soon we lost them. When we hit the lake on the Johnson river, we were a few hundred meters south of the canoes. We had tied a life jacket to a tree to mark the canoes so we quickly found them.

After drinking some more water, we started out with the canoes. In my canoe, Mike was in front and I was at the back. I rested the back seat on the back of my neck. The canoe weighs about 85 lbs; with no pack and two people carrying, we each were only carrying 40 to 50 lbs.

Warren carried his canoe by himself (still wearing his sandals). Rick also carried his canoe solo. Both Tim and Alan carried a pack and were responsible for finding tape from the last trip and for breaking trail.

On the second trip, for some unknown reason, no one wanted to carry water. Rick and I each had a pop bottle full, but some people didn't bother. I guess we all wanted to carry as little as possible, but in hindsight that was crazy.

Rick had torn the inseam right out of his pants. They were old army pants (1950's vintage) and the thread must have gone bad. He tried to put them back together with duct tape but it didn't work very well.

The trail was tougher with the canoes. It was really hard to zig zag with 17 feet of aluminum on your head. We lost the tags almost immediately and headed off on a new trail. This didn't worry us too much because we the first trail hadn't been too bad and we figured we would just find another one like it.

After less than an hour, Tim's legs started to cramp. Everyone gave him all of their water because we were worried that he had heat stroke. We rested for a while and then tried again. Tim cramped up again after a short ways; he just couldn't go on.

Rick was also very tired from carrying canoe his canoe. He was as much tired from putting the canoe down and picking it up and he was from carrying it. Every 20 paces or so we would have to stop to wait for Alan and Tim to find a trail. During one of these stops, Rick checked his pulse and figured it was over 200.

We decided to let Tim rest and have Rick go back to the lake on the Johnson river and get water. The rest of us would continue to the other end of the portage and then come back for them. We took the packs that Tim was carrying and left them a whistle off of my life jacket. It was another 5 hours before we would see them again.

We continued carrying through the trees. As we went the trees got thicker; at some points the new growth was so close together that we had to use the canoes as battering rams to push the trees apart. In the picture below you can see Warren's canoe, Alan, my canoe wedged in the trees and myself. This was no joke; we pushed through hundreds of yards of this stuff. For Mike and I it was, "One, Two, Three, Push", we would move forward a step or two and then do it again.

Below is Warren resting in his canoe. I have no idea how he pushed through this stuff by himself while wearing sandals.

The new growth was only part of the problem. The old dead trees were usually a foot or two off the ground but sometimes they at head height. We were not wearing gloves and we soon had scraped the heck out of hands. While looking down and stepping over some dead fall, I saw something out of the corner of my eye and moved my head quickly. Booiinngg, a sharp branch crashed into the inside of the canoe right where my head had been a second ago. With all the high stepping over the dead fall, Mike pulled his groin. After a couple of hours of this we were getting pretty tired. The canoe was beginning to dig into my neck and the pack I had on (I had taken the one that Tim had been carrying) was digging into my back. We were not a bunch of happy campers.

Eventually the trees started to thin out. In the picture below you can see that they don't look quite so bad.

After spending a couple of hours pushing through the thick trees, we figured we must be either getting close to the lake or were way off target. Warren climbed a tree while we held it and saw the lake off west; we had headed much too far north.

The sighting of the lake gave us extra energy. We were all pretty tired and very thirsty; it had been about 4 hours since our last drink and we had been really working. We made a 90 degree turn and headed off in the direction of the lake. The trees thinned very quickly. Within half an hour we found tags from our original trail. We decided to drop our canoes at this spot and head to the lake for a drink. We marked the spot with a life jacket up in a tree. Actually dropping the canoes was Warren's idea; even he was tired.

It was only a few minutes walk to the lake and several large drinks of water. Then we headed off to find Rick and Tim.

When we left Rick and Tim, they tied two dead trees together and put Tim's red T-shirt at the top. With this marker, Rick headed off to get water from the lake we had just left. Every few steps, Rick would look back to make sure he could still see T-shirt. When he got to the lake, filled his pop bottle and then looked for it, he had lost it.

By prior agreement Tim was supposed to wait 20 minutes and then start blowing his whistle to help Rick find his way back. Tim had no watch so he dropped a leaf every time he counted to 30. At 40 leaves, he started to blow the whistle every 30 seconds.

Rick was heading back to Tim and could hear the whistle but had trouble telling where it was coming from. With the sound only coming every 30 seconds and Rick being half deaf, he misjudged by quite a bit. After walking further than he thought he should, Rick climbed a tree. He looked and could not see the T-shirt in front of him so he turned around. He could just make it out in the distance. To make sure he didn't get off course this time, Rick took a compass reading and headed directly for Tim. He had to go through some very thick bush but eventually he found Tim. Tim was actually frightened when he heard Rick coming; the noise was coming from the opposite direction of the lake so he thought it was a bear. Rick gave Tim the water and Tim drank most of it right away.

After resting for a while, they set off carrying the canoe. Rick carried the canoe and Tim tried to find and clear a trail. They made reasonable progress going approximately the way we had, which unfortunately was too far north.

After going back up the trail past our canoes, I started blowing Warren's whistle. After a while we heard an answer. It was a good thing we had the whistles or I do not know how we would have found each other again. Alan, Warren and I headed off in the direction of the whistle, which was at a right angle to the original trail. Mike extended the tags in the direction that we were going; we are not going to lose that trail again. It took Warren and I about 15 minutes to get to Tim and Rick; they were a long ways off the original trail.

Warren and I carried Rick's canoe. We head straight back the way we came. Within 20 minutes we had found Mike and then quickly found the tags for our original trail. When we got to where we had dropped our canoes, we picked them up and carried them to the lake. Tim and I carried mine. I really didn't feel like carrying that canoe right them; 4 or 5 hours with a canoe on your head is lots. The back of my neck ached from having the edged of the seat bouncing on it.

We finally had all our gear (and people) at the small lake in the picture below. We had been 11 hours on the portage trail. It wasn't easy to find a tent site in this spot; the ground was covered with rocks about 1 foot around. Mike and I picked a reasonable spot and set up our tent. When I laid down on my sleeping bag, I found that it was too painful for me to lie on my back. Somehow I had strained my sternum and on my back I could hardly breath. Mike's groin was hurting him a lot.

By this time, Warren was full of energy again and was making supper. If he hadn't, I would have just gone to sleep. He made spaghetti sauce, which he had preserved before the trip by drying it in his oven, and pasta. After it was ready, Mike and I got up, ate in the dark and then went back to our sleeping bags.

On to the next day

Back to the Intro

Mail me! Warren Long