Sunrise at 4:30 am at camp 15 on July 9, through a hint of forest fire smoke, where I decide to stay just one day as I want to move on to the next waterfall for good walleye fishing. Mosquitoes are very bothersome so I leave without breakfast or bathroom. I wear a hat scarf, whose continual motion either by breeze or me moving my head, helps keep the bugs away from my head. About one km away I stop at an exposed rock point for breakfast, bathroom and to check my satellite phone for messages. A small smoky fire shoos away the blackflies. This year I am checking for messages as often on Monday as on the scheduled day Sunday, either because of bad weather, or because I am travelling. Next I have to cross a three km stretch of open water which seems to take a long time, one paddle stroke per second, one stroke after the other. When crossing long stretches it seems to take "forever" compared to paddling next to shore where reference points are constantly being passed. My average speed of canoeing on flat water such as this is three km per hour. This is slow compared to my walking pace of six km per hour on a clear path, but I sure cannot walk where the canoe goes.
As I round a point, two adult Canada geese and their four goslings skitter across the water, the male and female parents honking loudly in distress. The young cannot yet fly. They keep going straight as I turn right and soon settle down about 500 metres away. We are all equally surprised at the encounter. I admire these geese who mate for life and both parents raise the young, unlike ducks (and many humans) where the female does all the work.
Approaching the small island where I will camp after canoeing 12 km. This is my old camp 6 so setting up camp will be easy. Landing at 11 am, I write in my journal: "Made good time. Sometimes I surprise myself." I am hungry, the weather is good so I take my Rubber Pack to have lunch in the shade at the campsite. After I park the canoe and cache gear underneath, I carry the other gear to the camp site. It has been three weeks since I was last here, and there is lots of new growth fireweed so I pick all of it from the traffic areas and tent and tarp shelter sites before the plants get trampled. After a refreshing bath, supper is eaten in the Bug Tent, no clothes on. One of my sweaty shirts is hanging on a line and when I retrieve it a wasp stings me in the palm of my hand. The wasp is inside the shirt when I disturb her. Boy, does that ever hurt for a while. The horseflies are very bothersome and biting on this sunny 28℃ day. Aie! Sweaty again, I have another bath before bedtime.
Even though I "levelled" the tent site more before setting up the tent, upon laying in bed it was uncomfortable. Aie! The base can "look good" before erecting the tent, but the true test is sleeping on it. So next day I pull out all the tent pegs and move the tent off the site to try improving the spot again. As it turns out, the next night the bed is still not comfortable. Aie! I place some clothes under the mattress to make it "good enough". The following two nights I finally locate a better position for the bed diagonally across the tent. Levelness is what I find most important. Hardness is not a problem when using a Therm-a-Rest® mattress.
On the third day, there is a big thunder and lightning storm from 5 to 9 am, rivalling the storm at camp 14 which was only three hours. I stay in the tent until 7:30 am but finally decide to go out and face the rain in my rainsuit. Lighting shredded birch bark in a birch bark cylinder under the tarp shelter, I start a fire under dry kindling in the fireplace, then pile on lots of firewood so I can have a hot breakfast. Taking shelter under the tarp shelter when it really pours heavily, I dart out to add more firewood periodically when the rain weakens. I get water boiled and have brunch under the tarp shelter at 10:30 am. It rains on and off all day, thunderstorms keep rolling through, or do they keep circling? I want to go fishing at the falls, but decide in the interest of safety from lightning, to just fish from shore for pike which I use to make a fish chowder for supper. While under the tarp, I do several crossword puzzles, variety puzzles, read some Reader's Digest and catch up on my journal. I decide to stay an extra day after the storm to dry out, if it stops raining, and to go to the falls again to fish.
A movie of part of the heavy rain during the thunderstorm. Listen for the thunder and look for the lightning flash.
Out from under the tarp shelter during a break in the rain, but I have to get under the tarp shelter again.
There is a good crop of red currants and fireweed on the island.
Fireweed greens and flowers, and Saskatoon berries. When I canoe to the falls to catch walleye each of two days, I pick three cups of Saskatoon berries on the small island between the two falls, enough for three meals.