Camp 9 after travelling 22 km, including hiking 10 km round trip on the trapline trail on which I was camped. A beautiful campsite in an open grove of jack pines. The fire pit directly on the trail was easy to dig in the sandy soil and the camp well sheltered. Note that I always fill in the fire pit when breaking camp.
An interesting series of events. This campsite had a lot of evidence of bears so I was taking some photos to document it, first of bear scat full of last year's crop of lingonberries, then of a pine tree scratching post. I walked a bit farther and there was a black bear eating lingonberries. He was so involved in eating he did not detect me. I walked back to camp to fetch my gun and then approached the bear to get these photos. As I got closer he finally detected me and raced off, crashing through the brush. I never saw or heard him again. I like it when a bear runs away when we meet.
This campsite was at a crossroads for many animals. Here are two moose rubs quite close to my fireplace.
I canoed to the foot of the next set of rapids about one km above my campsite. I parked the canoe and walked in the bush beside the rapids about one km. There was no easy way to portage on my side of the river. To get to the next portage on the opposite side, I would have to wade and line up about one km of rapids. In the bush I discovered a trail of items strewn about by a bear within the past few years. There were plastic bags, a bug-net jacket, a filleting knife in its sheath, a case with a pair of prescription glasses, a can of bear spray punctured by bear teeth, several pieces of orange plastic flagging tape, an empty small fishing tackle box, a water purification filter. There were no bodies ... but I did not look very hard. I figure the most likely explanation is that a canoeist may have lost a pack containing all this gear which was washed downstream and discovered by a bear. There are other possible scenarios ...
The trapline meandered through a variety of gorgeous landscapes. I had hoped it was no longer than two km so I could use it to portage to the lake above three sets of rapids. After I realized the trail wandered a lot farther than two km, I continued on to see how far it extended (about five km). My younger self said to portage to the next lake; my older self denied the request.
Everywhere I walked there were beautiful orchids (pink lady's slipper), a native only of the northern boreal forest.
