July 31, 2013
We got an early start but we got caught in some heavy rain. Bruce (our guide) lost his graphite paddle while pulling out his Gore-Tex top. So now he’s using his spare. We pulled up onto a beach and rigged the tarp, and it dumped buckets of rain. After the rain slowed a bit we paddled a bit farther and stopped at Willow River. The day was cool, thick fog, rain, and thunder. The area is a popular camping spot for hikers. The only hikers camped there were leaving and we waited and got their choice spot to camp.

Later 4 young gals came hiking through. They didn’t speak much English, long story short, they were in bad shape. Turns out they were from France, Chantal did some translating and Bruce used his new InReach to get the park to come rescue them. They didn’t have great rain gear and no bug juice. One gal’s eye was almost swollen shut from the bug bites. The park showed up in a Zodiac and after a brief assessment hauled them off.

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