Day Eighteen

I spent the last night sleeping in my bivvy sack because I wasn't sure my tent would stay up with the broken pole.  I went to bed around 10:00pm, shortly after Marc and the RCMP officer had left me.  Just as I was in my sleeping bag it started to rain and later a thunderstorm passed by with lots of lightning. It rained all night and it was still raining when my alarm went off at 6:00am.  Eventually it changed to a sprinkle and I was able to get my breakfast and dry my bivvy sack, sleeping bag and Therm-a-Rest mattress and pack everything away ready to set off.

The paddle from the campsite to the boat landing at Metis Crossing was probably the easiest day of the whole trip.  The wind was behind me helping me on my way and the weather was comfortable with a mix of sun and cloud.  Because the paddling was so much easier I was finally able to take a photo of the river in front of me.  As you can see, the river is very wide and the flow is slow.  I made really made good time and I arrived at Metis Crossing shortly after 2:00pm.  As I was walking up from the river I was met by a small group who were being shown around the site by the administrator of the site and she told me to go up to the cultural centre where I would get better cell phone reception and she would come by and and make sure I was looked after.

The cultural centre and the new hotel under construction.

She wasn't kidding.  When she returned and let me into the building she provided me with loads of very welcome food and a cup of coffee and I was also able to have my first real clean up for eighteen days.  You don't know how grateful I was.

This is the closest image I could find that shows where I pulled in off the river.