Canoeing the Cree River 2021

Canoeing the Cree River 2021

Hi! My name is Devyn. I am thirteen and this summer I had the opportunity to experience canoeing the Cree River with my dad, Dean, my younger brother Conor, and nine other people. In the Douglas’ boat was me, Conor and Dean. We’re from Saskatoon. The Horn’s boat was Geoff, Regan, Ada, and Ainsley, and they are from Regina. In the Weiman’s boat was Laurie, Nathan and Olivia, they are from Regina too. And in the Pilsworth’s boat was Kevin and Stacy, they’re from Moose Jaw.  I had so much fun with this group and hope to see them again!

The Cree River is 600 km north of Saskatoon. The drive is 11 hours to Points North then another hour on the float plane to Cree Lake, where the Cree River starts. Our journey was about 200 km long from Cree Lake to Wapata Lake, but you can extend the trip by 54 km by ending in Black Lake. The Cree has fast moving water with Class 1 and 2 rapids which make the trip fun and relaxing.

Class 1 rapids are easy rapids with smooth water and has a clear passageway. Class 1 can get slightly difficult avoiding obstacles in the river.  Class 2 is moderate with medium-quick moving water. There should still be a clear path between rocks and ledges but you should know how to maneuver the canoe and read water. I had so much fun on the rapids and they weren’t particularly hard. I was also in the bow doing basic strokes, and the people in the stern were doing most of the steering.

July 9, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 1 – Driving

Day 1 was driving. My family rode in Kevin and Stacy Pilsworth’s tiny truck all the way to Points North, Saskatchewan. I initially thought that we would be driving in our truck, until my dad told me the day before we left that we were riding in their truck. When Kevin and Stacy got to my house, Dad and Kevin loaded their canoe onto the trailer. When Geoff, Regan, Ada and Ainsley Horn arrived, they packed the rest of the gear into the trailer. We left at the same time and drove together. The drive wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Somehow, I got stuck in the middle of the back seat and my younger brother on the edge. The AC stopped having good air pressure and blowing cold air on the road from Moose Jaw to Saskatoon, and that day was very hot. The vent was right in front of me so I was kind of cool. We stopped for supper at Dairy Queen in La Ronge. My mom texted us and said La Ronge was the hottest place in Saskatchewan that day. Lucky us!

When everyone got to Missinipie, we met Laurie, Nathan and Olivia Weiman. We packed their things into the trailer, and we were off to the campsite that we would be camping at for the night! The road after Missinipie to Points North is so dusty and bumpy. It was not an enjoyable ride. The scenery was the same, and the road felt like it just went on forever. A little after 9:00 everyone was tired, and we still haven’t found the campsite. So, Geoff pulled into a small spot in the ditch at Davin Lake and we camped there. Everybody was in their tent at 10:30. On Day 1 we seen rabbits, and all types of birds and bugs (shocker!). Most of the animals ran across the road or were on it. The sleep was very tight. The tent that Dad ordered didn’t arrive before the trip, so we borrowed a 3-man tent from Geoff. It was just a little too cozy.

July 10, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 2 – Flight in and Paddling

We planned to wake up early, and everyone did. 6:30am is a little too early for me, but we had to make it to Points North for our flights. For breakfast, everyone packed their own thing. Me and my dad had overnight oats, and Conor had Raisin Bran. The bugs were very irritating. Always swarming in your face and buzzing in your ears, but we managed and the week ahead would just be worse.

Like planned, we were on the road at 7:30. Turned out that the campsite was around 10 minutes away from where we tented. But sleeping on the side of the road wasn’t bad. Some people spotted a bear running in a gravel pit on the side of the road. I didn’t see it but I’m happy others got to. After a little while of driving we stopped at a convenience store called Km 147. The lady working there was really nice. She also had a cute dog.

 

Points North is extremely boring for a kid. We arrived there at 10:30. It was so humid and really loud because of all of the helicopters and airplanes coming in. There are only six passengers allowed on a floatplane so it had to make two trips.
The Horn’s and the Pilsworth’s went on the first ride that left at 12:40. My family and the Weiman’s waited two hours in the waiting room for the plane to come back. It had air conditioning so it was cool. Once we seen the gas truck pull up, we headed outside with our things.

