Approaching rapid #8 from upstream.
Rapid #8 is a raging torrent in a beautiful gorge. The portage is 360 metres long on the rock next to the rapids. I pick several servings of red currants and fireweed nearby. The trail is probably not on the original site since the last forest fire or fires. I write in my journal "One place bad with fallen trees where trail jogs right, then left at a right angle, so is hard to get canoe through. Almost have to set canoe down. A few silent aie's. I don't think most canoeists carry a saw and I'll be darned if I'm going to clear this one when there are many? canoeists going through each year? So I do what they do I guess ... say a few aie's and plow through."
I ship some water in the minor rapids below rapid #8 and sponge out about four litres.
There are several minor rapids as I continue down the river.
I see my first beaver of the trip at this lodge but he ducks before I get his picture.
When I reach rapid #9 I walk the 300 metre portage. The trail is in terrible shape with at least 20 big trees down over its lower half, poplars and spruce. It looks like people have portaged over and around them but it must have been a tough carry. The trees are way too large for my bow saw. So I check out the rapids at the top where I can see the rapids are runnable on the near side. I cannot see well enough at the bottom of the rapids so I walk out on a huge down poplar and the rapids are also good on the same side. Then I walk through the bush and at the middle of the rapids along a gigantic down poplar in the water. I decide the rapids are runnable fully loaded. It starts to drizzle rain a bit while I go down the rapids. The canoe has another four litres of water which I mop up with the sponge.
Continuing on I run several small rapids until I reach rapid #10 which is about 30 metres long. It should be an "easy" class one rapid but I ship about 20 litres of water because I did not hold along the edge of the stack of waves properly. Aie! Sponge will not clean this up.
At the rock point of a small island in the unnamed lake below the rapids I stop and start to bail. I realize it is better to unload the canoe, turning the packs to drain and dry a bit. Then I tip the water out of the canoe. Time for a cold late lunch at 12:45 pm. I usually eat at 11 am so I am very hungry and canteen water to drink will suffice. As I finish eating, it starts to rain as a storm cloud moves through on a strong wind. It pours as I load canoe and cover with tarp. I have a rain jacket on but my jeans get soaked. Aie! Should have put my rain pants on. The rain lasts only a few minutes.
Rapid #11 proves to be not runnable as there is a one metre ledge across the river near the base of the rapids. The portage is about 200 metres long with a muddy section which I want to avoid if possible. I manage to get the canoe down 50 metres of the first section of rapids by dragging over a rock ledge near the upper end where I perch on the ledge barely getting my boots wet. Then I canoe on down, pulling hard to shore to make sure I do not head to the big ledge. My portage ends up being just 50 metres, long and dry. Yeah ... I am done with rapids and portages for the day.
Camp 18 in a big lake, two km from my last portage, after travelling 14 km with two portages 360 and 50 metres long and running three rapids of about 380 metres, plus several minor rapids. My camp is on a site that has seen other campers over the years, presumably canoeists. I am very disappointed though because there is a lot of garbage which I did not think fellow canoeists would leave. I clean up the garbage in my immediate area and burn it (plastic bags and bottles, pop cans, granola wrappers, gloves, socks, used toilet paper). There is feces and toilet paper unburied. Aie! This is the first time in a long time that I have camped in a frequented location and I am not impressed.