August 10, 2009

Day One

    We had arrived at Au jardin de mon pere (My Father’s Garden) campground the night before to allow for an early start this morning.  It had rained overnight but had tapered off to mist and fog by 5 AM, our agreed upon wake-up hour.  We quickly packed up our wet gear and headed to Tim Horton’s for a breakfast sandwich and coffee.  We were ahead of schedule, so we ate at the restaurant before heading to the marina at La Baie where we would launch.  Link to photo album

We decided that we needed a leader, someone who would make a decision for the group when conditions called for quick action and there wasn’t time for consensus decision-making.  Bruce was tapped for the job.  I like to say it was because he had the one good navigation map, but the reality is that Bruce is very aware of the needs of all group members, he is cautions and not afraid to make a decision; in other words, a good trip leader.  And time would prove that our choice was a good one. 

Arriving at the marina before 7 AM, we all began unloading boats and gear on the deserted marina’s boat ramp.  Bruce, who has the smallest and lightest boat, removed the straps holding his boat in the Jay racks on Gaetan’s SUV.  Without warning, the boat tumbled out of the racks, breaking off a driver’s side mirror and grazing my Achilles tendon.  I was not hurt, nor was the boat, but the SUV sustained some significant damage.  Bruce was appalled by the incident and spent the next few hours beating himself up over it.  We all assured him that it was an accident, but secretly hoped that it wasn’t a bad omen at the start of a long trip in unfamiliar waters. 

The need to remove the dangling mirror while preserving the wiring harness took some time, delaying our departure till almost 8:30 AM.  The vehicles were parked in the marina lot, waiting to be picked up by a team from Azimut Adventure Outfitters.  The SUV’s would be ferried to Azimut’s office in Baie-Sainte-Catherine, our intended end point.  A call to the office would have the cars delivered to us in minutes. 

The day was overcast and very calm.  We had come prepared for cold weather and rain, as the weather

Gatan and Bruce on the Saguenay

pattern at the fjord was much the same as it had been at home, with below normal temperatures and rain every-other day.  Water temperatures varied a lot with the depth and currents, but were generally in the low fifties.  Gaetan and I wore Farmer John wet suites.  Bruce and Alan wore dry suits.  I am typically too hot, so aside from the Farmer John, spray deck and PFD, I wore only a t-shirt.  Gaetan however looked amazingly dashing in his white and blue boat, two-tone blue spray deck, blue PFD and two-tone blue paddling jacket with matching hat.  When I first saw him in that outfit I thought, “movie star”.  Then he put on the reflective yellow sunglasses and I thought, “no, formula one race car driver”. 

We arrived at Didier Camp at about 11:45 AM.  The camps are marked with a tall flagpole and the easily seen blue and white Quebec flag.  The beach scene that greeted us would become a familiar one over the next few days.  The tide had ebbed about two-thirds, leaving a boulder-strewn beach, if you can call it a beach, stretching perhaps one hundred yards or so to the high tide mark.  With daily tides ranging from fifteen to twenty feet, we would always have large boulder fields to cross at a new camp to get above the high tide line where our boats would be safe. 

The routine we developed for getting ashore in these places went like this: first we would get out of the boats in the shallow water just in front of the rocks.  Then Alan (he has the plastic boat) would pull his kayak up on the rocks and help another paddler lift his composite boat into a safe position.  This would continue until all the boats were on “shore”.  Then we would begin the arduous task of unloading the boats and carrying gear up to the campsite.  The process was dangerous, because we had to carry our gear through a wet and slippery boulder field.  There was the real possibility of a slip, a twisted ankle or a broken bone at any time.  At first we were not very efficient at moving our gear ashore, making many trips.  But after a few days, we could do it in about two trips.  Once the boats were empty and our gear was settled on the platform we would use for the night, we went back to the boats to carry them through the boulders to a safe spot above the high tide line.  We put four men on each boat – front, back and at both sides of the cockpit.  Moving slowly and constantly communicating to say slow down, move right, and so on, we carried each boat the hundred yards to safety.  This was the part of the day I really disliked.  It was hard and it was dangerous.  Frankly, I don’t see how you could do it with fewer than four strong people. 

There wasn’t a level spot to be found in any of the camps, so camping was on platforms.  Each camp has six platforms either 12 x 12 or 12 x 16 feet.  We had reserved four platforms, one for each of us.  Most camps required a climb up a more or less steep trail to the platforms.  Didier was one of the easier camps to access, with pretty views all around.  The sun had come out, so we strung clothesline and dried out tents, rainflies and sleeping bags.  With everything dried or drying and dinner an hour or so away, I was able to take a quick nap.

Gaetan and I started dinner about five o’clock.  The main course was to be marinated salmon cooked on a charcoal grill.  Gaetan had brought a tiny grill and a small amount of charcoal briquettes.  He built an enclosure of stone on a bed of gravel to surround the grill.  Under this were the briquettes.  If the fire was too hot, he would raise the grill by lifting it until gravel settled in under its legs.  Very clever!  My job was to

Gaetan and Yackman cooking the first night’s dinner - salmon and couscous.  Photo by B. Romanchak

assist and to prepare the couscous.  The salmon was delightful, served with wine, couscous and a helping of chocolate for desert. 

The guys who didn’t cook did most of the clean up.  Then there was time for a campfire, stories and the enjoyment of the evening before bed around nine o’clock.  There was no rain in the forecast.  It also appeared that a warming trend was in the works.  We agreed on a 6 AM wake-up.  Link to photo album

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