I took the lead first for the 60-mile final stretch to Reindeer Lake and the village of Kinoosao. That's Dan in the rear position. I was glad those dark clouds were behind us.
Right out of the proverbial gate, we began to encounter evidence of the storms that had closed the road earlier in the month.
But we knew that our host for that night, Floyd, had driven the road only days before. Maybe this was the worst of it, down here in the southernmost region.
At least the surface was well-graded and smooth. We were able to keep up a fairly brisk pace--when we weren't pausing for photos! Surely it couldn't get much worse, so we didn't want to miss any opportunities to document the conditions.
But after the turnoff for Zed Lake Provincial Park (about a quarter of the way in) it got significantly worse!
Our admittedly overly optimistic estimate of a two-hour sprint was now looking like a three-hour slog--at best.
As long as we didn't ride too fast, both Rykers handled it well--and seemed ready for more!
I think this is Vanderkerckhove Lake. That's a mouthful! But according to the map, there was also McMillan and Carswell. But there were no signs. As I approached the bridge, it didn't look like I could straddle the middle section completely with the front wheels, so I tried it this way.
Evidently, the stream of water had done nothing to halt the blaze. Good thing the bridge was unharmed. Or maybe it had been rebuilt. Probably shouldn't linger too long.
Guess we weren't quite done with fording large puddles yet--a new experience for both our machines. We hoped they didn't get much deeper--or muddier. But at least there weren't any boulders.
By the time we stopped here, however, the harsh choppy surface had returned. It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but we were suffering. I'd been leading, and I'd really wanted to make it till my trip meter indicated that we "only" had 10 miles left. But this wide, level spot popped up out of nowhere, and I didn't want to pass it up. I don't remember what the mile "marker" was, but there were less than 15 to go.
It didn't help that the clouds had cleared and it was HOT. And our speeds had been low, so we'd not been getting much cooling that way either. We stepped back into the shade of the forest and shared a snack--for as long as we could stand the mosquitoes. Once it seemed that our internal organs had risen back into their proper places, we saddled up again for the final push.
Within minutes, new challenges were introduced to the mix. We encountered several steep hills that had been gouged up with storm run-off. The rocks returned with a vengeance, but they were just as likely to be loose as embedded. Most resemblance to a maintained gravel road vanished, and we were creeping along on a 4x4 trail--engine cooling fans blaring. It was not the kind of riding our Rykers were designed for.
At least an hour later, we saw the first road sign in a very long time. We'd made it to the Saskatchewan border! The white sign on the bottom reads, "Welcome to Kinoosao, Sask, Home of the Grand Slam Lodge." Then, below the caricature of a bear holding a fish, it says, "Welcome Lodgers!"
Those last dozen miles had been brutal. If we hadn't been so exhausted--and hadn't known that Floyd was expecting us--it might have been tempting to turn around. But now we were less than two miles away!
We didn't know it at the time, but we'd just crossed an arm of the enormous Reindeer Lake. With a surface area of over 2,500 square miles, it's the ninth largest in Canada.
We took a bunch of pictures (of course), congratulated each other, and restarted our engines for the last time that day.
After passing through the settlement of Kinoosao, we spotted this sign at a junction, high up in a tree. The arrow is partly covered by leaves, but it clearly points to the left. So we followed it.
The sandy surface was sooooo nice and smooth! I could already taste the fish dinner we'd been promised!
Then the path in the wood diverged again. And again, there was a hand-painted sign for the lodge. But this time, there was no arrow.
