We have been quite busy at basecamp over the past month getting prepped and ready for our adventure. Our route is officially finalized-WOOHOO! We will be starting on Wallace Lake, taking the named portage called the Obukowin portages - a set of 3 portages, embarking up down the Gammon River, into the Bloodvein River, up through Sasiginigak Lake for resupply, taking the named Little Sas portage then finishing on the Berens River! The Berens River is well known for its scenic waterfalls and whitewater! We have planned in some cliff jumping, a stop at 4th of July Falls (a swimmable set of big rapids well known in the Voyageur world), a stop to climb the fire tower, and a night paddle if weather allows. I taught the girls how to read maps specifically with how to read UTMs, the coordinate system we use instead of latitude/longitude.
The girls have started having 1 on 1 paddle lessons with me to learn the many different paddle strokes we use. We teach the girls to paddle with a straight bottom arm - something that feels a little awkward at first - in order to have them engage their core and big back muscles to paddle, rather than just using shoulder and biceps muscles so they don’t tire as quickly. Some of the strokes we use while paddling include power strokes, J strokes, C strokes, draws and crossdraws, and prys. You can ask the girls what all of these strokes do/mean :)
We officially assembled all of our packs, arguably one of the more frustrating and difficult parts of pre-trail. The good news is that now that they are assembled, they shouldn’t come apart until we return home. The girls worked together so well as a crew, helping each other stretch the packs and get the clevis pins through the frame! I love how they are able to keep positive attitudes in times of challenge-this will take them so far on trail! Mads was the first one to get a pack completely put together-speedy girl!
The girls learned all about the kettle pack, its contents and how to pack it. The kettle pack is basically our kitchen pack containing things like the grill, reflector oven, stoves, kettles, tarps, saws, hatchet, etc. Packing the kettle is a strategic job that must been done in a certain order so everything fits and so the pack stands on its own. This can be a time consuming task on trail, so the better they can get at packing the kettle pack now, the better off they will be once we get on trail.
The girls have also learned all but 1 of the knots they will need on trail including the bowline, double halfhitch, taut line and square knot. I planned to teach them the trucker’s hitch, a knot important for setting up a tarp, however, it was raining, so we stayed inside. I will be teaching them this knot in the coming week! I loved seeing the girls problem solve and be patient with themselves as they learned the knots. Some girls got the knots right away, while others took a bit longer. It was incredible to see the girls who understood the knots right away jump in to help their crewmates learn!
We finished our last meeting by setting up all of our tents so that a: the girls know how to set up a tent and b: to ensure the tents are in working condition. It’s a good thing we set them up before leaving because one of the tents had a zipper that did not work at all - that would have made for some BUGGY nights on trail :( Tents get put up in a certain order and also get taken down in a certain order to ensure we are taking good care of our tents so we don’t ruin them. When taking down tents, I find it easiest to squeeze all of the air out of the tents by hugging a crewmate (plus a good hug is good for everyone in the morning and at night), so here you can see the twins hugging out all the air :)
The coming week is quite busy with food packing day, beef jerky day and more crew meetings!
I love this group of girls so incredibly much and love seeing us come together as a crew! I am so confident that we are going to have the most amazing expedition this summer <3
-Allie :)