Flew out of Yellowknife with Phil, Steve and Sandy on a 737 to Norman Wells. The 90 minute flight skirted the south edge of Great Bear Lake. Stan Simpson from Ram Head Outfitters met us at the Norman Wells airport.All the baggage made it off the plane except Steve's shotgun. Steve had to get the ground crew to scour the plane until they found it. Stan gave us a ride to the Norman Wells Shatu Historical Museum. Lots of historical information about the First Nation populations, the Canol pipeline, and geology of the area. Norman Wells used to be an active oil field and may be once again in the future. We bought two gallon cans of white gas for our camp stove: $29.99 per gallon.

Back at the airport, Sandy and Phil left for the main camp in Megan's Raven 44 helicopter. Steve and Bill followed a little later in Stan's C185. The 185 has large ballon tires for landing in the backcountry. It's about an hour's flight from Norman Wells to the Ram Head camp at Godlin Lakes where our deluxe backcountry accommodations awaited. Stan's wife Debbie and daughter Megan served an amazing meal that evening of fried chicken, yams, salad, fry bread and cherry cheesecake for dessert.

After dinner we walked out to the lake and watched the grayling rising. Got back to camp at 10:30pm and the sun was still high in the sky and it was hot! Had a brief nightcap and retired at 11:30pm. It was still daylight outside and it seemed like a good time to try out the sleeping masks Steve recommended. And they worked; we were out in a few minutes.