Our plane left at 1:40. It was way louder than I remembered. There were forest fires around Points North, and we seen some of the crazy smoke. I slept through most of the flight. It was so hot and smelled like gas. Sometimes the plane would randomly drop and that made everyone woozy. Near the end I don’t think Dad could handle it anymore and he puked, in the bailer thankfully! Conor wasn’t doing too well either but he made it through.

The plane landed at 2:40. When Dad walked out, he said, “Geoff, I have a present for you from Points North!” Gross. All of the kids swam in the lake while the adults unloaded. The water was really nice, and it stayed shallow really far out.

Loaded our boats and on the water at 3:30. The plan was to travel 8 km to a campsite. The water was clear and such a beautiful colour. It changed different shades of blue. Since the water was so clear and shallow, there were fish that you could see in it. The few rapids that we did run were Class 1. They were honestly just small waves. Super fun to run though! We also seen two hunting camps that were marked on the map, too.

Near the end of the day, we stopped and checked out a potential campsite. There wasn’t anything there and the access wasn’t the best. The Cree River doesn’t have sandy beaches and the access to land isn’t ideal. Shrubs and bushes are in the way and you have to jam your canoe into them. It was a pain, but we did survive. But we did find a camp spot a little while later. The ground was covered in crunchy moss, but there were lots of trees for coverage.

After we hauled everything to a tenting spot, the kids went swimming again. Conveniently, when we went back all of the tents were pitched. Before supper, the kids played Uno in the bug tent because the mosquitoes were so bad. Olivia kept saying, “will someone just win already?” When she was the one who was sabotaging everyone who was about to win.  Geoff called us down for supper. We had steak, potatoes and carrots. It was so good. I ate way too much. Just to make supper even better, Laurie brought rhubarb crisp. It was delicious.

After supper was quiet. We all were in bed at 10:30. There was a huge thunderstorm that night and I couldn’t sleep. Some people didn’t hear a thing and I was jealous. Day 2 was a great start to the trip!

July 11, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 3

Day 3 started off by waking up at 7:30 and eating Bacon and Eggers (egg McMuffins).

We got on the water at 10:50 which was 20 minutes later than we wanted to leave. That day was the Cree River’s Hawk Rapids! I was nervous and Dad wanted to make sure I remembered important whitewater strokes. I didn’t remember the hanging draw, but it is really easy to do. The first couple rapids are Class 1, and fun to run. At the class 2, we pulled over and scouted the biggest feature of the river.

The ledge was bigger than I thought it would be. I was really nervous, but everyone made it through. It was easy and smooth. When we were scouting the rapid, Regan spotted a porcupine on the other side of the river when we were walking back to the boats. It was getting a drink of water and I thought that was cool.

In the bay at the bottom of Hawk Rapids, we stopped to try fishing. It was a fish hotspot because people caught so many! Geoff caught two, Olivia got one and so did Conor! I know he was excited to catch one. Some were huge fish that got away and the other we released back. It was fun to watch!

We stopped for lunch 15 minutes later at 1:30. We ate sandwiches and changed into our raingear because it was starting to get chilly and spit a bit. We got on the water again at 2:20. There was a rapid with a ledge that our boat barely cleared. We were going right for it, and then Dad got the angle and we just missed it.

Two hours later I was really tired, and we stopped to fish again at the start of a rapid. No luck. We pulled into a camp spot a couple hours later at 5:00 on the dot. There was an eagle right before we pulled in, too! The spot was nice. There were visible spots where you could place a tent which was great There were signs of rain and we set up the tent and camp way faster.

The kids played cards again before having sweet and sour ham and rice for supper. It was so good. I dried dishes with Ada and hung out for the rest of the night. It got chilly and that is when I got into the tent and wrapped up in my sleeping bag.

July 12, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 4

The cold weather woke me up at 7:20. I was so cold I didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag. I eventually had to, and I packed up the inside. I put my winter toque and ThermoBall and headed outside. Regan made hot chocolate to warm us up. We ate a scromlet for breakfast. It needed Ketchup, and good thing we brought some.

