September 16 at 6:21 am, camp 37.
6:34 am.
6:35 am.
Arising on September 16 early as usual when I plan to move on, the sky is quite cloudy with a glimmer of sunshine showing at the horizon. It is not a promising day, but I decide to leave anyway. Finishing packing by the light from the wide open stove damper, I leave at 7:35 am. The first 80 metre portage is easy. The next ... and last, yeah! ... 300 metres long is wet and muddy at the far end. I manage to stay relatively dry because I am able to walk at the side of the trail in the bad spots, after clearing obstructions by hand. Stopping at a point soon after the portage, I change to warmer socks, and dress in an extra fleece shirt and fleece gloves.
Moving on, I stop for lunch with hot water and a rest at a sheltered spot out of the cool wind.
Some pictographs on the steep rock shoreline.
Birch trees turning autumn yellow.
Getting to a "crossroads" on this large lake, I can either continue straight with the quartering tailwind to a previous campsite, or I can turn into the wind and go to the cottage of a friend who has invited me to stay there if I need shelter. I choose the latter, but soon after the wind shifts even more and becomes a strong headwind and I have to paddle hard to make headway. The target is about four km, and within the first kilometre it starts to rain. Aie! Fortunately, I do have my raincoat on for protection against the cold wind. By the time I approach the island where the cottage is, it is raining hard. Aie! I have never been here, and I see the island is very steep and rocky. I had considered moving on 5 km to a previous campsite if required, but the weather decides for me. It is cold and miserable so I decide that if there is a stove in the cottage I will stay, or I will set up camp if possible. Upon landing, and investigating the cottage there is a stove, so I decide to stay. Yeah! It is really raining hard. The trees and undergrowth are soaked, and I do not see a spot to set up camp, so the cottage it is.
My time here is not comfortable. Although there is a stove, the cottage is quite large and open and there is no walled off area to contain the heat. I initially used some of the firewood at the cottage, but then fell and saw my own stovewood. I am unable to dry damp clothes, even hung directly beside the stove, as the heat dissipates so quickly. It is nice to have shelter from the rain, but I really wish for my nice warm tent and stove. The cottage is beautiful, just not suitable for cool weather. I do pack my gear before daylight on September 17, but the rain and snow continue so I stay another night. From my journal: "Aie! For my tent and stove! In hindsight should have not "turned" to the cottage but kept going to campsite. Oh well, c'est la vie. Lesson learned." Thanks to Michael for letting me stay in his cottage.
During my stay, it snows several times. It is not instantly obvious in the photo, but the white haze over the lake is snowfall, and there are snowflakes best showing against the spruce trees. Rain and some snow continues steadily for the duration of my stay. Temperature remains cold, just above 0℃.
Jeanette's text on September 17: "OK. Snow here. Cold. No fires anywhere. Nice next week." I am hopeful about the weather forecast but it proves false as last week's did too. It is good that there are no forest fires, and interesting that snow is widespread.