The result of a slight change of plans. What started out as a horse camp in another country ended up as another canoe trek exploring a previously onknown lake system. Here follows Willam's journal entry from another great weekend reliving North American fur trade history in the Swedish wilds.
We started our journey, this time in Halla, at the northeast end of Lake Sörsjön, in the afternoon of September 4th.
We packed our canoes with our gear and then we were off, heading into uncharted waters and land unknown to us.
The first day we paddled little over a mile before making camp. We wanted to get the camp up before dark and anticipated rain and have some time with daylight when preparing supper. The first meal of the trip was dry meat, wild rice and onions, all boiled together into a stew.
Early Saturday morning started with some Bannock, bacon, and a pot of coffee to get us going. After that it was time to break camp and pack up the canoes again, taking us towards the southwest stem of the U-shaped lake.
We followed the shore of a large peninsula. At the middle of it we identified the most suitable portage to carry canoes and over land and make our way to the next stem om the lake, called Frisjön, with all our gear. Once we reached the other shore, it was time for lunch, getting some energy back and trying to wait out the rain that was coming towards us.
After lunch it was time to try our luck with the unpredictable weather again. The wind was picking up and a little rain was coming down.
That afternoon we made our way around the bade of the U by water from Frisjön back into Sörsjön, looking for a place to make camp before the real nasty weather came upon us. And again, we managed to get camp up just in time, perfect before the rain.
The rain did come! According to the farmer whose house Simon’s car was parked by, there had been close to two inches of rain during the night.
The rest of the evening we sat around the fire, chatted, told old stories, made some food and turned in early with the rain smattering against the canvas.
Sunday morning offered a mirror-like lake and warm sunlight breaking through the morning mist. We were all eager to get going so we prepared a quick breakfast of smoked pork, Bannocks and coffee. Then we packed up camp and loaded the canoes for the final paddle back towards the end of our adventure.
/Willam
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