Early morning at camp 27 between 4:51 and 6:20 am, the usual 2-1/2 hours to break camp, load the canoe and have breakfast. I douse the fire well before leaving.
Gear and canoe lined up at the lower end of the portage waiting to be carried to the other end. The circular bag in the foreground is the packed bug tent.
Looking downstream just above the portage. I am able to paddle the canoe up the shallows to get past the cliff. Now I have to stop after I get out of the current to change from my wading gear to regular clothes. I did not need the wading gear, but better to have it on if I have to get out of canoe into the river.
This is a large lake. The one side is all steep rocky shores, quite often sparsely treed.
"Someone's been sleeping in my bed". Foam bed mattresses at an old cabin site. The bear had scooped out big paws-full of the foam, leaving well-defined claw marks. Bears love to trash anything plastic or rubber. I hate to see items like this, not only because of the litter aspect, but it helps habituate a bear to humans which then creates a dangerous bear.
Near the upper end of the big lake, at the lower end of the next portage, I cover gear because it is raining.
When I explore where I must portage at the upper end, I see a moose deep in the small lake eating water plants. I hope to get closer after getting the canoe into the lake, but by the time I portage everything, the moose is gone.
The portage will be 170 metres across an area of tall grass beside the creek which empties the small lake.
A mineral lick with a recent moose track. This would be a good summer spot to watch for moose.
My path through the grass after making six trips back and forth.
I canoe up the small lake through the thick cattails where the moose was, to the incoming creek thinking that I may be able to canoe upstream, but no way that is possible and I cannot see a portage trail. It has been lightly raining for about one hour, and I need to find a campsite.
Moonrise and sunset in the evening at Camp 28, 13 km travelled, including two portages 150 and 170 metres long.
This down dead tree provides all the firewood I need directly beside the fireplace.
I manage to get the tent up just before a thunderstorm rolls through so I take shelter inside. It pours and hails very hard. I lay out my sleep gear and snooze until the rain appears to be over at 5 pm. Time to put up tarp shelter and build a fireplace, so I get redressed in my cold sweat-wet shirts. Supper is late but a hot one instead of the cold meal I thought I was going to have. There is a beautiful full moon in a clear sky when I go to bed at 9:30 pm.
I check several places along this side of the lake before deciding which is the best campsite. It is a very steep site and I have to wind my way up the hill across the slopes in zig-zag fashion so I do not slip on the wet rock. Camp is spread over four tiers, the lower one where I landed at the lakeshore, the next where I park the canoe, the third for the tent, and the last for the fireplace and tarp shelter. A multistory camp where I get a workout going from level to level.
Early morning August 5 when I leave camp to check for a portage at the upper end of the lake.
I pole the canoe through the grass and cattails to get to shore near the creek. The three metre spruce pole is cut from the other side of the lake. There is an established portage in good shape. I clear some down trees by hand, ready to portage the next day. Just as I am done, I get chased back to camp by another thunderstorm.