Tuesday, March 27, 2012

How did everything get to camp without a road?


We are asked this question all the time.
It's true; there are no roads here. Eventually it dawns on just about everyone who comes here that the logistics of getting things out to camp must be incredible. You look at everything that is at camp -- all the buildings, the fuel, the equipment, the golf cart, the diesel generators, the food -- and it seems there must be some trick involved.
"Ahh, I know," you think, "they brought it over the ice in the winter! I've seen the Ice Road Truckers show on TV. That's how they must have done it!"
It's a good guess, but it is incorrect. It is possible to drive big trucks over the ice on Red Lake but it is very risky to do it where camp is located. The problem, you see, is the current in the narrows. Actually, you have the same problem in many of the narrows, all the way back to town, 20 miles away. The current isn't even discernible in the summer but in the winter it is enough that the ice doesn't freeze deeply. In fact, the ice might not even be able to support a man's weight in spots. Many people have died this way over the years -- broken through the ice and drowned.
No, nothing at camp got there by truck.
How about helicopters then? Nope, it would just be too expensive to do it this way.
In fact, everything got to camp by boat and with only a few exceptions, it was the same boat that brings out our guests. The exceptions were a few trips using a small barge and a pontoon boat.
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