Artillery Lake – Timber Bay to 5km North of Twin Buttes Point
Distance: 45km – [cumulative total 530km]
InReach: Day 29 Trees disappeared today – now on the barrenlands Sunny & often nil wind as we paddled NE on Artillery Lk Camped on beautiful beach 45km JK
Camp: 63.186°N 107.701°W
Up early so John could get the spray cover back on the canoe as there won’t be any portages for a few days. [Yippee!!] We were on our way by 7.30 am with a gentle tail wind, we had great paddling conditions with either a gentle tailwind or mirror like water all day. The wind finally picking up just before we camped at 5pm. I never cease to be amazed by the clarity of water in the lakes of northern Canada but Artillery Lake seems especially ‘crystal’, you can see the ripples in the sand and every stone on the floor of the lake. The shoreline has become more subdued with fewer and fewer clumps of trees, I guess today we may have made the transition to the barren lands. The immediate shoreline is a jumble of boulders with the odd sandy beach such as the one where we had lunch and the one we are camped on tonight. We took the opportunity of the warm windless conditions at lunch to have a full body wash and rinse out our underwear in very cold water. We have made excellent progress today and have fingers crossed for a repeat tomorrow however according to the weather forecast we can expect strong headwinds so John is having a hissy fit because overall we are behind time.
We are camped on a lovely long, wide beach with a creek at one end. There are numerous fresh animal tracks around the creek including bear, no sign of any wildlife though. Because the off shore wind is coming directly across a large body of cold water the tent is cool unlike the oven of the past few nights so we are looking forwards to a good nights sleep.
Mill pond conditions as we head north up Artillery Lake
Lunch on an abandoned boat 5km NE of ‘The Beaver’s Lodge’
Camp Day 29, these were the only trees for miles around