Day5: Opeongo to Opeongo to Opeongo to Home!

No pics this one.. Well, there were, but camera got left behind...

7:00 - We awoke to rain and high winds. We brewed coffee, and packed our gear in a break between rain spells. We'd discussed the previous night, that if it were to be calm in the morning, we'd just paddle out. If it wasn't, we'd fight our way back to where we came out of the portage, and wait for a water taxi. The water was anything but calm.

We broke for the portage. Canoe loaded, and bodies stiff, we start paddling furiously. We didn't make it. The combination of the wind and the waves overpowered us. If we turned the canoe at any angle to the wind other than dead on, we were pushed aside, and there was nothing we could to to pull it back around. We beached the canoe on the far side of the east arm of Opeongo.

We canvassed the families (turned out to all be part of the same family) camped there, and asked them if they saw a water-taxi to flag it down, and send it our way.

No water taxies in sight.

We waited on the beach inbetween the campsites, not wanting to intrude on anyone's family camping, but eventually, even a tarp blanket couldn't keep the chill off of us. We swallowed our pride, and visited the main family campsite.

They took us in, and fed us hot chocolate. They pointed us to a spot above the campsite that was out of the wind, and this is where we went to warm ourselves. And it's also where we spent the day. Waiting for the wind to break.

Waiting.

Instead of getting better, it starts getting worse. Powerboats are moved into the sheltered bay, and there's no motion on the lake. We were told that that was the worst that they'd seen the lake in 30 years of coming to that spot.

More waiting.

In mid afternoon, we hear the sound of a boat thumping into the water.. We streak from our sheltered location, just to see the water-taxi zip by, and head towards the portage.. We wave flourescent childrens toys in the air, but it's of no use. He missed us.

It's suggested that I could take a service road to the portage, and have the campers there send the water-taxi over, if it were to buzz by again. This makes sense, so I strike off on a 20 min walk.

When I arrive there, I see a couple canoes there, and I'm told that there are canoers there who had managed to flag down the water taxi! Hope is in sight! Speaking to them, they tell me that the water taxi should be coming back at around six. It's 4:40 now. Something that they said dashes my hopes of being picked up in our sheltered location.. I'm told that the spot where they were waiting (the exit to the cart-path) was was one of the only places where the water-taxi could land. This makes me think that the odds of him coming to pick us up is pretty slim. I decide we've got to get picked up with these guys, or we won't be at all..

I walk back to camp, and tell GF "I've got some good news, and some bad news.. The good news is, there's a water taxi coming to pick up some people on the other side of the point. The bad news is we've got to get our stuff over there..".

We madly dash around (leaving our camera behind *sigh*) gathering things together, and strapping the packs for travel. I carry the canoe through the surf, and up to the top of the hill.

Fortunately, this story would not have the happy ending that it does, if not for the kindness of the family camped there. One of the adults, and all of the teenage boys were recruited to help us carry our stuff. All I had to carry was the canoe. With the help, we now had our one-trip portage.

5:30 - We get to the end of the portage, just in time to see the water-taxi pulling in. We make a mad dash with our stuff, and deposit our canoe with the other two already on the ground.

We don our raingear, and load all of our stuff in the water taxi. The boat hops across the five foot swells, and even with the best care of our driver, there's not much that can stop us from getting absolutely soaked.

Pulling into the station where we had come in is an experience similar to hitting harbour after being in the north-atlantic during a storm. Dry-land, and civilization!

I go get the car (some moron had parked me in.. Fortunately, it was a little car, and I was long on bumper, and short on patience. It was not an obstacle for long.) and get the gear loaded while GF takes care of the accumulated rental fees.

As we're driving out, it starts to rain. It feels so weird to be inside watching the rain.. The heater is on, and we are warm and dry. It's such a strange experience after the past few days that we'd had.

Driving out, we are kinda saddened, but elated. It was physically exhausting, but mentally cleansing. The concentration on the basics of survival tends to push all thoughts of bills, work, or any artificial stresses that we construct for ourselves. We had concentrated on ourselves, and the strength that we hold within us. And we'd made it. We'd done it.

A quick gorge-session at McDonalds in huntsville, and we're on our way home.

12:30. - Home. Shower, then sleep.