Civilisation! At last!

Well we've reached a small settlement called Jean Marie River. It is a very pretty place about a week's paddle from Fort Providence. We arrived about 9pm last night and had a days rest today. They let us use the showers at the Band office and I'm currently logged on to their WiFi. This is the first time I have been properly clean in over a week and it's amazing! I will never ever take showers or running water for granted ever again. In fact this trip is making us appreciate a lot of things more than we did. Flushing toilets, for example, have now become a luxury and I feel ever grateful to a certain Thomas Crapper, inventor of said flushing toilet. What a genius!

We started off our trip last Sunday being dropped off at Fort Providence. Just as we were loading the boat we got talking to someone who knew someone else and to cut a long story short we were invited to attend a traditional Dene Indian camp about half an hour's paddle down the river. It was a truly beautiful and peaceful place that the local school uses to put the pupils back in touch with their culture and their ties to the land. We were met by shouts of welcome and kindly they fed us and gave us cups of tea. The girls at the camp sang for us and gave us each a tiny bundle of medicines tied in red material with white string. The red is for protection and white is for purity. They had been blessed with their prayers for us on our journey to give us strength and keep us safe. It was touching that they had thought to do this given that we had known them less than an hour. I keep mine safe in my pocket at all times and it has become a source of comfort.
The next day we were allowed to join in a traditional, sacred cleansing ceremony which was an experience I will never forget. For some reason that I cannot get my head around it was a place that made you very emotional and after the ceremony I did actually feel better, more at peace. Whatever the reason, the hospitality and kindness we were shown was astounding and we are very grateful to everyone who was there for letting us be part of such a special event.



Sunset over Mills Lake. Summer solstice about 11pm

 We set off down the river late on Monday evening and unfortunately didn't make camp until the early hours of tuesday morning. We had only managed to do about 8 nautical miles (16km) and we were tired and grumpy the next morning. We woke up late too and so had to do another night paddle. Fortunately it doesn't really get dark here at the moment it just remains dusk for six hours or so but still it was a strain. That evening was the summer solstice and I can say with pride that when the sun set on tuesday 21st of june at 11:34 pm we were paddling Mills Lake. It is a ten mile wide lake with little current to help and it is so vast you can't see where you are paddling to. You just have to keep on going, your paddle strokes slicing the silence rhythmically, and wait for the blue haze to make itself into something solid.

The next few days continued like this. They were really really hard for a number of reasons. We weren't used to the physical effort everything took. Packing up camp is exhausting and takes around three hours. Then we paddle about ten or twelve miles (20-24km) on average though sometimes more. There was virtually no current to help for the first week. In fact it was only yesterday we actually noticed it helping us; we managed around twenty miles. On top of that, Mum and I have reacted to the insect bites. The first five days my hands were swollen up and red and itchy which made doing anything really sore. Mum's face is swollen and puffy - quite painful too. Maya has had a cold and an earache for most of the journey so far and I think Dad is tired trying to make things easier for us to adjust. It is getting easier. Daddy gave me something magic to take the reaction down and we are settling into a rhythm and a daily routine. We get up between 8 and 9 am (no more night paddling thak goodness!) and have breakfast, break camp, pack the boats and we're on the water around midday-1pm. We paddle through the afternoon and look for a place to stop for dinner about five or six pm. Then paddle for another two hours till we find a place to camp.

The thing that really will stick in my mind, and that to some extent I find hardest, is the sheer amount of SPACE. This is one of the only true wildernesses left on the planet and remains virtually unchanged since Alexander Mackenzie journeyed down it in 1789. It is just huge. Hundreds of miles of trees and insects in every direction. At times it feels like you aren't going anywhere at all and you'll never reach land. Sometimes I look up at the great dome of sky and feel like a tiny plastic toy in a snow globe: I half expect some giant to be staring down at me, laughing at us bobbing bravely along in our little boats.

This place is teaching me a lot about myself. So far I have learned of both my significance and my insignificance. I now know how significant I am in terms of my actions because everything I do out here has a concequence. For example,  if I leave the tent open and the mozzies get in everyone is uncomfortable. Also I think I am beginning to understand how much influence I have over my own life because if I can do this then I can do anything I put my mind to. My insignificance is something I have discovered and that has humbled me. In the grand scheme of things I don't matter much because life and nature and the world will carry on regardless. When I put my paddle in the water, the river doesn't part for me to let me on my way. I have to part it with all the strength I can muster.

A few nights ago hardly any of us slept very much. There was a pack of wolves howling somewhere in the dusk of the night. It wasn't scary but I felt like I was tresspassing on their home. It was obvious they belonged there. It is an eerie sound that grows and grows as more of them join in then tails away to one lone end note. They did this almost every hour and each time I woke up and found it hard to drop off again. I was grumpy the next day I can tell you!

Nap-time has become a crucial part of the daily routine

I am really sorry but this is all I can write for this entry and this far North the internet is slow so uploading lots of photos takes forever. The Band office where the WiFi is closes in ten minutes so we have to clear out. We should be arriving in the next settlement, Fort Simpson, in three days so there might be another blog soon if I can get internet. We miss everyone at home but we'll be back soon,
lots of love
Hannah