 

When I started brushing my teeth, the sun came out and I was hoping the day was going to be warm. But sadly, the clouds quickly swallowed it up. We were on the water at 10:40, and the day just got colder and colder. That was mostly because we don’t have a spray deck and water kept splashing me. There was a rapid marked as a Class 2 because there was a ledge. I was nervous but there ended up not being one. Just shallow and rocky. We skidded a couple rocks, and believe me, we were not the only ones. A little further ahead, we got into the middle of some tall waves. We hit one wrong and the whole thing landed in my lap. My pants and socks got soaked. Kevin was watching us and said he wished he got that on camera because of my face. Other than that, the rapids were just plain fun to run.

After some more rapids, we were led to a lake, and there was a moose in the middle of it stopping for some lunch! It was a highlight and was amazing to see one. Before our lunch we stopped in a bay to try and fish. It was too weedy. We ate lunch in that bay at 1:15 and had naan bread with pizza sauce and toppings. It was good lunch.

On the water again at 1:50. After paddling for quite some time, Regan checked out a potential camp spot. She said that there were boulders embedded into the ground and not a good spot. We paddled through a couple more rapids and found a spot.

After setting up camp, my family went for a bath. The water was cold but it was nice to wash my hair and get somewhat clean. Geoff, Regan, Ainsley, Olivia, Laurie and Nathan went for a hike on an esker on the other side of the lake.

There are tons of great eskers to hike on the Cree River.  For those that don’t know, an esker is a long winding ridge of sand and gravel, deposited by meltwater from a melting glacier or ice sheet.

 

Before supper we played cards again and Conor and Dad tried to go fishing. One fish wanted to play but they didn’t catch it. When they got back, we ate supper. Spaghetti and meat sauce. I ate a lot. It was tasty. For dessert, Laurie made cookies. They were delicious and much needed.

I had so many bug bites on my left ankle. After Bite was my best friend! There was also a rainbow after supper. It was beautiful and a sign that the sun was coming out!

When I opened my book bag to write in my journal that night, I seen my reading book and the back cover and pages were bent. More than once. Stuffing a paperback into a tight drybag wasn’t a good idea and I am never bringing a book on a canoe trip again. I didn’t even read it, so it was useless. I was so disappointed. That was the worst thing that happened on the trip.July 13, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 5

Things did look up when the weather changed! It was a hot day, but I’d take it over a cold one. Minus the humid tent, maybe. I was packing the tent after pancakes for breakfast (the best camp meal) and then we saw two canoes pass by our campsite! Being on such a remote river, what are the chances?

We got onto the water at 10:05 which is a really good time for our crew! Ran Class 1’s all day and a couple Class 2’s. Some were marked as ledges but they were just big waves.  Probably because of the high-water levels this year, the fishing outfitter told Geoff there was an extra 3 feet of water running down the river. There is no water monitoring station on the Cree anymore, so you need to reference the water monitoring station at The Fund Du Lac River Outlet of Black Lake which recorded a flow of 990 m3/sec when we were on the river.  There were a few long stretches in the morning where the water was shallow and rocky. We skidded some like every day before. They were lots of fun! Dad was using the Gem Trek maps and they are all pre-marked with rapids and notes from CRCO’s trips down the Cree where as Geoff was using his old maps marked from Laurel Archer’s book with a few added notes from his friends that have paddled it over the years.

The Horn’s stopped on a shallow sandbar and we had a swim break. The water was cold but I wouldn’t call it refreshing. It was just nice to cool off a bit. Two hours later we went down some fun and fast water rapids. We stopped at the end of them on a rock island for lunch at 1:30. There was a small stream pouring water into the lake on land and it was cool to watch. Lunch was tuna wraps. They were tasty.

Conor took a turn being Dad’s bow partner for part of the afternoon. I don’t think he enjoyed it and it was really boring for me sitting in the middle. Not doing anything makes you tired. We found a camp spot at 4:00. It was really early, and we decided to chance it and go down further. Me and Conor switched spots again because he was getting tired. We looked at numerous spots until we found one close to the group in front of us at 6:00. They took the spot that we were hoping for, but ours was better. It needed to be cleaned up a bit. We picked up branches and chopped fallen trees so there was a path and tent pads. It was a really nice site after that. That day we calculated that we traveled 36.5 km on the map, but the GPS said 40.5 km. We were on the water for 6.5 hours and traveled between 6.6 to 7 km/hr, that was a good day.

