Sunrise at 5:10 am on August 1 at camp 23 as I prepare to leave. Awakening to Wilson at 3:30 am it is quite dark, so I reset the alarm to 4 am. It will be still dark but less so. Provided I can lace my boots, mostly by feel, I am okay with less light, but there is no point getting up too early if it is still quite dark outside. I am thinking there must be dark clouds and when I get out of the tent, I can see a very black sky.
Canoeing into the bay where I think there may be a portage, I spot nothing as I paddle completely across the end of the bay, even getting out of the canoe to look. Now I have to paddle back the way I came one km to the entrance for another bay. The map shows a creek that might provide a route, but it is obvious as I make my way past that it is unnavigable. Continuing on to the end of this bay, I spot a bare grassy area that proves to be the start of a portage heading in the target direction. Because I am quite confident that this must be the correct route, I unload the canoe and take my first load. Right away there is a 30 metre stretch of muddy wet trail. The worst sections are 70 metres in the middle and 50 metres at the far end of what proves to be an 870 metre portage. There are various wet patches in between.
It is always great when walking a long portage for the first time and finally getting to see the target waters ahead in the distance.
At the far end of the portage is a 30 metre canal of shallow water where use as a winter trail has packed it down. I sure hope the loaded canoe will float so I do not have to wade. My boots, and jeans to the upper thigh, are soaked both from the muddy trail underfoot and the rain-soaked tall grass. After the first load I am hot and ultimately my top half is sweat-soaked. So I am all wet, one way or another. There are a few foot-dangerous spots, one where I get my boot stuck within a root-bounded hole. After the first trip, I learn where not to step and where the mud is too deep and likes to trap my foot with a vacuum-like suction that is hard to break.
On my third walk back for the next load, I pick raspberries for supper. I always carry two small Ziploc® bags in the "watch" pocket of my jeans for such purposes. The full bag gets placed in a second small cooler, the first cooler being used for butter.
The sixth and last load is the canoe for which I have kept one painter tied around my waist in case I have to set the canoe down and pull through the bad spots, but I carefully manage without by walking such places close to the edge. Before loading the canoe I paddle/"pole" with my backup paddle out to the deep water to check the depth of the canal. It seems to be deep enough that I do not need to wade or to cut a three metre pole. With some clearing, I manage to find a spot along the edge where the canoe will float and I can walk without going over my boot tops. I have my hat scarf on as the blackflies are very bothersome. After loading the canoe and paddling into the lake, a headwind thankfully blows the bugs away.
Looking back to the canal at the end of the portage.
I canoe about one km to what I hope is the exit. Yes! It is a winding stream about 150 metres long through tall cattails and grass. The tall trees visible ahead are on the shores of the next lake.
The view back to the short creek from the opposite shore of the lake channel where I stop to rest and have a very welcome lunch. My stomach has been growling for the past hour. Without the map, it would be easy to overlook that there is a creek there. It is sunny and I hang up some clothes to dry. My soaked socks are replaced by a dry pair ... aah ... luxury!
Canoeing on with a nice tailwind, I reach the Churchill River and need to find a campsite. First I check a small island, which does not have all the requirements. It has a good tent site, but the only places for the fireplace and tarp shelter are on a broad area of an ant colony. There are ants crawling up my legs just from walking nearby and I have to drop my pants to remove one biting ant that gets trapped.
A second island proves difficult to find a tent site, but after tramping much of the isle I settle on an uneven spot that needs some clearing. I have travelled 16 km, including the 870 wet muddy portage. The tent rests on a lot of blueberry plants in a bed of moss which needs to be levelled with more moss. I decide to leave the blueberry plants, as they are very firmly rooted, so pulling out is not an option, and cutting would have to be done deep down in the moss so as not to jut into the tent floor. There are several spruce trees to fell including one bigger dead one dangerously overhanging the site. Much of the bush on this island has been felled by strong winds, but at least I appear to be on the leeward side. Thankfully I sleep well after waking to move my bed from the initial spot in the tent to a more level one.
Most of the bush in the area has been burned so I am thankful for my camp on the island.
The blackflies are quite bothersome and a fire shoos them away. I have to limb two nearby spruce trees which have many very flammable moss-covered branches. Except for the blackflies when I am sweating, the bugs are good at this site.
It starts to rain at 6 pm and continues until midnight. The tarp is spread over the gear where I plan to erect the shelter. Practise makes for fast setting up and I eat supper sheltered from the rain. Leaving my clothes under the tarp, I have a much-needed bath while a nice gentle rain falls. Much better!
Salad of raspberries.
Salad of raspberries, pin cherries, fireweed greens and flowers.
The second day is beautiful and sunny. These photos are taken at 6:30 pm when it is so calm that the sky is mirrored perfectly in the lake.