Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit

 Photo spew!! Okay, here is the last 24 days photo-journal style....

 One of the first stops of the trip as at Moraine Lake, near Lake Louise.  Neither of us had ever been up there before and WOW was it spectacular! Definitely a gem in our own backyard! There is a lot of climbing and hiking up there as well, so I am sure we will be heading back there in the near future to explore it further. 

 Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks

  

Cam getting his exercise doing stairs on the trials around Moraine Lake

 Cam helping with dinner in the Camper.   

Traveling with a camper is soooooo easy! It's really great to be able to pull over whenever we need to and make a meal or just let Cam work off some energy before we continue on our way. We've ran into a lot of rain this trip as well and having a dry place to hang out is a blessing. 

 Along our way we passed a new development area called "Regal Ridge" that had huge metal statues of animals at each entrance to the community.  There were elk bulks, cougars, eagles, moose and.... a Sasquatch?!?!  We couldn't help but stop for a photo with arguably one of our countries most regal creatures.

 When we got to Penticition we finally got really good weather and we were able to bask in the sun at the beach and get some great climbing in!

 Teddy and some laundry hanging on the line to dry off the side of the camper in the Skaha parking lot

 About to start our fateful hike in Skaha

The Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit 

We did an extended version of the Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit, adding 14km and a 1km portage to that start and end  of the normal circuit.  In total we paddled over 80km and did about 30 km of portaging trips (we had to do at least 2 trips with gear for every portage).  Kyle, Lisette and their little ones had to leave after day 4, as Finn was quite sick and not having a good time, but the rest of us continued on and finished the rest of the loop in record time, paddling over half of the circuit in just 3 days.  In total we paddled for 7 days. We had several days and nights of rain but some lovely warm and sunny weather as well.

 After meeting at Strathcona Park Lodge the evening of the 14th and getting a good nights rest squatting up the road to the bog walk we (Jason, Jen, Kyle, Lisette, Finn (3), Lily (1), Paul, Cam and Myself) spent the morning of the 15th getting boats ready and doing some last minute packing for our trip. 

 Jason loading the boat

 Reloading and casting off after our second portage (1.1km, uphill the whole way - of course!)

 It had been a long time since most of us had done any paddling and portaging was new to most of us. We all were feeling the strain of the unusual body motions and hauling heavy gear at some point in the trip.  A casual pace for the first few days seemed to help ease us into it, but as we kicked things into a higher gear towards the end of the trip the fatigue set in.  Thankfully we had no injuries aside from a few blisters!

 Pace setting was interesting with little ones in the boat;  Often there was only one person paddling as the other took care of the kids.  We were not out there to set any speed records. The trip was planned for ten days to accommodate a slow pace and give us a few extra days in the case of rain or just needed a day off, so we could take as much time as we needed!

Saying that, the kids really did great in the boats!  There were moments of tears, but for the most part they were stoked to play and take in the views.  Paul and I found that putting Cameron in the baby backpack was a sure way to get him to nap and keep him happy while we tried to cover some good distances. 

 At the start of the trip we were pretty sure Cam would wiggle himself overboard at some point, however we had no wet babies and no flipped boats!

 Lawson Lake

 Portaging went great, but was a lot of work!   We had a lot of gear to haul, 3 boats and the 3 kids that had to also be carried/convinced to hike and then looked after while the rest of the gear was brought to the next lake. At the start of the trip our big green haul bags must have weighed nearly 80lbs each - I needed help getting them up onto my back before I could slog down the trial.  Paul somehow managed to carry both at the same time though... crazy!

 A group photo before the group split in two on day 4. 

It was really too bad that they were not able to continue on with us,as we had a great time having them with us!   There are already other trips in the making that we would love to try together, so we will have more adventure together again soon!

There were a lot of small lakes/ marshy ponds with yellow water lilies, reeds and Labrador tea covering much of the water surface.   It was really beautiful to paddle through. 

 About to go up the wrong creek... oops!  Definitely added a few new scratches to the bottom of the boats with this wrong turn...

 The fist few days were rainy but as the trip went on the weather got better and better. 

 Jason and Jen on calm waters as we head up Upper Campbell Lake in our final stretch of the trip.

 Paul and Cam both caught the same flu that Finn had.  Cam thankfully didn't get hit hard from it till the last day of paddling and has been pretty ill since then. However, Paul wasn't so lucky and was feeling rough for the last half of the trip and was particularity ill on the last day of paddling