My name is Dan Dillon. I was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I will be embarking on a 2500km canoe trip to raise awareness and donations for the MS Society of Canada. I will begin at Ghost Lake (near Trails End Camp) and canoe three river systems to Lake Winnipeg. I go along Bow River from Cochrane to the South Saskatchewan River through Medicine Hat, up to the North Saskatchewan then through the lakes and Saskatchewan River to Grand Rapids on the shore of Lake Winnipeg. I will be leaving on April 29th. Hopefully I will arrive in three and a half to four months. I will be tracking my progress during my trip and posting it once a day on my site here.
Distance Travelled Today: 0 km
Total Distance Travelled: 1607 km
April 29: Dan & Alex Myer began canoeing from Ghost Lake Dam at 7:30 a.m. Bow River is low right now. They arrived at Bearspaw Dam at 2:30 p.m. Stayed the night in Calgary. Thanks Trails End Camp for your help and special thank you to the Haines for their help & support.
April 30: Dan & Alex left Bearspaw Dam at 8:30 a.m. Arrived at Carseland Weir at 7:30 p.m. I picked them up and took them to the Bassano Dam. Although Dan tried to obtain permission by phone & in writing from the Sisika Nation to canoe through the Siksika reservation, they never replied. He has had to go around the reservation.
May 1 & 2: No word from Dan today. I will update as soon as I've heard from him. Cellular phone reception on the river is very poor.
May 3: Dan phoned but I was unable to calculate the distance they had canoed at that time. Siksika Nation finally e-mailed us. They informed Robert that he could raft the river through the Siksika Nation for a $75.00 camping & fishing fee. I e-mailed back that my husbands name was Dan not Robert & that he was canoeing, not rafting & had already gone around the Siksika Nation. Hope Robert gets his e-mail.
May 4: Dan & Alex unable to make any headway due to high winds. I picked them up at the highway 524 bridge & brought them home. Normally they would have waited a day or two & continued on, but Dan had a commitment to be at the old pumping station south of Suffield on Saturday. Dan & I will canoe from the 524 bridge to the old pumping station at a later date. Dan & Alex have canoed 318 kms. of the Bow River. Thanks Laurie Chsristiansen for the accurate mileage.
May 5: Rest & organizing.
May 6: Nine of us met at the old pumping station, six to canoe & three to bring a motor boat. Fuel line on motor boat caused problems & we assumed they would not attempt the trip. However, they floated & rowed over 34 km. to Redcliff. Warning, South Saskatchewan River is much too low to be taking a motor boat down. After several stops along the way, we canoed into Strathcona Park around 3:00 p.m. A special thank you to the people that tried to accompany us in motorboats, the people that canoed with us, the people on shore that waited to meet us, and to CHAT 6 & 3 for the interview. Dan will be back in the water on Tuesday.
May 9: Dan's back on the river again. Don't know when I will get a telephone call from him next, depends on cell phone reception.
May 9: No word.
May 10: No word. Snowing & raining today.
May 11 & 12: No contact, hopefully I'll hear from Dan soon.
May 14: Dan contacted me at 5:00 p.m. & said he was at the highway 21 bridge north of Leader. Jigger (the dog) has been protecting him from the beavers along the way (or so she thinks). Dan & dog are well, planning on laying over until Tuesday to do an interview with the Leader News.
May 15: Dan will be on the river again tommorow. Thank you residents of Leader for being so friendly, kind, & helpful. Thanks Jan & Keith Chadwick, Char & John Gilbert for driving up to meet Dan. Saskatchewan has proved once again that it is one of the friendliest & most generous places on Earth! I maybe a little biased, I grew up in Saskatchewan.
May 16: Dan's cell phone isn't working, so I'm not expecting to hear from him the rest of this week. I will be meeting Dan at Saskatchewan Landing on the week-end.
May 17: Dan called from Eston, Sask. at 11:00 a.m. Expects to be at Saskatchewan Landing tommorow. His legs are starting to bother him, the MS is flaring up again. Thanks Keith & Jan Chadwick for contacting the Saskatchewan & Edmonton branches of the MS Society.
