Day 2 - July 5
Overcast, 15 C

We cook our breakfast of eggs and hash browns from the supplies Deb purchased before the flight. It'll be the last time we see fresh eggs for a month so we savour the test. Deb has a dried salsa and scrambled egg concoction planned for a few of the meals, but the kids refer to that as "last chance starvation meals". While breakfast is being prepared, more fish get hauled in and released by the kids. We're a little slow to pack and get underway this morning, but there's no hurry. The daily rhythms and rituals of tripping isn't part of our routine yet, but that'll be second nature in a few days.

Once on the river, it becomes hard to pinpoint our exact location on the map. The river flows in the same general direction for a long stretch and the river channels are gravel beds that change with time and are not marked in precise detail on our map. The last time we paddle this stretch, we had only the 1:250,00 scale maps. This time I've brought the 1:50,000 scale maps, but its not much of an improvement. A GPS would pinpoint our location, but we're not concerned - we know how long it will take and there's no chance of getting lost. There are prominent landmarks downstream which will take the guess work out. We are still encountering lots of swifts and easy rapids.

Light rain begins to fall and we hesitate to put on our rain gear, even though the heavy overcast makes it clear that the weather will only worsen. Eventually, we give in and put on protective pants and jackets. Some time later, we reach the ice field we saw from the plane. It is surprisingly beautiful with wonderful shades of blue and turquoise reminiscent of glaciers. The brilliant shades of blue are mixed in with streaks of rose-coloured sand. As we walk among the ice field, we're surprised to see hardy willows in flower, even though their bases are encased in ice.

As we explore, the air temperature drops to 12C and the sky hints at breaking up, but that's short lived. After we leave the ice field, we encounter large eskers along the river, but we're not inclined to explore them. We had ample opportunity to explore dunes on last summer's trip. Eventually, we come to the only significant rapid and decide that the wave at the bottom is a bit too steep for our open canoes when we stop to scout. We ferry across to river left where there's a small channel separated by a natural rock damn which is partly covered in water. It takes only a few minutes to slide our fully loaded canoes over the rocks and we're on our way again.

Not long after negotiating the rapid, we spot a pleasant campsite just before the beginning of a canyon section. There's some flat rocks near the water and some sandy beach with flat spots just before the greenery. One tent goes on the sand while the other is pitched on the tundra immediately behind. Not long after everything is set up, the clouds start to break up and sun pokes through the clouds. Kyle and I go for a short hike and find some caribou antlers. As we head back to the tents, clouds roll in again and there's a short thunderstorm. Weather moves fast around here. Its another warm night in the tent.