Chicken alfredo was for supper. It didn’t exactly turn out. The sauce didn’t thicken, and it was like a soup. But it still filled everyone up. The kids roasted marshmallows over the fire for dessert. Burnt marshmallows are the best and no one can change my mind. They are so much easier to cook and taste better.

When everyone went to bed, you could hear some moose. They were near our spot and I was hoping that one wouldn’t stick its head into someone’s tent fly in the middle of the night…

July 14, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 6

Day 6 was hot and windy. Everyone woke up at around 7:45 and we ate oatmeal. I don’t particularly like oatmeal, and I added a couple of globs of brown sugar. I packed the tent again because Conor isn’t the best at rolling up the Therm-a-Rests. We got on the water at 9:50. We paddled for a few minutes, then some boats stopped for fishing at the confluence of Rapid River. We went up the rapid and tried fishing at the bottom, but again, no luck. Olivia caught a huge Jack Fish and it caused lots of grief because of how big it was. Thankfully it got away but
Geoff got a picture of it in the water.

After people got bored of fishing, we started our day. Conor kept his rod in all morning and still caught nothing.  The morning was kind of boring. Mostly all moving water. It was really nice that it was high and moving though. We were averaging 8.5 km an hour with the current which made the 30 km day an easy day of padding.

The scenery was the same the whole morning. But we did spot a moose and her baby on the left side of the river taking a bath! That part was remarkable. Eventually our canoe got in the front, and we stopped for a swim break. The water was really refreshing since it was so hot out.

We parked the boats on shore and swam a couple of feet to a sandbar. The current was strong, and I didn’t float a ton. Almost everyone had a bath. I just didn’t wash my hair.

We were off again and looking for a lunch spot and found one at 1:00. Geoff got out and noticed the water was cold. Everyone thought it was just Geoff being Geoff, until Stacy seen something bubbling up from the sand, and other people got out and figured out the water was freezing. People found more, and we realized that we found a natural spring!

It definitely wasn’t a hot spring. If you stood in it for too long your feet started burning from the cold. It was unbearable to stand in the bubbles for too long. But it was fun to stick your hand in the hole for a few seconds. Most parts of the tiny island had normal water temperature where you could warm your feet up. We tied our water bottles on the canoe’s painter line and let it float in the cold water.  We had cold juice for the rest of the day in our northern refrigerator! Laurie also filtered cold water. It was refreshing to have cold liquids.

 

For lunch that day we had a couple options. Peanut butter and jam, or ham, meat, and cheese on a wrap. We got back on the water around 1:50. For the afternoon there were small rapids and moving water. There was a strong head wind when we turned a corner, but shortly after Geoff found us a nice camp spot at 3:30. I blew up the Therm-a-Rests and it was a struggle because the tent was so humid.  After everyone had theirs set up, we sat in a circle and ate delicious beef jerky that Laurie made. Kevin gave the kids a riddle that was really confusing. Apparently, he said it when he was on the Seal River with the adults of this group and Laurie got the answer in a few minutes.  It took us way more than a few minutes. Olivia got it right. I thought the answer wasn’t to do with math because it is a riddle, and they usually have a twist. But it was to do with math, and I can’t even say the answer because it was too confusing.

We ate shepherd’s pie for supper, and it was so good. It was probably one of the best meals, and I had seconds. After supper the kids played Go Fish and What are the Odds. Day 6 was an okay day. Not a lot of rapids, and the ones we did run were shallow and rocky, but I still had fun!

July 15, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 7

I woke up at 7:20, after my family. I packed the tent and we took it down before breakfast which was nice and less stress. Regan made boiling hot chocolate that me and Conor saved for later. For breakfast was a tasty hashbrown, egg, and bacon scromlet. It was great.

We were the last ones off shore and on the water at 10:05. There was only one path out of the shrub because the other landing spot we used the evening before had a wasp’s nest. There was supposedly a pipe shooting up water on the other side of the bay so we paddled there. We soon found out that it was through a labyrinth of bushes. Not ideal. The water did get colder but we couldn’t see or hear the source. We just decided to continue our day. It was cloudy and cool so we wouldn’t be stopping for long if we did see it. When we got home, we found out that it was on the hill we paddled by. Some assumed that, but we didn’t check because it would push our day back further. I had so much fun looking though.