May 18: Did not hear from Dan. I will be leaving for Saskatchewan Landing tommorow after work.
May 20: Dan arrived at Saskatchewan Landing at 11:00 a.m., Friday, May 19. Returned home Saturday due to the attitude and lack of empathy of two conservation officers. When I arrived on Friday night, Dan was obviously in pain and limping noticeably. However, I guess the conservation officers expected him to walk several kilometers & pay for a campsite. Information on the first half of the South Saskatchewan River that I have been using was only accurate to Highway 41. I appologize for the changes in mileage. Although we have a lot of information on the distances of the South Saskatchewan River, the mileage doesn't add up to the total distance of 1392 km. given by two encyclopedias. If anyone out there can give us the accurate distance from the forks of the Oldman & Bow rivers to Gardiner Dam, it would be appreciated. Dan will be off the river for a couple of weeks because his MS has flared up. Dan has a MRI scheduled for June 2 & will be back paddling shortly after.
May 23: Thank you Alex Banga for the correct distance of the South Saskatchewan River (997km.) & the distance to Saskatchewan Landing.
May 25: Dan & I may be on the river Saturday paddling the stretch of the Bow River from highway 524 to the old pumping station near Suffield. Dan's MS is still bothering him, but rest & relaxation have helped. Jigger (the dog) is eager to get back on the river, so we will see what happens
May 28: Canoed from highway 524 to the old pumping station. Water on the Bow River was nice & clear, we could see the fish as we paddled by. Unfortunately, Dan didn't bring his fishing rod along. We saw several pelicans, beaver, deer, antelope, a bald eagle, and a coyote.
June 1: Tommorow we are going to Calgary for Dan's MRI. Dan will be back on the South Saskatchewan on Sunday, June 4. Dan will be starting at the Gardiner Dam because of a commitment to be in Saskatoon on June 8. Firefighters have offered to portage Dan & equipment around the weir in Saskatoon. Many thanks to Water Rescue and the Saskatoon firefighters. A special thank you goes to Kim Lytle of the Saskatoon branch of the MS Society of Canada and to Char. & Don Wilson. Thank you Harry Forbes, Connie of the Medicine Hat branch, and Pam of the Edmonton branch of the MS Society of Canada.
June 5: Dropped Dan of at the spillway of the Gardiner Dam at 11:00 a.m. yesterday. Dan's leg is still bothering him, so he is going to take it a little easier and not put in too long of days paddling. I got home around 4:00 p.m. yesterday and was tired just from all the driving we have done in the past three days, never mind having to paddle a canoe afterwards!
June 5: Dan called twice today, obviously the cell phone reception is much better. Mileage isn't precise, just an estimate from the landmarks Dan has seen. Dan is feeling fairly good, but tired.
June 6: Dan is just outside of Saskatoon, so he will be able to rest a day before he canoes to the weir. Thank you Don & Char for giving Dan a bed for the night, I know he really appreciates it.
June 9: Dan called yesterday afternoon. Saskatoon Water Rescue escorted Dan to the weir and the firefighters portaged his canoe and heavy supplies around the weir. The deputy mayor of Saskatoon was there to greet Dan and give him a city of Saskatoon pin. Thanks Saskatoon for the great effort and all the help! Thank you Kim Lytle of the Saskatoon branch of the MS Society, without you none of this would have been possible. Once again, thank you Don and Char Wilson for all the hospitality you gave Dan for the two days he was in Saskatoon. When Dan called he had to stop canoeing due to high winds, but was going to wait until evening and start paddling again if the wind died down. Hopefully, he didn't get the downpour of rain that we got in Medicine Hat in the evening!
June 9: 8:00 p.m. Heard from Dan. Unable to canoe because of the strong winds. Canoed perhaps 1.5 km., then had to go back upriver to camp. His leg is bothering him more, I may perhaps meet him at the forks and canoe the Saskatchewan River with him. Hopefully, the wind will go down or begin to blow out of the west instead of the east and he can make some progress tomorrow. CFB SUFFIELD had hail and four twisters pass through last night. Some June weather we are having!
June 10: Did not hear from Dan, he must not have been able to get a signal for the cell phone.
June 11: No word from Dan.
