July 13th, 2019
Athabasca River
The swollen waters of the Athabasca carried us over 54 miles today, camping before 4:00 PM. The morning started out with a light drizzle that developed into a full rain powered by a cold north wind. The rain ebbed and flowed until after lunch and a tobacco offering to the great Athabasca. The rest of the afternoon the sun graced us and warmed our cold hands.
Just past 3:00 PM a clearing on a hill blessed us on river right – only the second camp-able site we had seen all day and way better than last night’s. It turns out that the clearing is part of Athabasca Chipewyan Reserve. From what we can tell, this area, outfitted with a couple cabins an awning and a tastefully decorated outhouse, welcomes all travelers of the river. Although the hosts were not home, we felt that the posted signage permitted us to stay the night.
P.S. We broke out the water filter for the first time today.
-Bram