Recently we published Mike Borger’s 2010 report to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. Here is Part 2 of his 2009 report that he took in September.
The pictures of big fish still abound but they are also accompanied by more narrative about the details than last time. We again have divided the trip report into multiple sections. Make sure to check out each of them.
Here’s Mike…
Arriving at the airbase early Wednesday morning we quickly unloaded our gear and readied it for the Otter:
‘Course we had to get a shot of the crew. From left to right, Jason, Doug, myself and Gerd:
With a crew from Nakina Air pitching in the plane was loaded and in short order we were strapped in and ready for the hour long flight north.
For me this area holds a lot of memories. For more summers than I can remember I travelled this region solo by canoe, sometimes for months on end.
Without even having to look at a map I recognized most of the waterbodies enroute to Beteau.
At one point we flew over Petawanga lake a large widening of the Albany. It was cool to see it from the air as it brought back a flood of memories. I remember paddling down it’s length when a thunderstorm suddenly started brewing. Looking for shelter I spied a series of cabins on an island near the lakes east end. From a distance they looked in good shape so I made my way over.
It was an old native camp, probably used for hunting and up close they were in fact pretty derelict. A squeaky door banged loosley on it’s hinges, ragged bits of rotten cloth flapped in an open window. It had a forlorn abandoned air to it and there was a disconcerting feel to the place. I felt I was trespassing.
Nevertheless with a big storm coming and evening approaching I set up shop in the best of the old cabins. Being alone in the wilderness for months on end nothing much would ever phase me, but for whatever reason I was unnerved in this old native camp.
With a strange feeling that I was being watched I fixed the old wood stove in the cabin making sure the stovepipe was solid and secure. With night falling and a cold driving rain the cabin was chilly. I managed to scrounge up some dry wood, stoked up the old stove and settled in as best as I could.
Around 3am I was in a deep sleep when I suddenly woke with a start, instantly alert. Something had roused me, I just didn’t know what. Lying on the bunk I heard one of the doors slam on the other cabins. Every hair stood up on my neck as there was no way wind did that. Just as I was about to get up and look, without warning the stovepipe which I’d secured collapsed into the cabin and the woodstove fell over on its side.
The cabin was instantly filled with blinding acrid smoke and burning embers. In a panic I managed to get the door open and using my flashlight sweep everything outside with an old chunk of plywood. 3am or not with disaster narrowly averted I quickly packed my gear, loaded the canoe in the dark and left the old camp for friendlier environs. I’m not one to get spooked by anything, but to this day the memory of that strange night still unsettles me.
Back to the present, after a little over an hour we were awarded our first glimpse of Beteau from the air and man did she look fishy!
As we taxied up to the dock we saw the new camp for the first time:
It appeared as though the water had risen a bit since Eddie had left. There were a couple of boats sunk in the water and the dock needed a bit of repair. All in due time. The first order of business was unloading the aircraft:
With 4 eager hands it didn’t take long and in no time we were saying our goodbyes to the pilot and checking out our new home for the next week:
The cabins were fantastic:
Once unpacked and organized we readied the arsenal:
Part 1 – Introdcution
Part 2 – A Flight Down Memory Lane
Part 3 – Getting Our Feet Wet
Part 4 – A Land of Plenty
Part 5 – Gluttonous Cannibals and a Trip Upstream
Part 6 – Wolves, Moose, Bears and Giant Pike
Part 7 – Intensity Rewarded
Part 8 – Plane Late? Not A Problem