June 12: Did not hear from Dan, obviously he isn't getting any cell phone reception.
June 13: Dan phoned from a pay phone at St. Louis around 2:00 p.m. He expected to paddle a few more kilometers before dark. Obviously, Rogers AT & T cell phone is not working in as many parts of Saskatchewan as they had indicated when we bought the phone. High winds and poor weather have hampered Dan's progress this week, he has only had about two decent days to paddle in. Dan said that he got a very strange look from a ferry operator as he was canoeing by in pouring down rain. I don't expect to hear from Dan again this week, but will be meeting him near the Weldon Ferry on Saturday.
June 15: Haven't heard from Dan, but I didn't expect to. We are getting very windy weather with intermittent rain. Hopefully Dan is getting better weather, but somehow I doubt it. I will be leaving after work tommorow and heading towards Prince Albert, (a drive of about 700 kms.). I may spend the night somewhere and then pick Dan up on Saturday. I am unable to take time off work at the moment, so I will bring Dan home and then join him for the rest of his journey up the Saskatchewan River in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, by that time he will be feeling better. If he isn't, I will be along to irritate him and give him some extra incentive to finish this stretch of the river. I'm still looking for information on Cedar Lake, Manitoba, does anyone out there have any information on Cedar Lake or know of someone who does?
June 19: I arrived at Prince Albert on Friday night. My sister Terry, two nieces Amy & Dana, and I went to the Weldon Ferry to see if Dan was camped there. Dan wasn't at the ferry, so I drove down to the ferry again Saturday morning. I didn't see Dan, but as I was driving back from the ferry, Dan arrived and called my sister's house. Dan had been camped a few kilometers down river from the ferry since Thursday but hadn't expected me to be there until Saturday at noon. After driving over 1600 kms. we are home once again. Thank you Carrieres for all the help and giving us a place to stay for the week-end and thank you to the friendly Weldon Ferry drivers for watching for Dan and letting him use your phone. Dan's cell phone began to work after we drove a few miles from the ferry.
June 24: We will be traveling to The Pas, Manitoba on June 29 and leaving one vehicle there, then driving back to the Weldon Ferry to start canoeing again. It's been windy and raining lately, hopefully the weather will become warm and calm when we are back on the river. I probably won't be able to update the web site for three weeks or so because I will be on the river with Dan.
June 27: Just packing up so that we can leave tommorow after I finish work. We are hoping to drive as far as Saskatoon tommorow night and then to The Pas on June 29. We should be on the river once again on June 30 paddling towards Nipiwan.
June 30: Went to have a look at the portage at Francois Findlay Dam. I was under the impression it was a short portage from the spillway around the dam. Not! It turned out to be a 5 km. portage around the dam. Ted at Sask. Power told us that they would portage us anytime between 8-4 on weekdays, but because it was the long week-end, we decided to paddle from E. B. Campbell dam to The Pas first. Started out around noon the weather was perfect. Sunny & warm, slight breeze at our backs. Late afternoon brought some showers & thunderstorms. It looked like rain was going to set in so we found a camping spot around 6:00 p.m. on a large sandbar. As the evening wore on our sandbar disappeared. We ended up packing up our tent and sleeping in the bush with our gortex bags pulled over our heads to protect against the mosquitoes.
July 1: Woke up to find that our 30 feet of beachfront property was underwater. We started paddling around 8:00 a.m. and reached the Big Eddy Hunting and Fishing Camp (owned by Solomon Carriere) around 9:30 a.m. We had camped in rain and mosquitoes when we were only an hour away from a warm dry cabin! Solomon & family weren't home so we carried on. The wind was against us most of the way and it was cloudy. We saw a lot of moose and bear tracks and a whole lot of bald eagles. Found a decent spot to camp around 5:00 p.m. and listened to the fireworks at Cumberland House. By the way, the web site has now been hit over 1000 times, just add 1000 to the number that you see.
