June 4th, 2019
It rained through the night on Cedar Lake. A thunderous boom woke up nearly everyone around midnight. We intended to break camp around 2:00 a.m. but rain and wind prevented us. Was not until 6:00 a.m. that the rain stopped and the wind subsided. Having laid over the day before, we were all eager to get moving. We had to get off Cedar Lake today. Granola – no coffee for breakfast. Many of us took caffeine pills. We made good time across Cedar with minimal winds, eventually getting to the marsh near the Saskatchewan River (SR) around 10:00 a.m.
Navigating was difficult so we flew the drone up and could easily find our way. The drone is an advantage I will surely miss in the trips to follow. Paddling upstream on the SR made for slow progress but we pushed until around 7:00 p.m. when the sun had finally gotten the best of us. This river is very muddy but we managed to find some rocks to unload on and an elevated straw/tall grass campsite. With no trees there is no shade. Our tents are baking in the sun. I am sweating profusely writing this…it sucks a lot.
Today was a good day overall but I am sunburnt, exhausted and in for a brutally hot night of sleep.
Chili mac for dinner. The Pas tomorrow, which all of us are very much looking forward to. Unfortunately we will only be able to spend a few hours with Buch and John.
Too hot to write more. One quarter of the trip nearly complete! It’s wonderful and fine!
Great Spirit please give us cloud cover tonight.
-QP