Day 11 and 12 Tar Sands Canoe Trip

Fri-Sat August 16-17           The Barge Trip South

            I get up at 4:30 as do most of the others and we start loading Sara and Ron's pickup at 5:30. Yesterday evening, a few of the group moved our canoes right beside where the barge is docked which helps. Tristan drives the truck and before 6 AM, we are all ready and at the barge. Ray is there. Sara is there, too, to see us off. Leonard, another local man, is going to act as co-pilot. He is building up his hours on board so that he can get his captain’s papers. 

All of us ready to load the barge. Photo from Brittany.

             We load first the canoes in two tiers, and then fire all the gear underneath. There is still plenty or room for us. At the back, there is a second storey cockpit with space for Ray and Leonard, and they stay up there most of the time. At the window which spans the front wall of  the cockpit, there is the steering wheel and a desk, only enough space for two people to stand or sit. Behind this are two bunk beds. Like most boats, space is used efficiently. In the cockpit there is also a propane stove. On the desk, Ray has lots of documentation that is required and he also  marks changes in the river on his detailed river maps. Ray does this frequently so that someone else- Leonard, or Ray’s son- can pilot the vessel. He reads the river expertly as it is always changing and so are the sandbars. Only twice in the whole trip do we get close to grounding on a bar and then just enough to slow us down a bit. It is an art to navigating the river. 

 The barge loaded with our gear

Sign on the Barge

 

            Ray makes some coffee on his stove after we get going. He also hands out some oranges and later a few beers although very few of us take him up on it. He also lets us use it to supplement our stoves when we are cooking or making coffee or tea. There is also a fridge on the main deck in a corner. He has a generator which he uses from time to time to keep the fridge cold and run battery chargers and a cellphone booster in the cockpit. Ray had hoped to be able to weld a bracket on the back of the boat to allow installation of two outboards with which to make the trip in one day. However, he did not have the time and so we will require two entire days for the trip. There is a little storage space with a plywood sheet as a door. There is a bucket in there as a toilet. There is also the deck beside the cockpit where the men can pee off the back. We do make one bathroom stop each day on a sandbar. It gives Willow her only chance too, to pee and poop. 

            The route we take is similar to our route north with one exception. The barge will not fit through the log  jam at the far end of Mamawi Lake where we entered it on the way north; instead of taking our canoe route, we travel out onto Lake Athabasca, into another channel called Cree Creek, and from there into the Embarras Channel and on down the Athabasca. It is longer than our route, but significantly shorter than taking the big lake to the mouth of the Embarras Channel. The lake is very calm as we cross it which takes about an hour.

            As well as operating the barge with which Ray mostly brings goods up to Ft Chip for people, he also is a ship builder. He built this barge and is preparing to build another bigger one this winter to replace it. He also works for Suncor in the wintertime even though, he too is disgusted with what the tar sands developments are doing to the environment. He has also just purchased the trap line from Larry McGinnis at Embarras Portage Trading Post. He is talking about purchasing the Trading Post as well as the McGinnis’ are selling out due to Larry’s ill health, although he says his wife has no interest in moving there. He is one busy guy. Fifty-ish, and with a large pot belly and an easy imp-ish smile, he moves quickly. He has proven to be a man of his word, and very meticulous in everything he does. His business card says “barge operator”, not owner, and he tells me that his wife and daughter are the owners. 

Leonard at the wheel

            There used to be more traffic on the river: six barges. Now there are only two. Ft Chip was a more happening place before. Besides destroying the fishing industry, the tar sands has pretty much destroyed the tourist trade. A lot of Europeans and Americans used to come here to fish, hunt or boat. Fewer and fewer come now. They go to less polluted areas. 

            Ray tells me that he will occasionally shoot a moose en route, but only if he has time to stop and butcher it. We do not see any moose on our trip. When we get close to the McGinnis’ place, Leonard takes over while Ray gets into the little dingy with motor that is tied behind the barge. He tells us that Larry had called and wanted him to drop in en route.  He catches up to us half an hour later. He has closed the deal to purchase the Trading Post as Larry has dropped his price. I can see the wheels turning as Ray plans his next move with the Trading Post. He has promised Larry and Cathy that he will maintain the museum, one of their prides and joy. 

            When we go by Poplar Point, Mark is near shore with a few other people. He waves, we wave, we yell and he yells, but we do not understand what he is saying nor, I guess, does he understand us. 

            At 9:30 PM we stop and tie up to a sandbar. Most of us get off to set up tents for the night but a few pitch tents on the boat. Ray asks us to be back on board for 5 AM when it will be light enough to leave.

            We are up at 4:30, before dawn, and leave at 5 AM. We motor through a lot of familiar scenery.  At Mile 70 (Mile 0 is Ft Mac and Mile 203 is Ft Chip via the main route: through the Embarras Channel out to Lake Athabasca and then across the lake), we stop on a big sandbar for our one bathroom and stretch stop for the day. Afterward Ray tells me that the island is unnamed and he is going to name it after me: Pivnick Island. He asks me to spell it so he can get it right. I have mixed feelings. After all, we just stopped to crap on my island!!

            We motor through a number of pumping stations and the Suncor “compensation lake.”  Ray is not  impressed the idea nor with what he sees. He is convinced that the spring floods will wash away the lower slopes and entrance to the lake and the entrance will be blocked with debris. Sometime during the afternoon, Alex takes over at the wheel. She keeps making good progress.

           We have our last supper together: another potluck buffet with all kinds of delicacies. We invite Ray and Leonard to join us.

                                                         Raymond Ladouceur, the captain

            Finally around 9, in the gathering twilight we arrive at Shell Landing at Mile 4. The four  of us who are drivers are boated across to Ft McKay by Leonard in the little dingh. It is less than 1 km upriver. We walk in darkness up the hill and out of town to a Band compound where a new building is going up. This where we left our vehicles. It is further than I remember but Kevin remembers it well. The gate is closed but unlocked, as Brian Durant had promised when I phoned him a few hours earlier. We start the vehicles and drive the 10 km or so south to the Bridge to Nowhere, cross it and then drive  north in what is a freeway with several turnoffs for different tar sands projects. We turn off for the barge landing also known as Shell Landing, and in the darkness I pull into a hotel with security  by mistake. A few minutes later we arrive. We load vehicles, sorting whose gear is whose. The canoes go on racks. Heather, Howie and I decide to camp and leave in the morning, setting up tents on the barge, where Ray and Leonard will also stay. Everyone else is off right away, and the trip is over. 

            I will be canoeing this route again next August. Anyone interested in info or in joining the expedition can contact me at elipivnick@ymail.com or 250-299-3007.