 

Day 7 was humid, windy, and cloudy. The river is twisty, so sometimes we got headwinds, tailwinds, and some from the side. It was not fun to paddle through that.

But the river pushed us along pretty good. We stopped for a swim break at the end of a minor rapid. I mentioned to Dad that at the start of the trip,
Geoff said that we could swim down a rapid if it was hot out. He asked him about it, and we did! It was moving water and not a rapid, but I still had fun. It is better to swim down a rapid by choice, and not accident. Believe me, we’ve been there, done that! It was good learning how to float down one if the canoe did tip. Your feet should be the lowest part of your body and detecting rocks so you don’t hurt your tailbone. It makes sense and is easy to remember.

 

We Stopped for lunch at 1:00 on a little sandbar island where we got to swim and play in the sand. We ate a mix of everything we ate for lunch the days before. During lunch we could see a bear eating berries not too far away from us. It didn’t see us, or seem to care if it did.

We got on the water again at 1:50. We seen a whole bunch of beaver lodges on that trip and seen a whole bunch more that day. For the whole Cree River, no one seen one beaver, which I think is crazy.

We went down the last rapid of the trip that day. Lake paddling was on the schedule for the next day. Lakes are so boring and are really exhausting to paddle in a head wind, and you are insane if you like that. After we started paddling a lake, me and Regan switched boats. I am not the strongest paddler in the world and I do tire out. It was good for Dad to have a break with a stronger partner.  After the confluence of the Pipestone, we started looking for a camp spot and found one about 10 km downstream at 5:00. It was an okay site. Not the best, but not the worst. Before supper, everyone went for a bath. It was refreshing to wash my hair.

After I dried off, I coloured in Ainsley’s colouring book with her. For supper the kids ate the best Kraft Dinner I have ever had, and the adults and Olivia ate chicken teriyaki. I tried some but it wasn’t my favourite. After supper it started thundering. That’s when someone found out that the site was an old bear bait station and there was an old barrel chained to a tree. Since it was out of date we stayed there.

 

I played cards in the tent again, then brushed my teeth because the thunder was getting louder. The sunset and sun were a bright orange so I was about to go out and take a picture, until it started hailing! Everyone took cover in their tents. I could barely hear Conor talking because the hail was so loud against the tent. It eventually cleared up and started raining for the night.

July 16, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 8 Last Paddling Day

I woke up at 7:30 on the side of the tent because I convinced my brother to switch. I didn’t like it at all so I decided to stick to the middle for the next night. The weather was really cold and windy in the morning. But pancakes made it better. The morning seemed to be going by very slowly. Maybe it was just because everyone was dreading the paddle that day, but we were all on the water at 9:50.

It was going to be a 30 km day and as suspected, the wind was head on, and it was a hard paddle with little to no current.  It was a lot to handle and I got tired quickly. There weren’t many breaks, and we were travelling 5.7 km an hour which was slower than all of the previous days. But we did stop for a quick lunch at 12:30. It was a five-star camp spot at one time, but it had burnt in 2010 and there isn’t a lot of shelter. There was tons of new growth and should be a better spot in a while. We found a shredded beach chair there. How do you just leave that in the middle of nowhere? It was weird. But for lunch we ate the same old things. It was freezing, and I was shivering the whole time. Not fun.

We started paddling again at 1:05. Before we left in the morning, Ada, Ainsley, and Olivia were playing tag when people were packing. It lasted the whole day in the canoes and it was so much fun. Conor got tagged, then we came up with a plan. We eventually caught up to the Weiman’s boat and tagged Nathan! We paddled away so fast so he couldn’t tag someone else in our boat. We were so excited about our victory, that we missed the turn-off and went the wrong way. It was worth it!

At one point, our canoe needed to stop for a break, but there wasn’t anywhere to stop because the shore was all bush. We found a marshy spot and got out. My socks got soaked, and my feet were freezing the rest of the day. It was not fun.

Right before Wapata Lake, there looked to be good fishing. This might sound crazy, but I swear I seen small, skinny fish leap out of the water around the shore. They looked more like large sardines than a fish. But they were out of the corner of my eye so I’m not sure. I did do some research and it said that some fish do that to easily get around rocks. Dad didn’t believe me but I’m pretty certain that I did. But we didn’t catch a flying sardine or any other fish.

