June 6, canoe packed and covered ready to leave camp 1. I was concerned if everything would fit in the canoe but no problem, the 5 metre (17') canoe can hold a big load.
After getting up by 3 a.m., I pack everything in the Tent before looking outside. Yeah ... clear sky, no rain all night. The stove is still on and welcome at 0℃ with ice on standing water.
After getting up by 3 a.m., I pack everything in the Tent before looking outside. Yeah ... clear sky, no rain all night. The stove is still on and welcome at 0℃ with ice on standing water.
Approaching and then leaving a meandering creek emptying the first lake into the next lake. Because of the high water levels, I make my way down the creek with no need for wading gear.
Birch trees are leafing out. To greet me are two gulls, two loons, several mallard ducks, robins, red-winged blackbirds plus the continually migrating Canada geese overhead.
An uncommonly low-flying flock of migrating Canada geese, with loud honking just overhead.
Lots of fishflies (mayflies).
Starting the trip with a short haircut. This year I also switch from a long-sleeved T-shirt to a long-sleeved button-up shirt, in both instances over a short-sleeved crew-neck T-shirt. The double layer helps protect against insects biting through the shirt, and in the case of the button-up shirt helps seal any gaping against bugs. More importantly the turned-up collar helps protect against sunburn and bugs. I use XXL size (extra extra large) long-sleeved shirts (Mark's WindRiver flannel) so that the tail is long enough to stay tucked into pants, and the sleeves are long enough to cover my wrists for better sun and bug protection.
Approaching a solitary large jack pine, that escaped the fire of 2010, where I stop for lunch. Shivering a bit in the cool wind after getting sweaty while paddling, I do not bother with a fire so sit in the sun to warm as I eat.
June 6, approaching the green peninsula at 2:50 p.m. where I will camp. Very weary after travelling 21 km, definitely ready to stop. Typically I consider 16 km to be a good flat water distance for one day. From my journal: "I state out loud 'Thank you, thank you, thank you for a good canoe day with no wind and only light rain.' The night before, I asked of the rain and wind gods, 'I'm planning on canoeing tomorrow. If possible it would be nice if you held off on rain till camp set up and it would also be great if I have a tailwind or no wind.' Not saying it helps, but can't hurt. The last one km, because I am so weary, I take a two stroke break (two seconds) after every 10 strokes. I think I'll be stiff tomorrow (but prove to be okay)."
It starts to rain, so I erect the nylon tent after covering gear with a tarp. Putting most gear in tent vestibules, I need to start a fire to shoo blackflies before I open the inside door or the many bugs on my clothes will be in the tent . Getting the tarp shelter up, I dig a firepit and start a fire to boil raw water. With blackflies gone, I lay out sleep gear in tent. A quick macaroni and cheese supper with alder catkin salad. Mosquitoes are bothersome and I think to use the bug tent under the tarp shelter ... and I now realize I never brought it, forgetting to transfer from my van to Rod's truck. Aie! Aie! Aie! My bad. It is not critical but will be more miserable without. Hopefully I will never make that mistake again! Bugs bothersome, raining harder, very weary so head to tent by 6:30 p.m. and in bed by 7 p.m.
June 7, up at 5 a.m. to heavy rain which keeps up all day, temperature 10℃ . Temporarily placing all the gear from the green nylon tent under the tarp shelter, I drag the nylon tent, which I used the first night, off to the side so I can set up the canvas Tent and stove. Hanging up raingear and damp clothes to dry, I make a cinnamon bannock for breakfast ... mmm good! As I am in Tent, I keep thinking I glance something in my peripheral vision moving outside. Finally I see that it is a snowshoe hare, bedraggled looking in the rain, near the Tent door. Every time I move he darts away and I cannot get a photograph. Later I realize that he was after the urine soaked ground where I had emptied my pee bottle from the nylon tent last night.
Because it is raining so much, I saw stovewood under the tarp shelter. It is cool at 10℃, but I get sweaty and damp and decide to have a bath in the lake. After undressing in the warm Tent, I walk in my Crocs® rubber shoes the 50 metres to the lake to fetch more water and to get butter and Harry's cheese from the cooler in the moss "fridge" for supper. From my journal: "I walked naked to the lake to do chores and no longer had a desire for a bath in cold water, with cold wind, on an unsteady rock bottom surface. Wonder why?" I settle for a hot washcloth bath just outside the Tent on the spruce bough mat.
After eating the four white "chocolate" squares for supper dessert, I did not feel well. Because of that and the sickly sweet taste, I decide that no dessert is better and end up burning it all. The search continues to find a suitable replacement for real chocolate as a dessert. (I have become intolerant of chocolate, coffee, tea and booze ... as my doctor says ... as I "progress".)
