km 1038, july 21. 35m, N 65˚22 W 127˚21. 7:45-11pm.

fairly certain the wind didn’t stop all night, but it must have calmed slightly because sac dene was no longer camped up the beach. we emerged from the tent to discover a sweet surprise –  a water-logged note navi and the camp had left under a rock on top of our food barrel! there being whitecaps and a sandstorm happening over an island in the distance, we stayed put.

i don’t think i’ve mentioned it yet, but we started making up songs and singing a lot a couple weeks into the trip. sometimes it would just be a couple of words sung over and over with added oohs, unhs, oh yeahs or various beats, and sometimes we would sing whole conversations. some two-word songs stuck for the whole trip, and we’d sing them randomly (they had good beats to dance to, so i’d usually sing them when i was excited). the song that stuck best with emma was ‘the birds in the north, they don’t sleep, did you hear’, which became a sort of lullaby. this one started back on the liard when we’d hear a beautyfull bird call repeatedly throughout the night. i found this introduction of singing interesting and wondered if we were going through music withdrawal.

so, this beach we camped on last night had bear tracks, which we generally tried to avoid when camping but thought was fine last night since the camp was here too. however, the presence of a potential bear warranted some loud singing while bathing and doing laundry in the delightfully warm billy creek. this is what emerged as encouragement for bears to stay away: we’re baaaathe-ing in the wiiiiiiiilllllll-der-ness, with friends who don’t want to eeeaaaaaaaaat us.

we expected the wind to calm tonight, but nothing doing. it slackened enough that we thought we might as well try to go, but didn’t get very far. pushed out another 11km and called it quits before another point of land, deciding to head out in the wee hours of the morning if it quiets. 4 foot rollers out there tonight.