Bill Layman & Lynda Holland's 2002 trip
La Ronge to Arviat on Hudson Bay - 55 Days and 1000 miles. Day #1
   
 
The 2002 trip from La Ronge to Arviat on the shores of Hudson's Bay begins in style, with Bill portaging his canoe from his own front yard... But let's let Bill tell it in his own words, transmitting from his first stop along the way on Lac La Ronge.

Monday June 10 2002
So the adventure starts again. It seemed like the day would never come when I was back on the water, but here I sit 18 miles out of La Ronge on a gorgeous rock promontory.

  
Check out the length of bills first portage in the image below, & that's nothing compared to the ones in-store.
Photo courtesy Ted Green of KCDC
 
 
It is almost 7 pm and Tom Orourke and I have paddled nearly 18 miles against a persistent wind that was in our face all day. But what a great day to paddle. Warm sun on our faces and t-shirt weather all day. Now it is cool enough that there are no mosquitoes or blackflies. What a change from the last several years of tundra trips.
 
Bill's summer hat
Photo courtesy Ted Green of KCDC
 
So how do you fit all this in this canoe.
Photo courtesy Ted Green of KCDC
 
It was such an odd feeling to start this trip from our front yard. One minute I was finishing some e-mail and making last minute phone calls and the next minute I was portaging the canoe down DeHavilland street in Air Ronge en route to Hudson Bay. I am more used to having to drive long distances and then to charter out in a small plane to start our trips. This was too abrupt and it is going to take a few days for my head to get wrapped around what I am doing. It was also real hard to give Lynda a kiss goodbye...
 
Bill & Tom packing the canoe on Lac La Ronge
Photo courtesy Ted Green of KCDC
 
We must be on our way.
Photo courtesy Ted Green of KCDC
 
An arial view of Bill & Tom's portage route from Bill's home to the put-in on Lac La Ronge
Photo courtesy Ted Green of KCDC
 
An arial view of the north end of Lac La Ronge Saskatchewan.
Photo courtesy Ted Green of KCDC
     
   
  La Ronge to Arviat Trip Map
Here are the Sponsors & Introduction Story for the 2002 trip
Check out Bill and Lynda's 2001 trip to the Dubawnt River in NWT & Nunavut.
Bill Layman's bio - with other Trips & Stories by Bill.
Live text edited by Joan Eyolfson Cadham, freelance writer/editor, Foam Lake Saskatchewan.

 

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