June 8 continues cold at 8℃ and wet with very strong wind. My neck is aching badly and will take a few weeks to get used to the paddling. It is too hot in the Tent after the door has been closed, a bit too much wood in the stove, so I pour a cup of water over the burning stovewood to quench the fire. (This is a "safe" procedure, just not too much water which could warp the sheet-metal stove and release scalding steam.) With the stove under control, it is fine during the night with just a single layer of wood and the damper only slightly open.
June 9, winter trail through a regenerated jack pine landscape extends 1500 metres to the next lake ('unnamed lake 1'). I walk the entire length to check in case I have to use it as a portage. It is in good shape except for one spot where I would have to saw four fire-killed medium-size fallen trees to make the trail passable.
June 9 starts with cool 5℃, intermittent light rain, light wind, warming up to 10℃. Canoeing up a small creek towards 'unnamed lake 1', I am hopeful that I will not have to use the long portage. The high water levels make the creek passable over large boulders and rocks. I manage to get upstream by poling and paddling to within 90 metres of the lake, making my way under a large spruce tree fallen across the stream at the narrowest fastest part. With 30 minutes of work, I cut a portage beside the upper rapids. In a low water year, I would probably have to cut a much longer portage to go around the narrow channel.
On my way back downstream, I take another 30 minutes to clear under the down tree in order to go upstream underneath with a full load. From my journal: "From shore, I pull out as much of the dead spruce branches from the water as I can. I can't reach the one big branch. So into the canoe and park it against the upstream side of the limbs hanging down from the tree farther out in middle of creek. Would have been an interesting video of me manoeuvering against the limbs, pulling the canoe back into place as I yank out branches in the water, which forces the canoe back into the fast current so I pull the canoe up against the attached limbs several times. I'm standing and don't want to head backwards downstream. I get a muddy mess in the canoe. Thank goodness I have my gear covered with tarp. I remove as many of the sodden branches from the water as I can but one large stubborn one I can't pull hard enough. I do manage though to push it up wedged behind some still tree-attached limbs. Good (if it remains so) ... I now have more space to get loaded canoe up the rapids. I will definitely don my wading gear because the extra weight of loaded canoe may ground the canoe against boulders. There is a chance that I may have to land and cut more portage but I hope not. All done, a good job and 90 metre portage beats a 1500 metre one for sure! On the way down the creek, I pass one branch I dislodged that floated out of my grasp and is now stuck mid-creek. I turn the canoe around to go back up to remove it, hauling it over the canoe and getting more wet muck on me and in the canoe. My pants are soiled (on the outside). At the foot of the rapids I pull along the shore and sponge out the mess." To get the two km back to camp, I have to battle a very strong wind. I would love to have a bath but with the strong wind and temperature of 10℃ it is too cold. Hanging up my clothes to dry, I have a hot washcloth bath before supper. I have canoed an extra four km today to scout and clear the next portage.
On my way back downstream, I take another 30 minutes to clear under the down tree in order to go upstream underneath with a full load. From my journal: "From shore, I pull out as much of the dead spruce branches from the water as I can. I can't reach the one big branch. So into the canoe and park it against the upstream side of the limbs hanging down from the tree farther out in middle of creek. Would have been an interesting video of me manoeuvering against the limbs, pulling the canoe back into place as I yank out branches in the water, which forces the canoe back into the fast current so I pull the canoe up against the attached limbs several times. I'm standing and don't want to head backwards downstream. I get a muddy mess in the canoe. Thank goodness I have my gear covered with tarp. I remove as many of the sodden branches from the water as I can but one large stubborn one I can't pull hard enough. I do manage though to push it up wedged behind some still tree-attached limbs. Good (if it remains so) ... I now have more space to get loaded canoe up the rapids. I will definitely don my wading gear because the extra weight of loaded canoe may ground the canoe against boulders. There is a chance that I may have to land and cut more portage but I hope not. All done, a good job and 90 metre portage beats a 1500 metre one for sure! On the way down the creek, I pass one branch I dislodged that floated out of my grasp and is now stuck mid-creek. I turn the canoe around to go back up to remove it, hauling it over the canoe and getting more wet muck on me and in the canoe. My pants are soiled (on the outside). At the foot of the rapids I pull along the shore and sponge out the mess." To get the two km back to camp, I have to battle a very strong wind. I would love to have a bath but with the strong wind and temperature of 10℃ it is too cold. Hanging up my clothes to dry, I have a hot washcloth bath before supper. I have canoed an extra four km today to scout and clear the next portage.