The group in front of us took the campsite that was marked on the map, but there is one further down in the next bay that Geoff and Laurie know about when they did the Cree in 2005. It is beside a small cabin and is super nice. It was a good spot to end the trip at because it was wide open and there was even room to fly a kite that Olivia had brought on the trip. After everything was set up, Geoff asked if some people wanted to go fishing. Conor, Geoff, Laurie, Nathan and Dad went in the bay. Olivia and Ada went swimming. I didn’t want to because of how cold it was, so I coloured in Ainsley’s colouring book with her again. The fishing crew came back with four fish that we ate for supper. Conor caught two northern pike, the last one broke his rod in half! He didn’t care at all and thought it was hilarious. He was just happy to catch some fish and kept one for supper. Geoff has to show off by catching the two biggest fish that were kept. One northern pike, and one walleye. Laurie caught a walleye too that we kept for supper.  I have never had fish before, and it was really good. We also had chicken pot pie for supper. It was just shepherd’s pie but with chicken instead of hamburger. It was good too. After supper, Nathan took a group photo and it turned out great.

Geoff used the satellite phone to call the airport to confirm our flight out the next morning. The calls weren’t working, and he called Missinipe. They said that the forest fires melted the phone and powerlines. There were people evacuating all over Northern Saskatchewan. We were hoping that none of the fires were near the road out of Points North so we could get home. We were really fortunate to not smell any smoke for the trip. That night was cold. Good thing we didn’t have another cold day because we were flying out the next one.

July 17, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 9

Everyone woke up very early. I got out of the tent at 6:50 and ate oatmeal for breakfast. We set all the gear out and canoes out for the first floatplane. It flew over us at 8:55 and landed at 9:05. The pilot was trying to park it, but the wind kept pushing the plane, so it took a few tries. The groups were the same as coming in, so the first flight was Geoff, Regan, Ada, Ainsley, Kevin, and Stacy. They left the Cree River at 8:45. Our plane arrived after a boring wait at 10:25.  We loaded everything and probably did seven sweeps of camp before we left. Dad took some Gravol so he wouldn’t feel sick. We took off a little after 11:00. The flight was only 30 minutes, and it wasn’t one billion degrees outside, so it was nice. There were forest fires around Points North, and you could see them from the air. There was one that was massive, and I took some pictures.

The plane landed at 11:45, and Points North did have cell coverage, so me and Conor called our mom. When everything was loaded into the trailer, we ate lunch in the parking lot.

A tame fox came and knew we had food. It was cool watching it run around. An employee came to talk to us and said that the fire near the road was flaring up and they might close it. We thought we missed our window as we had to change a flat tire on Kevin’s truck, but we did make it. The trees on the side of the road were just newly burned. There was so much smoke on the way to Missinipe that I started to feel nauseous. We were lucky that the road didn’t close down when we were trying to get through it.

At one point I was sleeping in the truck, and Dad said something really loud and I woke up because I thought we were going to crash, but Geoff hit a bump in the road, and apparently the trailer went 3 feet up in the air!

When we arrived in Missinipe, we had burgers at the Weiman’s camp spot that Laurie’s husband, Rob, was camping in. The burgers were delicious and it was so nice to eat something other than dehydrated camp food. The kids played Uno in their camper one last time, and I really enjoyed myself. I went to bed at 11:00. The night was cool and smoky.

July 18, 2021

Cree River Canoe Trip, Day 10

I got used to the smoke overnight and it wasn’t bad. We packed and ate breakfast at Thompson’s Resort before heading off. It was very tasty and a nice restaurant. But we eventually got onto the road around 11:00. I got one of the end seats and Conor got stuck in the middle. The ride was much more enjoyable for me that way. The drive felt like forever and we lost the Horn’s in Prince Albert. We arrived at my house at 4:15 and waited for the Horn’s. When they got there, we unloaded my family’s things and the trailer. When that was all done, we said our goodbyes and they left for Regina and Moose Jaw. I was sad that the trip was over but happy to see my mom and sleep in my own bed! I am really thankful and grateful for being able to go on this trip and I thank Nathan Weiman for taking amazing photos, and Geoff and Regan Horn for planning and inviting us to join them!