Wednesday 16th July

Crossed Mills Lake. For the first 2 hours it was like a mill pond before chopping up again. Had a snack at a rocky spot. Caught another fish. With my fishing licence costing US$40, I need to get my moneys worth!

Entered the river again, no more lakes, and found another decent campsite. Caught another fish. Hot and calm.
Tuesday 15th July

With less than 3 hours sleep, it was going to be a rough day, but a least the current had increased again. We had about 16km to get to Fort Providence where we stopped for two and a half hours. A friendly dog followed me for two hours and was sitting at the rivers edge when we left.

We paddled another 20kms before stopping on an island just before Mills Lake. And I proved my worth after catching a fish each and donating to the girls to cook. It was a good campsite!
Monday 14th July

Left the Great Slave Lake and entered the Mackenzie River. We were now on our final leg, 1800kms of it.

Our spirits were lifted by an increase in current. It felt good after having no help from the current. With another few kms we would be entering Beaver Lake. Another barrier in our way. We paddled for 25kms and stopping on another island before the big expanse of water.

The idea was was to camp early, try to get some sleep and then cross the lake at night when the wind dropped. By 8.30pm it was calm enough to do the big crossing. The lake opened onto a mill pond and was absolutely beautiful. We were headed toward the setting sun which occured about 11.30pm. The moon came up and the clouds and dying sun made the crossing magnificent. Certainly a highlight!!

We crossed the lake and arrived where the river narrowed at 3.30am. Although it was dark, we could still see. We crashed for few hours, and were up at 6.30am to face another day.