MISTASSIBI NORD EST, QUEBEC, DAY 1, June 24 to July 1, 2012

Day 1, Sunday, June 24


Sunrise was early, four or five; the birds made a racket. Out of the tent before six; lots to do. Coffee and pork chops that had to be eaten. (They were to be dinner but instead had wonderful spotted trout.) Walked and ate to keep the bugs away. All the gear had to be down to the lake and the truck delivered to our friend who was going to take it to the take out for us. Waiting for the float plane at the washed-out dock, we decide to move all the gear to the beach where there weren’t nails and broken wood. Kept watching and watching for the plane. The sky was perfect blue with a few painterly clouds. No wind, the lake very still. Then we heard the rumblings of some shore bird and the big red single Otter plane arrived with its white goose logo on the back—Air Saguenay.

The plane, a de Haviland single Otter had a new Polish Pezetel 1,000 horsepower engine. The pilot came right up to the beach, donned hip boots and jumped in the water to maneuver the plane even closer to us and the gear. He strapped our canoe to the right pontoon with nylon straps and heavy clamps. All our gear was stowed in the back of the plane. Doug gave Trish the co-pilots seat, which she gratefully accepted, Nikon in hand. We followed the path of the river up to Lac Machisque. 45 minutes, 72 air miles.

 What a treat to see the river from the air before navigating it. The landing was perfect and we taxied to the plage marked GC (group camp) on the map, the headwaters of the Mistassibi Nord Est. Kilometer 176 on the map.

We started off fast and checked the map for reliability, R2 S2 R2 R1 R2 S2 R1 R2. The first part of the river had a forest fire in June 201 so it was still pretty desolate looking, only low scrubby growth. We paddled 7.5 miles and camp at a 3C site around K 164. Dinner was especially memorable since it had been transported in a cooler for days. Steak, baked Yukon gold potatoes with sour cream, steamed fresh broccoli.