said my ride after a day's delay on the pickup. Since there were about 7 or 8 lines of rock eggs by then, 'twas hard not to agree. Anyways my ride-to-be or-not was on a rescue mission to fetch out another jetboat gone mechanical, leaving me to pack up and paddle down the North Nahanni, entering the Mackenzie River near the Camsell Bend. I motored my freighter canoe down the mighty Deh Cho on the bluest and calmest of summer days until somewhere near the River Between Two Mountains. A sudden storm trickled over the mountains and into the valley, swirling-like-crazy whitecaps put me ashore on an island. 24 hours of gale-force wind-driven rain later, replacement zippers on my veteran tent blown, snow now covering the peaks and what's with this non-stop shooing away of black bears swimming across the Mackenzie River?