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Day 19 Time: 5 hrs 45 min Distance: 44.3 km (318.3) Raindrops woke me at 5:00am, a quick trip outside to lower the flaps and pee. Awake again at 8:00 and again at 10:30, not raining now but buggy and more grey skies albeit less so. We drag out gear down the hill and load the boats, to escape the bugs we paddle out into the current without delay; it's just after 1:00pm. The river is really moving here, a very modest amount of effort easily produces speeds of 10kmph, in the first hour barely paddling we have done 9km and the rapids are just about to start, the II's have really big waves, the III's even bigger. For the most part we take the outside route for a little less splashing. The first III is an easy run through waves up to 4+ feet; our boats bob and twist but stay mostly dry. The 2nd CIII has a large ledge in the right half of the river it's easily skirted on the left. From there it's a series of washed out swifts and I/II rapids with almost always-present current in between. In no time we are past the 30km mark and soon approaching 40km. Even better, the skies are clearing, the sun is shining and my headache is fading.
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The last hour or so is spent drifting amongst the small islands leading up to where the river splits around Great Island. While stopped for a snack I got out the thermometer to check the water temperature, 11.5°C. We scan Hap's marked site on the left across from the esker but decide to head for the one on the right, which is closer to the South branch that we will take around Great Island. Although visible from a distance the huge beach I remembered from '06 is submerged! We set up the hut behind the first row of trees; there is a well-established fire pit here and plenty of space to hang a line for clothes drying. It seems like weeks since we have had a sunny campsite; the only downside is that the mosquitoes are truly swarming outside as the sun sets behind clouds, a bit of a red sky but far from a picture perfect sunset. We had some Knorr Hot & Sour Veg soup (Good!) followed by splitting an Uncle Bens Chicken/Rice entrée. With our earlier snacking on cheese & crackers, chocolate & nuts we are full enough. I'm tired tonight; Steve is inspired to burn garbage so we venture out to build a fire. I didn't stay out for long, the bugs are annoying and I don't feel like standing. I return to the hut, plop down in my Thermarest chair and watch the fire while finishing my notes for the day. At 9:00pm I sent a bonus SPOT message and then called Doug with our revised schedule, leaving the details on his voice mail. The inevitable has been set, while in theory we could make it out on the Thursday train so many things would have to go right it's not worth the effort. We now have 6 days to finish the remaining 170km. tomorrow we will see how it goes, camp before 9 Bar Rapids or continue all the way to the water survey station.
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