The final chapter of the David Thompson Brigades has come to a close.
Earlier Brigades took place in 2007 and 2008, but this one was to close out the commemoration of David Thompson's time with the North West Company west of the Rocky Mountains from 1807 to 1812. Thompson made a push to the mouth of the Columbia River and arrived at what is now Astoria, Oregon, on July 15, 1811. Our 2011 Brigade arrived there on July 15, 2011, 200 years to the day that Thompson arrived there.
Our Brigade started at the south end of Columbia Lake, the source of the Columbia River, at Canal Flats on June 3. We paddled north in six-person 'north canoes' along Columbia Lake and down the serpentine Columbia River as it flows through Fairmont Hot Springs. We then paddled along Windermere Lake and arrived in Invermere that same afternoon - a respectable 50 km paddle.
The following day we took the canoes back to Canal Flats and put them in the Kootenay River, only about three km south from where we started the day before.
By June 7, we were paddling across the Canada/U.S.A. border, but not before a border crossing ceremony attended by numerous dignitaries and border and customs people from both countries. These latter folks were most helpful in getting us across the border with the least resistance.
In the days that followed saw us portage about 150 km to the Clark Fork River in Thompson Falls, Montana, paddling down the Clark Fork River to and across Lake Pend Oreille to Sandpoint, Idaho, and paddled down the Pend Oreille River to Ione, Wash. where portaged about another 100 km to the Columbia River in Kettle Falls.
By June 19 we were paddling south on Lake Roosevelt and by June 27, we had our next day off in Wenatchee.
Our longest day saw us leave Wenatchee on June 28 with a scheduled stop just above Rock Island Dam where we participated in a ceremony honouring Thompson.
We arrived in Richland on June 30, and we put on our own Canada Day celebration on July 1 complete with fireworks. We spent the next few days in the Tri-Cities area of Richland/Kennewick/Pasco, but on July 5, we were on the river again.
On July 13 we started our final push toward Astoria.
All 10 canoes made it with no upsets but we had all taken water over the bows and the sides and we were wet.
It was hard to believe that it all went so quickly - six weeks and 1,600 km of paddling.
Our days usually started about an hour and a half before we started paddling. We had to take down our own tents, pack up our bags, and load them into the support vehicles. We then had breakfast, made our lunches, and helped get the support vehicles ready for that day's drive.
We would then paddle for five to six hours a day on average to get to our predetermined stopping places. On some of the actual rivers we were paddling almost 25 km per hour. On flat calm water with no current, we could do about 10 km per hour. It was exhilarating going so fast down those rivers, but also hard work paddling into the wind at times. Once we arrived at our next camping location, we had to clean the canoes, empty out any water, unpack the vehicles, put our tents up, and help with the meal preparation.
Joining our Team for the first 10 days were Sue Duxbury and Steve Sleep from Gibsons and joining us for the last two weeks was Richard Bastin from Gambier Island. We had 50 members on our team, including 12 women, with up to 18 members in camp on any given day.
There are numerous photos on our Team blog: http://www.nalscanoeteam.blogspot.com/ that show some of the remarkable scenery, etc.
Would I do it again? I would love to, but I don't think I could leave Karen with everything to look after at home - there was too much for one person to do.
In 1811 David Thompson put the Columbia River on the map and in 2011, the David Thompson Columbia Brigade put David Thompson on the map.
