As I write this, we are now well underway on our epic journey toward Astoria, Oregon. The weather has been a mixed bag of snakes with some sun, some rain storms, wind, and some clouds. While it sounds bad, it has been a lot of fun! Internet connections are few and far between so the Blog hasn’t been updated on a very regular basis. Hopefully this will change as we get further south and west.
The original crew signed on for the six weeks included Robert Allen. Sharon Colht, Denny DeMeyer, Ian Emmerson, Bill Erickson, Jim Halliday, Bernie Kilonsky, Nancy Kilonsky, Mark McGladrey, and Diane Gregory. Mark McGladrey and Diane Gregory decided to leave camp on 05 June and we were left scrambling for a few days. Mark did leave us with some great spreadsheets we could use for our finances. Other than that, we persevered and were very quickly back on track. Sue Duxbury and Steve Sleep left on 09 June and Bruce Clark and John Armstrong left on 10 June. Tony Bachman, Gordon Linnell, Stan Mrzygod, Dwaine Ronnie, Bob Runnalls, and Bill Weikel joined us on 10 June while in Thompson Falls and they left on 17 June in Kettle Falls, as did Bill Chapman. We were then joined by Lynee Forsyth, Mary McDowell, Jerry Franklin, and Phil Abenroth.
We had some rough water, fast water, and slow water to paddle through and sometimes it was exciting and challenging! We had a terrific response from all the communities we went through. Various meals and other social functions were put on for us. Since starting, the weather has slowly improved and we had some sun and mid to high 80 F weather.
There isn’t much spare time as we are up at 5 or 6 each morning and usually on the water by 7 or 8 and paddle until mid afternoon. Before leaving camp each day, we have to take down our tents, pack them up, make our lunches, have breakfast and then get all the team gear packed up, and be on the water. When we arrive in our new camp, we have to set everything up again, try to clean up, have supper, have the captains attend the captains’ meeting, have our team meeting, and then it’s time to hit the sack again.
Spare time is limited as is evident by this missive. It has taken twenty days to write it.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
21 June 2011
Denny in the sitting position explaining some of the finer points about David Thompson to some interested folks.
20 June 2011
Lynee Bluff, named after our chief ‘switch’ counter, Lynee Forsyth. She counted to 50 (paddle strokes) before calling for us to switch sides and she did it for nearly eight hours. I don’t have my calculator to figure how high she might have counted. It is located at: 47* 57.502’ and 118* 20.841.
19 June 2011
Three of the four Canoe cleaning crew – Denny DeMeyer, Ian Emmerson, Jim Halliday. Robert Allen, the fourth member, took the photo.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
June 14th
Internet access is rather limited and so is time. I will try to do a fuller blog in a few days. Thanks for your patience.
Robert
Robert
June 14th
Preparing to enter the Pend Oreille River just below the Albeni Falls Dam in Oldtown/Newport. Oldtown is in Idaho and Newport is in Washington, basically on both sides of the Pend Oreille River.
June 13th - VERY WET!!!!
Another very wet day! We bunked into a motel in Sandpoint to try to dry out. It was too wet to even take a photograph.
Clark Fork Parade
The parade through the community of Clark Fork, on our way to our campground. Both the folks from Clark Fork and Thompson Falls went well out of their way to make us feel welcome. Thank you to both of them. Small town hospitality is wonderful.
June 11th
At the put-in a few kilometres west of Thompson Falls. Note the outhouse half in the water. It is well flushed now.
Koo Koo Sint Ridge and Thompson River
The Clark Fork River is on the right; the Thompson River runs down the valley in the centre and Koo Koo Sint Ridge is to the right of the Thompson River. Koo Koo Sint was the name given to David Thompson by the Salish people of the area. It means the man who looks at the stars.
Team photo in Thompson Falls.
A Team photo in Thompson Falls before some of the original members left for home.
Thompson Falls - June 9th
After arriving in Thompson Falls, MT, we held a parade downtown from where we took the canoes out of the water to our campground, about one kilometre. The local folks were terrific.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Arriving in Libby, MT
It rained all night and then most of the day. It was dry in the tents but only barely as it rained so hard all night! The canoes made it into Libby into a very hard landing location.
Unveiling the Plaque
The plaque to commemorate David Thompson and his travels is unveiled by the International Boundary Commissioners.
At the Border
The Brigade has arrived at the Border and now is the time to be cleared for entry into the USA.
Surveyors Lake
There is one lake in Kikomun Creek Provincial Park called Surveyors Lake. What's a Surveyor to do but walk around it?
SoBs at McElhanney BBQ
The Surveyors on Bikes at the steak BBQ at Fort Steele sponsored by McElhanney Surveys (Cranbrook) and John and Carol Armstrong.
Veterans of the 2008 Brigade
Gord and Floss Thomson, our good friends and honourary Team members, accompanied by an RCMP constable at the celebration at Bummers Flats.
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