July 2: Sorry about the slow update, I have been having problems with the server (must be a busy weekend). We started canoeing around 8:00 a.m. against the wind. We reached the Bigstone Cutoff at 11:00 a.m., but didn't realize it was the cutoff (we remembered as wider the last time we were at Cumberland). We canoed back out onto the lake. Our original plan was to canoe to the Tearing River and follow it out to the Saskatchewan River. We fought the wind across the lake until we reached a boat dock about 6:00 p.m. Dan talked to one of the locals who pointed out the mouth of the Tearing River & also told Dan that the Tearing River was probably too low to canoe. We had a few more visitors that informed us that the river was quite low and so we hired Thomas A. to portage us to the Saskatchewan River. Had we taken the Bigstone Cutoff into Cumberland, we probably could have hired someone to portage us & reached the Saskatchewan River by noon that day. We were both extremely tired from canoeing against the wind all day and camped for the night.
July 3: Thomas picked us up around 8:00 a.m. and took us to the river. He (as well as several other Cumberland House residents) told us that Solomon Carriere had just finished a 419 km. canoe race in 53 hours up in Alaska. If we had stopped and taken Solomon along, maybe we both could have slept while he paddled us to The Pas! We stopped a few kms. out of Cumberland House to have a nap and two gentlemen came along and invited us for coffee on their island. It was the first cup of coffee I'd had in a few days and it was very much appreciated. Thanks Henry and Larry. We took it easy for most of the day and camped around 5:00 p.m. Mosquitoes surrounded our tent once again. We didn't have to worry about bears, they would never have got through our mosquitoe barricade.
July 4: Started out late, about 8:45 a.m. and it was a fairly calm day. We saw an old road and wondered if we had crossed the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border, but we never did recognize the old settlement that was supposed to be just past the border. Around 10:30 a.m. we came around a bend in the river and the wind was blowing so hard we couldn't canoe against it. We stopped to wait until it calmed down but the wind just kept getting stronger. It rained on and off throughout the day, so we set up camp and spent the rest of the day reading and sleeping.
July 5: We got up at 4:00 a.m. to beat the wind and paddle while it was still calm. Dan had just removed the tent fly when we heard what I thought sounded like a motor but Dan recognized as heavy rainfall. We managed to get the fly back on just as the downpour hit. Once the rain stopped, we were on our way. Checked the G.P.S. later that afternoon and found that we were well past the border. Camped around 4:00 p.m., the G.P.S. indicated that we were about 25 km. from The Pas. Weather report was calling for heavy rain tommorow afternoon
July 6: Got up at 4:30 a.m. and on the river by 5:00 a.m. It was calm for most of the morning. About 7 km. from The Pas we saw a bear but it was too far away to take a picture. For about the 100th. time I wished we had brought our good (but old and heavy) camera with the telephoto lenses. The wind had just started to pick up when we reached The Pas around 10:00 a.m. Dan went to pick our car from Jack & Terry McCulloughs house where we had stored it while we were on the river. They invited us back for coffee and we enjoyed our second cup of coffee since we started on the river. Thanks Jack & Terry! We went back to Nipawin and spent the night at a motel. That night Nipawin had a good rainstorm, 3 to 4 inches from what we heard. Good night to be in a motel.
July 7: While we were packing up Jigger decided to take herself for a walk. The owners of the Green Groves Motel managed to find Jigger a block away while Dan was driving all over Nipawin looking for her. We left our truck at the Francois Findley Dam and took the car and canoe to the Weldon Ferry. We started canoeing around 1:30 p.m. and saw a bear within a few kms. of the Weldon Ferry. Within minutes we canoed by a beaver on shore that was no more than a meter away from us. Dan wanted to set up camp before we reached the confluence of the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers. Wehad just got the tent up and sleeping bags in when it started to pour. Once the downpour was over, the rest of the evening was calm.
July 8: It was a perfect day for canoeing. It was warm and sunny with very little wind. We saw a moose in Fort a la Corne Provincial Forest. The area between the Weldon Ferry and Codette Lake is just beautiful! Deer were so curious about us that they would stand on shore and stretch their necks to get a better look at these strange creatures in a canoe. The river ran fast for 30-40 kms. and we had a few small rapids along the way. We both would definitely love to canoe this part of the river again sometime!
