At camp 34 the rain continues all the previous night, but I wake to Wilson at 4:30 am on September 2, to the routine once again of packing gear and hoping for the rain to stop. The weather looks promising, a lot of clear sky. Rain gear to cut the strong cold headwind and fleece gloves to warm my hands, I canoe to the next set of portages. After the first 180 metre portage, I canoe the short distance to the trail just above the middle rapids. As I approach the trail, I can see all the way to the lower end of the rapids and they appear runnable. Moving closer they look good, much different than when I portaged past them several weeks ago. The continuous rain the past two weeks has raised water levels at least 30 cm and covered boulders and rocks. I do not hesitate to run the 220 metre rapids, making sure to steer just to the side of the big waves of the downstream "V" at the lower end so as not to ship any water. From my journal: "I remark out loud 'Well, that saves time!' I'm smiling for quite a while because I didn't have to do a second portage." The third and final rapid is nonexistent, completely flattened out due to the high water level. Stopping for lunch and a warming fire, I now cover the canoe load with tarps as it starts to rain. Luckily it only rains for about one hour while stopped, and I take shelter under a nearby spruce tree. Not needing to portage the middle rapid has me still smiling.
Reaching previous camp 25, I have travelled 18 km, one 180 metre portage, running one 220 metre rapid. It is still cool with a strong wind, so I set up the canvas tent and wood stove. It is sure nice to have a cleared tent site, a supply of stovewood and precut tent poles waiting for me.
Moonset September 3 at 5:47 am.
In the moon's crescent form, an imaginary line drawn from tip to tip of the crescent to the horizon indicates the south direction in the northern hemisphere (north in the southern hemisphere).
5:47 am.
5:52 am.
6:37 am.
6:37 am.
6:37 am.
10:29 am.
A gorgeous sunny day on September 3 after the fog clears, calm 7℃, it does not get very light until 6:30 am. Fishing from shore, I catch two nice sized pike in short order for supper, storing them under moss to clean after I eat breakfast. My hands are quite cold, even though I am wearing fleece gloves and extra fleece shirt, so the warmth of the stove feels great. I know if I waited until later when the sun would be on the spot, probably would not have caught those fish. Then I would have had to take the canoe out to a different place. Before supper I have a welcome bath. Heavy rain starts at 6 pm and keeps up all night. Oh boy, I was lucky to travel when I did!
September 4 at 7 am.
Rain continues on and off all day, with strong north wind. Since the spurt of Canada geese flying south before all the cold weather and rain two weeks ago I have not seen or heard many. Now there are lots more flocks flying over again, possibly heralding another storm front arriving from the north.
I do not need to fish today as I have half the fried fish from yesterday left over in the "fridge", as I was not as hungry as I thought. To a mixture of cooked orzo, a diced pine mushroom, nutritional yeast and chicken soup base, I add Parmesan cheese and break up the fish and saute in some butter. Mmm good!
I had planned to do laundry, but the weather remains cool and damp through September 5, so I change clothes after having another cold bath. Yeah ... clean clothes! I make sure my dirty clothes are dried well in the tent and then place in a large plastic bag in my Clothes Pack. They can wait until I get home to be washed.
The canvas tent seen from the lake.
