The Athabasca River varies between frozen and unfrozen so we have stayed off the water since November. This brings the trip closer as the next time we put the canoe back in the water will be very shortly before the expedition begins. We are about to start preparing our food for the journey, we are currently awaiting a food dehydrator far more suited to the task than the one we have at the moment, which has done a great job but it is quantity, quantity now! Cooking 4 months food whilst still cooking dinners for us will be challenging, but we will prepared much of the same ingredients at the same time – I can foresee ‘onion days’, or ‘jerky days’, the laborious task of dehydrating large quantities of food. Not be quite as thrilling as the days spent out on adventure.
Other big news is that we now have an addition to our team – Tallak, a Norwegian Elkhound. He is a great dog, and already we are out and about in the woods and on the lakes, though he is only 8wks. We chose the Elkhound for their breed reputation of being hardy dogs, able to really excel outdoors, and in the company of the animals we will likely meet on our journey. Hopefully, he will develop to be a good guard and watchdog for us on the trip. We are relying on his ears and nose for alerts! We weighed the pro’s and cons for quite some time, as it is a weight increase of somewhere in the region of 80kgs – dog and food. That’s another me, though I think it will prove the right choice.
The canoe can hold 380kg, so we are fine with additional weight, however the volume is another story – it will be a fun morning packing the canoe for the first time I bet! Something I shall have to practice beforehand I am sure.
With the snow growing progressively deeper, we are almost ready to strap on the snowshoes and explore the places so difficult to move through in the summer. It is cold, but hey, this is Canada – whats new?