Return to the Peel Journal - Day 3
- David McGuffin
- Jul 19, 2018
- 2 min read
Thursday, July 19. Sunny!
The Upper Wind River, near the confluence with the Bear River.
The valley broadens out where the Bear river delta meets the Wind. The large amount of silt coming down the Bear has created a lovely estuary of reed beds. The river slows right down here in this section and meanders into many slower channels for the first time on the trip.
We actually had to backtrack at one point, which we haven’t had to do before, after taking a channel that got increasingly slower until we realized it was taking us back south again. Fortunately it only took us about 30 minutes out of our way before we turned course and headed back. With the reed beds and the slower water we are seeing a lot more waterfowl in this section, ducks and geese... even seagulls, which are apparently everywhere on this planet.
Terry lining a long stretch of river north of the Bear.
The broader river also meant some shallow waters and having to get out and line over some long sections of water, several hundred meters at a time in places. It was very tiring. But we got through and discovered this...
... what is definitely our best campsite so far. A wide gravel bank to easily park our canoe and kayak, and then an elevated moss covered bank above that, a wonderfully soft spot to pitch our tents and spend the night, and enough driftwood for a proper fire. It sits on the edge of a huge flood plain, below a ring of mountains, which we plan on exploring tomorrow.
The near perfect campsite. Arctic moss is a soft and wonderful mattress.
Looking south towards the McKenzie Mountains and the Ogilvie range. We'll leave these mountains behind in a couple of days.
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