Whitewater discovery: Bloodvein River, Manitoba
“Novice whitewater canoeists often make the same mistake,” says my guide Cameron White of Winnipeg-based Red River Outfitters. “When approaching rapids, they’ll race towards them, believing they can power their way through. It’s better to approach slowly, read the water and use your strokes and technique.”
White’s telling me this while we approach our first rapids on this Manitoba section of the renowned Bloodvein River. He’s in the stern while I’m nervously kneeling in the bow, hoping not to capsize our Prospector canoe amid the approaching Class II whitewater.
So as directed, I’m backpaddling, stabilizing the canoe before negotiating our first rapids on the Bloodvein, a Canadian Heritage River draining into Lake Winnipeg. Although my trip is a mere 4-day, 50- or so kilometre paddle especially organized for five journalists and two apprentice guides, White leads up to 15-day trips of its 300-km length.
But now, in the bow of our Prospector, I’m facing the first whitewater rapids since I capsized while negotiating West Quebec’s Riviere Noire years ago. During that frightening run, I hurtled through one set of whitewater upside-down, trapped beneath the bow of the canoe.
So I’m here on the Bloodvein challenging my fears. – Easy enough to consider when booking my trip – but as I face churning whitewater I wonder, have I totally lost my mind?
“Are you ready?” shouts White.
Yelling “Yes!” I rediscover commitment. The Bloodvein pulls us into her midst down a sleek V of black water.
Immediately White shouts, “Draw, Katharine! Hard!” – I thrust my paddle repeatedly into the water, drawing it firmly to my side. In nanoseconds, White’s yelling, “Cross-draw!” And there I am, doing it, crossing my paddle over the bow, extending into the Bloodvein and drawing her to me. Obediently, the Prospector slips right. Seemingly perversely, White repeats, “Now draw! Draw!” With a hopefully deft twist I return to draw on the left. Talk about waist-reduction exercises. – Talk about exhilaration!
Suddenly, we’re through.
Grinning, I turn and, in paddler’s traditional salute, we raise our paddles, smacking them together. The noisier the better.
Laughing, we turn and point upstream, secure in an eddy, gently bobbing. Now we adopt what will be our oft-repeated role as safety canoe, poised to assist any of our companions, should they capsize.
This time, no one tips.
Chuffed, the eight of us adventurers feel ready for whatever the Bloodvein can throw our way in the next three and a half days.
Bloodvein teachings
These all-too-short days allowed every individual to confront his or her personal river challenges head-on – whatever they were.
With White at the stern, I became increasingly confident while remaining respectful of the Bloodvein’s power. At the end of four days, I’d become handy at the pry, draw, cross-draw, backpaddle and other strokes. Moreover, I’d started to read whitewater.
In fact, we all made good progress. Not surprisingly, since we watched and listened carefully as White and two apprentice guides, Patrick Lemoine and Lori Slobodian, patiently explained each rapid and their best approaches before we ran them.
Bloodvein culture
Before reserving this trip, I’d never heard of the Bloodvein. Its name alone conjured images of fractured bones received after capsizing in tortuous rapids… However, although it’s possibly named after the Cree word, “Miskwi Isipi” or “Blood River” due to several First Nations’ battles along it, White claims it more likely gets its name from the veins of red granite seen along the river.
While paddling, White explains there are pictographs here, too. “Author Hap Wilson mentions red ochre pictographs near the Four Battles campsite, but I’ve never found them.” Keeping watchful, I scan the rocks and finally, I spy them: two reddish stick figures and a box-like shape, their meaning lost in time. We all paddled over to appreciate the ancient graffiti left by river runners possibly thousands of years ago, when the Bloodvein was a First Nations trade route.
Mood shift to Bloodvein First Nations
After three nights tenting, we docked at Bloodvein River Lodge, owned by Bloodvein First Nations William Young. Although it offered queen-bed comfort, the river called to me and I longed for more days tenting by its crashing whitewater – the sure sign of a compelling backcountry trip.
That afternoon, we were invited to Bloodvein First Nations where some of us enjoyed a traditional sweat while others found its claustrophobic darkness and heat overpowering.
Metaphorically, the sweatlodge represents the womb: after purifying ourselves with sage smoke we women entered first, single-file, followed by the men. Once seated, leader Louis Young explained the procedure. First, red-hot rocks would be placed in the central firepit, before our feet. According to tradition, these are ancestors – sometimes called the ‘grandfathers.’ During a series of four rituals, Young explained, the doorway would be re-opened, more ancestors placed in the firepit, and more water poured upon them.
However, the appropriately named sweat not only involves unimaginable heat, steam and darkness. It also involves the curative release of the soul where everyone, in sequence and only if they wish, opens their hearts to spoken prayer.
The sweat proceeded as described. Ancestors were welcomed with a combination of chanting, singing, drumming – and spoken prayers.
This was my seventh sweatlodge experience. Never before, however, had I born witness to such painful, private prayers for help.
No wonder such sweats are spiritually cleansing releases. And this is precisely why I participate despite them being both physically and mentally demanding. In my experience, sweats offer deeply intimate glimpses into communities which quite surpass any other ways in which to touch the essence of a people.
Immediately after the sweat, the mood shifted and as we emerged from the lodge, we bathed in the cool waters of the Bloodvein before being welcomed into Martina Young’s home. Here we feasted on moose, pickerel and bannock in her home packed with infants, teenagers and adults alike. Here, we shared stories of the river, goals for the future – and laughter.
Go. Discover the Bloodvein and get to know its people, its biodiversity and in so doing, your own true self.
Contacts:
Canadian Heritage Rivers ; Red River Outfitters ; Bloodvein River Lodge ; Travel ManitobaKatharine Fletcher is a freelance writer and author of several guides to the Ottawa and Quebec areas. Her latest book is Capital Rambles: Exploring the National Capital Region – find her guides at region bookstores or at MEC.
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