09-May-2004 --

We actually weren't planning on confluencing at all this weekend. We were out on a camping trip and since everything was frozen north of Prince Albert, we randomly decided to camp at Lake Iroquois which happened to be really close to a confluence point.

When we arrived at the lake from up north, we were happy that there was no ice and snow but disappointed to find that we were no longer in the privacy of the forests and brush of the north. It looked pretty much like the plains we are used to. We did notice one forest so we decided to head there for camp. 6 of us guys paddled out and upon arriving at the new destination, we noticed the only sizable forest to hide and camp in had a big 'no trespassing' sign right beside it. Pretending that we didn't notice the warning we set up camp. The next problem that faced us was a lack of things to do. We were going to spend our time fishing in our canoes but this lake didn't look to promising.

We did, however, notice a couple small islands in the middle of the lake with nesting sea gulls. We decided that may be our only shot at getting some meat. We manned the two canoes and headed for sea gull island. After docking the canoes on the island the birds started to squawk and fly off. Doug was the first to run like a maniac with his paddle. He ran out onto the island and whacked a bird that was a little startled from the island assault. What followed for the next two hours was a strategic game of man vs. bird. We tried many techniques like crouching until all the birds landed around us and then running for the attack. The best technique turned out to be rushing a shoreline and jumping out of the canoe towards the brush area where birds were nesting. They would try to fly in a panic and run into the bushes, giving us enough time to whack em' good. After all the strategizing and whacking was done, we got 5 birds! We sailed back and cleaned them on the beach.

There wasn't a whole lot of meat on the birds but they made for a tasty morsel. I think the general recommendation is to season them well, top with teriyaki sauce, and serve over campfire noodles.

The next day we set out for the CP which wasn't too much of an adventure at all. We rounded a bend in the road 10km from where we were camping to find that the confluence was probably going to be in the middle of a small lake. We figured the best we could do was get within 100 meters of it on the shore so we drove to that location. I guess this CP would be best visited in the winter.