Day 7 East Main & The Rupert River

Spent the night at East Main ( which is river that leads from the wilderness to the James Bay) A quick setup of camp and food for the first time today , we had a weird feeling about this place, something was scary about it. For one, we were forced to pitch our camp under some enormous high-tension power lines. second , as soon as we had finished eating, the winds and heavy clouds rolled in . As it started to rain, we all opted for bed rather than stay up and fight the wind and rain . About two hours later, all hell breaks loose with a terrible electrical storm… crazy lightning and heavy thunder. Then it happened…a strike so close that even with eyes closed the light of the strike exploded in our heads, hiding in a thin tent with torrents of wind and rain the feeling was so terrifying we had thought the world was ending. After hours in this storm, we packed our wet belongings and raced to leave at first light in the morning.

A dream comes true today , our team has made it to the majestic Rivere Ruppert. The Ruppert is a wild and massive river that comes out of the Canadian Shield ( a place where the great glaciers began many years ago) . The Ruppert has been under pressure from a diversion back in November 2009 that destroyed the normal and natural flow for power of a hydro-electric dam. Despite the diversion , this river is most amazing !, guessing it drops 75 feet in a couple hundred yards, the main site is the Oatmeal Falls, the roar of the water takes your breath away and the whole area is simply stunning.
As planned we gathered water from this river to use in our Arctic Ale, water from Canada , grain from England and hops and yeast from the United States…the ingredients of the beer and the application of fire, practicing alchemy to make our ale