July 23 very cold and windy day, repacking our gear for the flight. lots of naps, making brownies, appreciating the cabin

Fish for dinner, playing cribbage.

During the night the wind was consistent and strong. By morning, fog covered the nearby hills. It was a good day not to be moving. I was surprised to see Jim in the cabin as he is usually one of the last ones up. He was writing in his journal and commented that the wind was not great for sleeping. Jim has contacted Chuck the owner of Plummers Lodge to let him know we have made it back to the cabin and can be ready any time. We check our food bags and pull out our last pancake meal. We all agree that our food supplemented with the fresh fish has worked out well. We are looking forward to some fresh fruit, and ice cream is sounding good as well. The north wind is cold and the temperature has dropped. Quite a contrast from yesterday when we were seeking out cold water to cool us down, Short walks were taken, but no one strayed far from the cabin. After lunch Don and Jim both took naps and were seen several hours later looking quite rested.

I used the afternoon to meticulously clean an almond butter jar as well as make a delicious pan of brownies. By late afternoon the wind had died some and Jim was given the mission to go catch a Lake Trout for dinner. The mission was accomplished and made a good supplement to our meal. Then the brownies were quickly devoured. After dinner a cribbage table was set up and the partners of Don and Brian competed against Donna and Jim. The games were close with both teams having a successful win. Jim was ready to head out so we turned the game into a trio and the result was a win for Brian. The clock said 9:30 which was late for us to go to bed. We are hoping that the wind will continue to die and we will have a quiet night of sleeping. There has been no word from Chuck so we assume that he does not need to come in a day early to pick us up. We will check in again tomorrow.

July 24 Windy night with a wind shift, fish caught before breakfast, fish fry for lunch, a walk to a protected rock, more organization, Chuck sends a text and lets us know there will be an eleven o’clock pick up on the 25 th. another night of cribbage.

Knowing that our pick up is tomorrow, we spend our last day here doing some reflections. It has been 3 weeks that we started our trip from Yellowknife. The weeks have gone quickly as we became immersed in the Barren Lands of Canada.For Don and I this was an entirely new experience, being totally above tree line for this amount of time. We haven’t seen a tree since we left Great Bear Lake except for some willows that were growing along the banks of the Hornaday River. The land is harsh but oh so beautiful in its own way. We have had some major downpours, but the ground under our feet feels dry and crunchy. Summer is short here and some of the flowers have already gone to seed. There are some baby birds that are flying around the cabin taking shelter from the wind depending the direction of the wind.
Some of them even have their downy feathers. We wonder if they will begin their migration south soon. Very few birds stay here during the dark winter months.

We are up around 6 and after a few hot drinks, we head down to the lake to try our luck at casting. The wind is blowing so the casts aren’t efficient, but it isn’t long before a Lake Trout and Grayling are being filleted for our last fish meal. We all agree that the Lake Trout is one of the best fish we have eaten.

This fish had been depleting the mosquito population. Its stomach was full of bugs!

The wind is from the south so it is not as cold as yesterday. Brian heads off for a hike and Jim and Don continue with keeping up on their napping. I take a walk to see if I can see the river that we paddled a week ago to get to the cabin.

I can't see the river, but know it is just over the land.

I find a nice rock that protects me from the wind and I just live in the moment. I return to the cabin to find Don awake and then take him to the rock that I have found. It is so peaceful being here. The cold temperature has eliminated the mosquitoes and the rock the wind.

After so many days of being on the move the let down of being off the river and the trail is obvious, the energy is low. Jim’s wife has sent a note that the political scene is wild. Too soon we will discover what that means. Now though we focus on the moment and just do the tasks on hand. Don and I have had no cell service or contact with the outside world so tomorrow we will be overwhelmed.

A light dinner is followed by a game of cribbage. Don and I are on the loosing side of the competition. We are in bed by 10;00. (pretty late for us) It seems like being in a cabin, makes it easier to stay up later.

July 25. Wind decreased, sound of buzzing mosquitoes increased, pack up gear for departure plane arrives at 1:00

The wind had calmed during the night which brought on the mosquitoes. By morning there is white caps on the lake and we wonder if the wind increases will the pilot come. We complete the packing up of our gear and clean the cabin. So thankful for the use of it the last couple of days. It was hard to concentrate on any one task or begin a new project. We all knew that when or if we heard the plane we would need to be ready to go. Our walks around the cabin keep us close.Then about 1:00 we heard the noise of a plane, first it was just a fly over then the pilot did a couple of circles over the cabin. We had selected a spot that we thought would work for a landing and thankfully he did as well. The gear was quickly loaded inside the plane and then the canoes were latched on to the pontoons. The seating arrangement for this plane was different than the one we initially flew on. Our gear was loaded on one side and we all set in a single row on the other side.

Soon we had our seatbelts fastened and our ear protections on. We were on our way south.

This map was in the cabin. At the bottom is the lake where the cabin is located(black line) at the top is the falls(circled in black) We followed the river on the way out and cut cross country on the way back to the lake.

The pilot flew over the Hornaday river on the way south to Great Bear Lake. It had dropped a lot in the last 3 weeks. Paddling it now would be challenging. The advice to paddle the river early July was good.

After about an hour an half in the air we saw the shoreline of Great Bear Lake.

It was interesting seeing the solitary tree followed by more and more trees as we got close to Great Bear Lake. Another interesting sight was the gathering of caribou. It was the largest congregation of caribou that we had seen. Soon the solitary animals that we saw will be joining the herd to begin their migration to different feeding grounds.