We woke, having not had any interactions with the bear whose prints we found on the Winter road, to a grey day. With a weather report of increasing wind, we packed quickly and headed out. The crossing took about an hour and when we looked out of the bay to the larger part of Lake Athabasca, it looked like the ocean and Fort Chipewyan, looked like many Newfoundland and Labrador outports we’ve paddled into.

We were greeted at the Big Dock by Lisa and the barge we met the other day. We let the barge go in first 🙂

We’ve spent the day catching up with Lisa and Ben, both HKR grads, touring town, and doing town tasks. It’s been good to have a rest for our arms after five good hard days of paddling and after closing Phase Three. Phase Four will see us headed for Fort Smith via Fort Fitzgerald.

Lisa met us with a truck and we moved our gear to her house. A different kind of loading and I rode in back to make sure the boat was okay. I felt like I was in a parade. Laundry. Check. Clean the spice kit. Check. Charge electronics. Check. Prep maps. Check. Sleep deep and well tonight. Hope so!