The following is Pam’s account of her latest adventure. Photos can be seen by clicking on Flickr thumbnails on the right.

~ August 11/06 ~

The trip to Wollaston Lake was an adventure. I absolutely love flying in small planes. The one from La Ronge to Points North was a 16 seater. Lots of clouds so I settled into reading my book for the hour we were airborne. Realized after I started it might not have been the best reading choice – “Sky Woman Falling”…. but we landed safely.

Hmm, I thought the flight went straight to Wollaston Lake. Well, no, the tower there collapsed last week and this “larger” plane couldn’t land because the clouds were so low. There were only 2 of us to carry on to Wollaston & after a long wait we got into a 6 seater which flew low, about 150 feet off the ground, under the clouds for the 12 minute hop to our destination.

Points North where we waited is a drop-off point, a jumble of buildings in the middle of nowhere, on a little lake amid the thousands that make up the landscape, small airstrip, a few trailers, buses to bus guys to nearby mines, Rabbit Lake Mine & others. Supplies are shipped here and picked up by people from the fishing camps or the mines or others and flown to further points up north.

Flying low in the little plane was so much fun! I can’t believe I enjoy it so much, I have such a hard time with heights, sometimes with glass-sided escalators… and you’d never get me up in one of those bizarre glass elevators that climb up the sides of buildings.

Wollaston is laid out in a horseshoe around a bay. Small village that is off-reserve but most of the 1200 people live on reserve. What a beautiful location sloping gently to a lovely large lake with many islands. Small black spruce and lots of fireweed. The ‘road’ goes to the other side of the lake so if you manage to come up by road you would take a barge (ferry) for a 3 hour ride to get to Wollaston. Sandy soil. Entryways to stores and other buildings tend to have metal grating to help keep the sand outside.

Signs at the airport – “Caution, Stray Dogs on Runway” and “Unrestrained Dogs Will Be Shot”. “Wollaston Lake is a Dry Reserve. All Incoming Freight Will Be Searched.” The Transwest guy was saying that security had increased because of the terrorist attack in England and that toothpaste was no longer allowed in carry-on baggage. None of my stuff was searched however.

I asked if there was a dog problem – I could see there were many dogs around – and she said sometimes they have a dog-shooting day. They have never had a vet come up to do mass neutering as I know they have done in other communities.

Fences around many of the houses as there are in the Black Lake Reserve, stockade type fences made with black spruce trunks. They look quite nice. Hardly a house without a broken plastic-covered window. Houses not in good shape. And what is it about the bikes on the roof?? Noticed this in other places too. Mentioned it to my supervisor and he agreed that he too had seen this phenomenon and had asked someone who said ‘what bikes?’. Well, in Black Lake and in Wollaston I saw a number of bikes on roofs. Is it a unique way to deter bike-stealers? A form of discipline? Strange northern custom?

Most places have little smoke houses out back for smoking cariboo and fish. Did not see many kids out running around, unlike around La Ronge and Pinehouse Lake. All in all it seemed a beautiful setting.

Only one store, not very big. No restaurant. Some buildings housing essential services, a clinic, two schools. The same solid steel doors and lack of windows that I have seen elsewhere in the north. Some basic graffiti scrawled on walls.

Flight back home was on a 10 seater plane which was full. Stopped for an hour or so in Points North. The sun was getting low in the sky and the light on the spruce and fireweed and the lake was other-worldly. Looking down is like seeing innumerable puddles on a dark background. There are islands in the lakes and lakes in the islands on the lakes. Gradually the sky darkened and a full moon loomed up in the blackness and then I was back in La Ronge.

Pam