DAY THREE

After a solid breakfast of oatmeal and toasted english muffins we were off again! 

Another beautiful morning on the Great Bear River.  Knowing we wanted to reach Norman Wells on this day we set off for the Mackenzie with great anticipation. 

 About fourty minute later we were there!  Ahead of Jenn is the intersection of the two rivers!

Below is me showing our stellar navigational skills!

A pic of Bear rock.  A familiar landmark for anyone who's been in this part of the North.  We planned on hiking to the top, that is, before we lost a day and a bit at the beginning of the journey.   

OK move forward about seven hours. We have been paddling straight taking 5-10 min breaks every half hour.  

The fast current we had in the Bear River is now gone and it seems like we are paddling in cement!  As we past buoys in the water we know we are moving toward our goal but it feels  painfully slow.   

A few times it became so windy that we weren't moving at all. We got rained on for about 15 min.  A few boats raced past us heading to and from the Wells for liquor runs. 

 

At about seven PM we could see the oil platforms in the distance of the Wells so we decided to stop and have a proper meal.  

 

At this point we were quite delirious and wondering if we we just seeing things!

Munching on dinner I noticed a white streak in bush which ended up being a wolf.  He was curious to see what we were having for dinner.

We weren't sharing our pasta salad or sweet and sour pork with rice with him so we ate a bit faster and moved on.  At this point we have paddled off our map and I guesstimated (google earth) we had about twenty KM to go.  

It seemed that I over estimated and just around the bend we began to see power lines and Homes!   

 At about 10:30PM we arrived in the Wells and Curtis came to pick us up! Thanks Vegas! The next day we kicked it and got our plane on time.  

A wonderful trip to remember for ever!  Highly recommended to anyone!