July 9: I hope to add a few pictures to the web site in a week or so. On the morning of July 9 I woke up to a whole flock of Canada Geese floating by our campsite. I counted over 60 before I gave up trying to count them all. We reached the Highway 6 bridge around 10:00 a.m. and Dan tried some fishing. The wind, as usual, was blowing against us. It is hard to find a good campsite on Codette Lake but we did manage to find a beautiful little spot with benches and a fire pit that past campers had built. We camped across the lake from Smit's Beach and were only a few kms. from the dam.
July 10: Dan's leg is bothering him today, probably brought on by the canoe trip across Codette Lake against the wind. We had cloud cover with wind and showers off and on all day. We canoed to the dam and picked up our truck. We ate breakfast in Nipawin and discussed the pros & cons of canoeing Tobin Lake with the weather forecast calling for more wind and rain. We had already decided that we were not going to have time to canoe from The Pas to Grand Rapids with the unpredictability of the weather and the limited time we had left. Decided that we would take a look at Tobin Lake and see how the wind was effecting it. We were looking out at a large cove and the waves didn't look that bad when the wind picked up and the waves grew substantually. Dan had been telling me how nice canoeing from St. Louis to the Weldon Ferry had been, so we opted to canoe those 93 kms. in the time we had left. Canoeing 93 kms. on the river seemed like a better option than sitting out the wind and rain until Tobin Lake was calm. The owners of Smits Beach kindly let us store our vehicle there for a day while we canoed in the rain back to our campsite to stay one more night.
July 11: There was wind and rain in the morning, so we waited until a calm moment to pack our things and canoe to Smits Beach. Halfway across the lake we got caught in a heavy downpour. We left Nipawin in the pouring rain but found it sunny and calmer when we reached St. Louis. We canoed to just past the Fenton Ferry before deciding to camp for the night. The black clouds that had been following us down the river were starting to catch up. We should be able to reach the Weldon Ferry sometime tommorow.
July 12: The rapids that Dan canoed through in June have been tamed by the mountain run-off and rain. The river is wider and deeper than it was in the middle of June. Still the river was running fairly fast. We saw a couple of golden eagles as well as several bald eagles along the river. The weather would alternate between being warm & sunny to overcast. We reached the Weldon Ferry around 5:00 p.m. and went to St. Louis to pick up the truck. I was too tired to drive back to Medicine Hat, so we spent the night at Wakaw.
July 13: Arrived home to a heat wave! We are disappointed that we didn't have the time to canoe to Grand Rapids, but Dan is still planning on canoeing The Bow through the Siksika Nation and perhaps travelling by boat through Lake Diefenbaker in August. Both trips will probably have to be done on week- ends. Dan is also talking about canoeing the Oldman River next year. I haven't had a chance to add any pictures to the web site, hopefully soon. I will keep you updated on when Dan goes through the Siksika Nation and Lake Diefenbaker.
August 8: I am attempting to add some pictures to the web site. We just got our scanner back and I am still trying to learn how to use it, so the pictures aren't quite the best quality. Dan worked this week-end & hasn't had a chance to plan when he will finish the rest of his journey. I will hopefully add more photos to the web site and be able to indicate when Dan will be doing Lake Diefenbaker at a later date. The guest counter is really screwed up, we don't know why?
Sponsors
Any donations for the MS Society would be greatly appreciated. For those that have asked, the address SE Alberta Chapter of the MS Society is 631 Prospect Dr. S.W., Medicine Hat, A.B., T1A 4C2I have been given use of a canoe and other safety equipment by the British Army Training Unit Suffield.
Sat Nav Sales had also donated a GPS (global positioning system). You can contact them at sscbrier@telusplanet.net
Any questions or comments please email me
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About Multiple Sclerosis
~Canadians have one of the highest rates of MS in the world.
~MS can cause loss of balance, impaired speech, extreme fatigue, double vision and paralysis.
~Women are twice as likely to develop MS as men.
~MS is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in Canada.
~MS was first identified and described by a French neurologist, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, in 1874.
~We don't know what causes MS but researchers are closer to finding the answer.
Links
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada Home PageThis page was last updated on Tuesday, August 8, 2000
This page was created on Wednesday, March 29th, 2000
Webpage created by Adrienne Binnie.