RV DAY 52: ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT

Note: Sorry to go back and forth between our present day Europe trip and trying to finish our RV adventure, but I'm almost caught up!

While in Canada, we decided to ditch Margaritaville and spend five days in the high seas (well, more like calm lakes). After picking up our friend Brian and his new girlfriend Becca in Jasper, we quickly made our five-hour drive to Wells Gray, only stopping by a few must-see sites like Lake Louise. Upon arrival at Clearwater Lake, we picked up our canoes, packed up our camping gear and food, and started paddling fast to arrive at the first campsite by nightfall. Justin and I shared a canoe while Brian and Becca shared another. Becca and I were in the front of the canoes acting as the "muscle" paddling hard (half the time), while Justin and Brian were in the back as the "brain and muscle" steering the direction of the canoe as well as paddling. Sasquatch Brian at 6'7 is twice as tall as Becca and ten times heavier, so he was tipping the canoe heavily in the back. Luckily, no one capsized. (Side note: Even though Justin is 6'2, he manages to look short next to all his gargantuan friends, which makes me wonder, do tall guys only have tall friends even if they don't necessarily date tall girls?) Anyway, the water was as glassy as a mirror which really eased us into the motion of rowing. It took about an hour and a half to reach Barview, our designated campground. By the time we arrived, it was already dark so we quickly pitched our tent and fell asleep. 

The next day we rowed another few hours to reach the end of Clearwater Lake. But in order to get across to Azure Lake, we had to carry all our belongings and the canoes because the river connecting the two lakes was upstream. The portage (pronounced like "corsage" as the pseudo-French Canadians liked to point out) was a difficult and extremely long 500 yards of windy bushy trail for us to transport back and forth. Any exposed skin we had was like nectar to the hundreds of mosquitoes swarming around us - we each must have been bitten 50 times. The boys had it worse lugging the heavy canoes on their shoulders. After what seemed like an infinity, we finally completed the arduous journey and rowed to our next campsite - Four and a Half Mile. The next day we rowed to the end of Azure Lake and settled at the Rainbow Falls Campground for two nights. Every campground we went to looked just like the set of Lost in Hawaii - pristine beachfront with stunning sunset views. We spent our time hiking, fishing, skipping stones, drinking, and chatting with the neighbors. Brian and I also provided constant entertainment as we couldn't stop bickering with each other while Becca and Justin laughed and only occasionally chimed in, usually telling Brian he's crazy and too defensive for his own good. By the fourth day, we set sail and rowed 20km in the rain to Archer Creek Campground. Luckily the thunderstorm didn't amount to much, other than the lightning strike sparking a forest fire right in front of our eyes. 

Even though we were spoiled with great weather throughout our trip, on our fifth and final day, the wind picked up considerably and we had to row back to our starting point in very choppy waters, something we were not accustomed to. What a difference the wind made! We had to row ten times as hard to cover half the distance. I gave up countless times from fatigue which angered Justin. Unfortunately, you can't just pull over anywhere you like because the landscape is completely lined with jagged trees so we had to keep rowing until reaching our destination. After hours of back-breaking rowing, we made it safely to the dock where many Europeans were just beginning their journey. Just our luck, as soon as we got all our gear out of the canoes, it started pouring and the rain soaked all of our belongings before we had a chance to put them in the RV. Even though we got wet in the end, at least we weren't the Europeans going out there in the rain! 

Over and out. Next stop: Vancouver