Weather stayed cloudy and rainy over the entire eight days. One day it started raining at 5 p.m. and continued with no pause until 7 a.m. the next morning.
Portage 45 (180 metres). Heavy dew made the hundreds of spider webs stand out and soaked me up to mid-thigh. In the three days before, I spent several hours by canoe and on foot in the bush looking for the best spot to portage to the next lake. I finally found an old portage with a blaze on a large spruce tree "hidden" far from the water. It required about one hour of clearing.
Portage 46 (190 metres). An old beaver lodge growing pretty agoseris (false dandelion). After canoeing across the entire end of the lake scanning for the most likely spot for a portage, I landed near the lodge and spent about 30 minutes in the bush before finding a winter portage that needed very little clearing. Ironically I headed in a direction taking me away from the portage before finding the trail which took me directly back to the canoe.
A beaver made its own trail off the portage to fell and haul away a poplar tree into the next lake. Beavers are stocking the water near their lodges with a winter food supply of branches.
Camp 36, travelling eight km, including two portages (180, 190 metres), and two extra km searching for a campsite. With rain threatening, it took me about two hours of canoeing to find a decent camp spot. Much of the lake shore was thick bush and steep rock. I stopped to check several locations before I found this nice area.
The "house-like" flies were quite bothersome. They liked the warmth of the fire as much as I. Any food dish or utensil had to be covered to keep it protected from the flies.
The rain persisted every day and I burned a lot of wood. Unfortunately the one deficiency of this campsite was a good supply of wood. Most of the wood was balsam fir, not a good firewood, burning too quickly. I sawed many one metre lengths of logs like the piece in the fireplace.
Soon after arriving at this campsite I was struck with SEVERE diarrhea. The most likely cause was Giardia-contaminated water when the lake bottom erupted over me while bathing several days prior at Camp 34. I started a course of antibiotic which relieved the runs and bad cramps after three days of endless bathroom visits day and night, not a pleasant experience, especially in the dark and the rain. Thank goodness for my headlamp and a good supply of toilet paper. Luckily I had no "accidents". I was nervous about tooting with my pants up even after symptoms subsided. I have never washed my hands with soap as much while camping. The planned return to my vehicle was one month away, but unfortunately my energy level was very low and I had many more portages to do before reaching the final destination. My satellite phone was a blessing and my wife Jeanette graciously spent a lot of time arranging for a float plane to pick me up. I was flown to my vehicle location in less than half an hour, a distance that took me four weeks of canoeing and portaging. Thanks to Les and Shawn for flying me out. I regret having to take a plane out, but had some side effects that persisted for several weeks so am glad I did terminate the trip. When returning to civilization, I always get "culture shock", but never so quickly as this trip. C'est la vie ... or ... more appropriately Shit happens.
Thanks to Harvey and Elaine for providing a secure parking spot for my vehicle.
Thanks to Harvey and Elaine for providing a secure parking spot for my vehicle.