Wednesday, Sept 3/08 - Windstayed

-woke up early to the partridges poking around the tent. I get up to find it very windy and very cold with grey threatening clouds.
-it would be possible to canoe Pickett Lake but we wouldn’t be able to canoe on Whiteclay Lake because it would be like a wind tunnel so we decided to stay put
-breakfast was a breakfast bar, hot chocolate and a granola bar. I finally figured out that Dave is the smartest one of the bunch and I went back to my sleeping bag to warm up. Read a book and my devotions. Dave slept most of the day. He said he had to keep his sleeping bag warm.
-a late lunch was soup, crackers and summer sausage
-we were jealous of Jeff & Karla having a nice heated cabin while we were freezing outside. Phil went inside the cabin once to talk about something or other with them and we thought he lingered for awhile (probably to soak up as much heat as possible).
-Since there is an outhouse I don’t have to ration my ever-so-valuable stash of TP. There are numerous notes scrawled in the outhouse. One says “You can’t catch them if you are sitting here”. So I decided to fish from the end of the dock. I have read numerous trip logs of the excellent walleye fishing in Wabakimi. Unfortunately I didn’t catch anything :(
-Walt went fishing later and caught 2 small perch. He had bought a fishing license for this trip so he said each perch cost him $10
- We spent most of the day huddled in the gazebo. It was a great day for camaraderie. Phil would be giving one of us heck for something and we would playfully kick each other under the table as if to say “Come on, dummy!”
-we didn’t finish supper until about 9:30 pm: pasta primavera, stuffing and carrots. After supper Walt thought we should do dishes by the fishhut so he started walking to the fish hut while I went to the tent to get my headlamp. Walt came back yelling: “Ray, your Northern Lights are out!”. At first I didn’t think they were that great; they just looked like some back lighting behind the clouds but then the lights spread to the West and then to the East and the light intensified. The lights started moving and there were various “fingers” from East to West and a couple of streamers straight overhead. It was incredible and I was so glad to have seen them. Jeff & Karla even joined us to watch the lights. Given the cold weather they probably would have missed them if we were not there. It was kind of surreal to do the dishes and watch the Northern Lights. Everyone went to bed at around 11 but I stayed to watch the rest of the light show on the dock by myself until 11:30 with a hot apple cider and vodka. The Northern Lights were not over yet but we have to paddle 26 kms tomorrow and I will need my rest. Unfortunately, none of the pictures turned out. I think you may need a special camera to properly capture the show.
-It was a very cool night. I put my sleeping bag inside the summer sleeping bag and wore my sweater so I was comfortable.

Favorite Phil Story: Phil only paddles on the right side because of an old injury so I will have to paddle the entire way on my left. The injury was from many years ago when he and 2 other guys were carrying a 300 lb canoe and the carrying yoke snapped. The other two guys ducked out of the canoe and Phil left Phil holding the canoe. He broke a bunch of ribs and other bones. They duct taped him up until the trip was over.