Camp 9 at 5:20 a.m., a bad surprise first thing in the morning. A bear has taken my Food Pack from under the canoe. Note that he also knocked over one of the grub barrels. Interestingly the bear hooked the pack from the back side of the canoe; bear claws are long and sharp so I think he just reached underneath and yanked it out from where it was placed between a cross thwart and the hull of the canoe. That might have been the noise that awakened me?
Camp 9 at 7:15 a.m., ready to leave camp wearing headnet because mosquitoes are bad. Often, once I get paddling, the mosquitoes disappear, but not today. With no luck finding the stolen pack or the bear, and because he may return, even though I planned on staying, I am moving on.
7:40 a.m., soon after leaving camp 9, threatening sky.
8:10 a.m., arriving at the end of the lake, the next portage.
8:35 a.m., looking back up the lake from where I just came.
8:45 a.m., blackflies are bad so start a fire to stand in the smoke to persuade them to leave me alone for breakfast. Because of the bear at the last camp I broke camp and left without eating. In my experience once a bear disturbs camp, he will return.
8:50 a.m., canoe unloaded. Some of the gear can be seen at the top of the hill beside the trail. One of the barrels has the harness attached ready to be portaged; it sits in a spot with a downhill slope that should be easier to hoist the load. To strap on each of the two heavy barrels, I lift them up on the lighter Kitchen Barrel first, otherwise I probably could not do so from the ground, plus would have to raise with just one strap which would be hard on the harness. With a heavy load, it takes practice to crouch with knees bent, get shoulder straps on, then the important step of cinching the chest strap before standing up. I learned the process the hard way by ignominiously falling down a few times when I first got the barrels. Thank goodness my legs are not any longer; perhaps that is another reason the early voyageurs were short (besides eating less and taking less room). Mind you, they would carry double the weight that I consider a heavy load (41 kg, 90 lb).
8:55 a.m., finally eating late breakfast, using a comfortable seat fashioned with some flattish stones.
Having used this portage before, I know that it takes me where I need to go, so do not feel the need to check it out. Ever optimistic I hoist my first load, but just get 30 metres and encounter down trees obstructing the trail around the corner. Unloading so soon, I get my tools from the Miscellaneous Duffle Bag (beside the Laundry Pail in the photo).
Using the bow saw to remove offenders, I soon see that there are many many such trees across the trail, so continue all the way to the end of the 220 metre portage over the next hour, clearing at least 50 fallen trees to reach the target river.
After reaching the upper end of the portage, photos above are of the cleared trail on my return to carry the first load dropped near the start of the trail.
Wolf scat on the trail, typically full of prey animal's hair (probably moose).
Heading up the river against a headwind, there are two small rapids that I manage, with effort, to pole/paddle up without getting out to wade.
Getting close to the next campsite, where I have camped once before in 2018, the closest possible to the next portage.
Landing at 2 p.m. on June 26, I initiate the SPOT™ to notify my contacts of the location, having travelled 10 km, including the 220 metre portage and going up two 100 metre rapids. The SPOT™ is visible in the photos above on the rock face beside the fireplace.
Canoe unloaded and parked, tent and Tarp shelter up, firewood collected, four pots of raw water boiled (only the large pot visible in the photo above).
June 27, clothesline up to hang sleep gear.
The tent site viewed from lakeside in the canoe.
The campsite seen from the lake.
View across the river from the campsite on June 27, 5:15 a.m. and 6:35 a.m.
June 28, 5 a.m. and 5:35 a.m.
The canoe loaded with the two grub barrels to be pre-portaged, plus tools and gear for the day, to paddle the one km to the next portage up the river.
Pleasantly surprised to see someone has recently cleared the 450 metre portage, including cutting out large logs with a chainsaw.
Two of the four short locations requiring only about one hour of extra clearing. The upper photo is the rocky, bouldery trail across the creek; the other where I detour on higher ground beside a very wet muddy spot.
After clearing the portage and portaging the two barrels, I start a lunch fire to shoo blackflies. My sweat-soaked long shirt, laid out nearby on branches to dry a bit, is the victim of a hot ember. Back at camp, I cremate the damaged shirt.
Heavy rain on June 27 leads to hauling in some large wood for the fireplace, sawing it under the shelter of the Tarp.
Heavy rain again on June 28, so I need even more firewood.
June 28 at 6:45 a.m., cinnamon bannock baking in the Dutch oven for breakfast.
My new shirt after burning the previous one. Better be more careful Barry, only two shirts left!
June 28, a nice big 27" pike, two meals worth.
Unfortunately, the brand new end section of the fishing rod, replaced on warranty after breaking last season, snaps with the first fish. Aie!
Hanging the leather sheaths for the two filleting knives that got damp within the past month and are growing mould. (The washcloth was given to me by someone long ago who will remain nameless; I did nothing wrong myself, honest.)
Breaded fish await frying in shortening, "Crisco® All-Vegetable".
