Day 25 - July 28
Partly sunny, partly cloudy

The Cessna from Air Tindi should be coming around noon to pick us up. We spend the morning sorting out our gear and taking a sponge bath in the bug tent. The thwarts, seats and decks from the 17 Tripper need to be removed so that we can nest our 16 foot canoe inside for the flight back. Once all our gear is ready and piled up on shore, ready for the plane, Deb and I take a hike behind the campsite. We see some ptarmigan but not much else.

About 1 p.m., we hear the drone of a plane and in no time at all, the Cessna comes over the hills behind us to pick us up. When the pilot greets us, he hands us a note from a party he dropped off upstream where they were beginning their trip. The note is a thank you from the paddlers who enjoyed reading the web version of our previous trip and found the information helpful. Its nice getting personally delivered air mail in the wilderness.

The flight back is uneventful. Our pilot tells us that he'll be stopping at Fort Reliance to top up his fuel before going on to Yellowknife. This works out well for us as he flies back along most of the Thelon right back to the headwaters. It was great to see the various areas that we paddled down.