Day 6, June 27, 2019

Rolled out of the tent around 06:15.  There was a heavy mist above the lake which became low cloud.  As the sun warmed the air the mist and cloud dissipated and the day started well.  We did the usual morning routine;  tea, oatmeal and pack up the campsite.  While we were doing this we also chatted with the family group and exchanged contact information.  

Then it was off on our river cruise.  We went through the Chute with no problem even though I did a draw stroke a little too early and a little too strongly and we nearly ended up turning into an eddy on the right.  One of the family members took a video of our passage and as you watch it you may be able to follow our early turn and the correction that followed.

The paddle down to the take out at the start of the first portage was interesting enough to be fun.  I did get wet at one point when Keith steered us through some standing waves and water came over the front and over me.  Unfortunately I hadn't done up the spray skirt on the spray deck so we took on enough water to make several pieces of equipment quite wet.  The next stage of the journey was to exit the river above the Cascades and to portage to the next part of the river that we could paddle, a short stretch of river before the portage to to go round and avoid Isaac River Falls.  The end of the portage was where we launched into McLeary Lake, a small lake more like a widening of the river flowing into the Cariboo River.  We entered the Cariboo River and the paddle down to Lanezi Lake was a welcome respite as the river helped us along with moderate flow and easy paddling.  The only obstacles were deadheads that were few and far between.  As we traveled along it started to rain so we pulled into a backwater to put on our rain jackets and to have a snack.  As we were pulled up at the river bank a couple of paddlers went past on there way to the lake.  By the time we had reached Lanezi Lake the rain had become a steady downpour so we decided to pull in to Camp 32 at the head of the lake to take a break but it was a quick one. The campsite was a wet, buggy mud hole.  No wonder we were warned about its lack of desirability at the orientation session when we started.  From there we continued down the lake checking out Camp 33 and bypassing Camp 34 and Camp 35 continuing on to Camp 37 because Camp 36 was already occupied.  Camp 37 turned out to be a really nice campsite with a sandy beach and a sheltered fire pit and tent pad.  We were lucky because the on and off again rain we had had all day changed to a few hours of dry weather with some sunshine.  We took advantage of this change by stringing up a line so that we could hang out some clothes and equipment to dry.

Unfortunately our luck did not last.  Later in the evening it started to rain and it rained all night, but we had a fire going so at least we had warmed up before going to bed.