Southend, Saskatchewan Resupply #3
We arrived last night in Southend, Saskatchewan along Reindeer Lake for our 3rd resupply. For the past almost three weeks, we have been working hard, paddling upstream for the large majority of that time.
We pushed off from Grand Rapids above the large dam in town on Cedar Lake. Our generous hosts and new friends Johnny and Antony from town were there to send us off on the next portion of our route. We waved goodbye on a cold, rainy day. For the next few days, we paddled west across Cedar Lake where the Saskatchewan River flows into the lake. Cedar Lake was a nice clear lake, but the wind/waves gave us some challenge and held us windbound for one day. Its rather featureless shorelines also proved difficult for us to find decent camping among its thick shorelines.
At the end of the lake, a large, expansive wetland where the Saskatchewan River flows into the lake was like a big corn maze finding the right channel to take. What we saw in front of us and what was on the maps were very often conflicting. There were many braided channels to take. A few attempts through reedy passages that either ended abruptly or fizzled into nothing finally brought us into the main lazy channel with tall grasses hemming the rivers shoreline.
For several days, the current of the river increased and so did the size of the river. Its long winding bends forced us to stick close to shore and follow the inside bends of the river to paddle with the slowest current against us. Going upstream, our strokes felt heavier and sluggish and our muscles working much harder.
The Saskatchewan reminded us a lot of the Mississippi River back home with similar width, current, and milky waters. The rivers edges were lined with grassy/willow shores and an abundance of Poplar and Box Elder trees.
After a few days, we passed through the town of The Pas, Manitoba. A larger town than we expected, we stopped for lunch at the boat launch in town as we watched the busyness of town from afar. Just as fast as we had arrived, we left and continued moving NW from the Saskatchewan River up the Tearing River to Cumberland Lake. A much smaller river with a steady current, but a nice change of scenery. We camped along the shores of Cumberland Lake, just down the shores from the town of Cumberland House. A historic place, once home to the first inland fur trading post for the Hudson Bay Company and the oldest permanent settlement in Saskatchewan!
From Cumberland, we had a series of small lakes to pass through to get up to the Sturgeon Weir River. The Sturgeon Weir is a small, but fast flowing river we needed to paddle up. The river was much different than the Saskatchewan as it was not wide and sluggish, but rather narrow and fast moving over many series of rocky rapids. For our first full day on the river, we waded, lined, and pulled our canoe up almost continuous sets of shallow rapids. Constantly getting in and out of the canoe paddling against the current when we could, then either pushing or pulling the canoe when the current was too strong. It was a very long day, by the end, with each stretch of river we approached, it was more a matter if we wanted sore legs, back, or arms to get up the moving water. We found a place to crash along the banks of the river and woke up very slow the following morning.
Fortunately, as we progressed up the river, it began to transform into a “pool drop” river, where long stretches of calmer water are interrupted by rapids or falls, which we would need to portage around every so often.
We had our first stormy day on the Sturgeon Weir, which slowed our progress as we had to pull over every few hours to wait for extended periods of time for the lighting and thunder to pass. With how spread out the storms were, we spent much of the day below the dense canopy of spruce trees avoiding the wind and rain, waiting to get back into the boats and make some progress. Shortly after some kilometers of paddling, we would hear or see some more thunder that would again force us off the water for some time and the cycle repeated for most of the day.
The river finally opened into a series of larger lakes, which boasted some incredible scenery and big hill country. We paddled through them and toward the headwaters of the Sturgeon Weir and the famed Frog Portage. The large hills of the big lakes quickly disappeared into the flat, grassy headwaters, where the river thins until it disappears. Here, Frog Portage, a “height of land” portage separates the Churchill River Watershed and the Saskatchewan River Basin. It was a very important portage through the fur trade era as it opened the doors to the north and west for travelers and trade.
At the portage, there was an old push cart for boats. We loaded our canoe and gear onto it and slugged the cart across the portage. It was definitely more work than it was worth, but seemed like one of those things you have to take advantage of if it’s there! It was fun to think of the many famous and well know explorers, traders, trappers, that crossed this trail for many, many years before us (without a push cart). There was a small commemorative plaque at its end along the Churchill River.
For one (partial day), we traveled down stream on the historic Churchill River. A large river flowing west to east the middle of our route. We spent one night on the Churchill shortly after the portage and enjoyed seeing the large hill country return swiftly. We reveled in the short opportunity to paddle down stream with some current. We were stunned with the beauty and vastness of the Churchill River country and the new landscapes ahead.
The paddle downstream was short and sweet. We quickly turned off the Churchill and up the Reindeer River. Similar in size the the Churchill in its lower reaches, we quickly went back to our old routines of sticking close to shore and following inside bends where the current was slowest. A few large (and beautiful) rapids got our legs moving again on some portages up the river. Otherwise, it was a mixture of river channels and smaller lakes that brought us to Whitesand Dam, the last one of our trip before the town of Southend. A small dam (last one of the trip), we quickly portaged around and were on Marchand Lake in no time pushing for the town of Southend. We approached the town in the early afternoon of day 48. It was a hot sunny day and seemed like everyone in town was in the water enjoying the hot day.
We were surprised to paddle into town and find that the bridge that crossed over the water had no water under it, so it made for one more quick portage onto Reindeer Lake among the crowd of some young kids splashing in the shallows.
Just down the shores from town, we found some provincial camping that we have called home for a few days while we enjoy the much needed rest from these past few weeks and resupply our food for our next stretch north to Kasba Lake for our final resupply.
Zach’s Mom and Dad made the long drive from Minnesota up to Southend to drop off our food and some surprise snacks for the next part of our route. It was so great once again to have family visit us on our trip and we are so lucky to have their support! Unfortunately, due to a tight schedule, we only got to spend a few short hours with them in camp while we loaded up our food and sent home items we no longer needed before they turned around for the long journey home.
We are resting the rest of today and getting our items organized before we plan to hit the water again tomorrow and continue our progress north towards Kasba Lake, the tundra, and our final resupply in a few weeks. We appreciate everyone who has been supporting us and following along on our journey. We promise to share more in depth photos and stories of our journey when we return home. For now, we hope you enjoy our snippets from the trail and appreciate the support. More to come soon!
