Today was busy, despite not being a travelling day.  We had brigade training all morning, practicing steering, switching, figure-eights etc. We also practiced our arrival ceremony. In the afternoon, we all paraded through Invermere with accompanying bagpipes. It was an honour to stand with David and Charlotte along with our comrades in paddling! 
    
When we arrived back in camp it became apparent that one of the boats had been stolen. We could see the bandits approximately 2km from shore and we immediately set out to apprehend the scoundrels! We loaded 2 boats with 8 paddlers (2 above the normal load). We quickly reeled in the rouge boat. As we approached,  the occupants remarked that we looked like "pirates" and "professionals". We boarded and escorted the miscreants back to shore, where the authories dealt with them.

What a day! (And the trip hasn't even started yet!)

So Leslie, Colin and I have started our training routine. We've been doing circuits and some weights... getting the hurt out of way before we leave. Its nice come home to a hot shower and soft bed luxuries that we won't have on the river. Colin and I were reflecting on the incredible feats that voyageurs undertook everyday. Paddling a canoe for 12 hours and being required to tote at least 180 lbs over miles of grueling portages demonstrates awesome physical endurance and strength. Voyageurs consumed pemmican (dried buffalo meat and tallow) to survive, but on his 1810 trip through the Rockies, Thompson's voyageurs were essentially starving on 8 lbs of meat per day. They were beyond the limit of the human body to process energy... now thats a diet.