Two pans of fried pike, drained on cloth wipes. The hot liquid shortening will be poured off into the stainless steel container to cool and solidify; it gets reused for a two week period. The leather gloves are used to manipulate the tongs to handle the fish, the mitts to handle the hot Dutch oven.
Supper on June 28 - a mint, fried pike, orzo (with nutritional yeast, chicken soup base), fireweed greens, hot water, "Birthday Cake" protein bar (an unbirthday dessert every day).
June 29, a strong cold wind prompts me to rig the medium tarp as a windbreak on the side of the Tarp shelter.
June 29 supper - a mint, hot water, "Birthday Cake" protein bar, salad (freshly picked fireweed tops, white Labrador tea flowers, pink lingonberry blooms), the other half of the pike fried yesterday (sauteed today in butter with lemon pepper and sugar), couscous cooked separately (with nutritional yeast, chicken soup base) stirred into the reheated pike ... MMM-mmm good!
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Summary:
Bear steals Food Pack containing one week of grub. Rain, rain, rain. Bugs, bugs, bugs. Cremate a shirt. My first fish, a nice big pike, breaks the new tip of fishing rod. Clear two portage trails. Pre-portage two barrels. Distance travelled 10 km, including 220 metre portage.
June 26:
From my journal (written next day): "At camp 9 it rains all night, still going strong at 3 a.m., so shut Wilson off and sleep in. At 5 a.m. hear some noise out of the ordinary, a 'whoof' I think, some noise that awakens me, or maybe I was already awake? Not a good sound to hear in camp. [I am always amazed how, even in the presence of other sounds in nature, certain 'alarm' sounds are detected, even though in this case the canoe was 100 metres away from my bed. However, often the alarm is merely a benign noise such as a duck or fish splashing, or even a mouse scurrying nearby that I imagine is a larger animal much farther away.] Get dressed, take gun (and bear spray always on my belt). Everything looks okay around camp. As I approach canoe, a bad sign ... one of the barrels overturned. When I lift the canoe, the Food Pack is gone! Aie! Other gear untouched - 2 paddles, Laundry Pail (loaded with gear), PFD. Aie! Was going to stay in camp today because of the rain. No more unless I take care of the bear. A quick check of the two barrels reveals no problems. Walk about 100 metres up the big hill looking for sign. Then the same inland along the opposite shore. Pretty sure he didn't go in direction of camp. No sign of anything. Smart bear; he's not stopping to examine his theft until safely away. Suspect he's human habituated from a cabin two lakes over. So it's pack up and move on despite the angry looking very cloudy grey sky. My only hope is that the rain has paused after raining all night. Mosquitoes and blackflies very bothersome. Wear hat scarf. Later I realize putting on headnet sooner would have been better idea; lots of new bloody blackfly welts on face and neck. [When I have a hot water wash before bed at camp 10, the cloth comes away with old blood from blackfly bites.] Pack up sleep gear, usually done before exiting the tent after arising. Fill in second firepit. [First pit filled in yesterday.] Take Tarp shelter down, pack canoe. With bugs so bad, I'm not having breakfast here, and because of the bear don't want to delay. Canoe to portage at upper end of lake, saying hello to the World War II sergeant at his memorial plaque along the way. [Many remote lakes have been named for armed forces veterans; the family often arranges for a float plane to fly in to place the plaque.] Unload canoe. Start fire on rockface shore to eat breakfast. When repacking Rubber Pack, I move wading gear to top in case needed to wade up the rapids on the river at the far end of the portage. Hoist first load as usual but only make about 30 metres before being obstructed by down trees. Off with my load and assemble bow saw from the Miscellaneous Duffle bag. Clear immediate spot, but then continue up the 220 metre trail over the next hour, removing at least 50 fallen trees. Thank goodness most are small to medium size. Sweating! Humid! The headnet I wore all the way up the lake is no longer needed. [The trail is through a large area of thick stair-step moss; I have noticed that such areas often are less buggy, I think because less hospitable bug habitat.] Reload canoe and cover with the large Tarp, as I did before heading out from last camp; it sure looks like rain. Encounter first rapids soon and manage to pole/paddle up the left side. Then on to next rapids, deeper and faster. Just manage to pole/paddle up the left side; there were down trees, two each on right side of both rapids. Didn't think I was going to make it up second rapids. My 'pole' (the paddle) didn't touch bottom several places so would have been deep wet wading. Luckily both rapids have rocky, but not bouldery, bottoms so good leverage points to pole. On to next camp that I cleared in 2018, thankfully, as setting up camp will be quicker. I had cleared spots for Tarp shelter, tent and fireplace, the latter on the rockface shore in an indent revealed on peeling back the covering humus/moss layer. Not an ideal spot as unprotected from west and south winds and only somewhat from north wind. Although I had a headwind all day, now a very strong west wind blows in. Get tent set up, but don't enter, just throw in all the sleep gear; fearful it will rain anytime. Next get fire on to shoo blackflies and boil water. After clearing all the several alder bushes, half metre tall where I cut their parents in 2018, erect Tarp shelter. Had no lunch today because of rain threat; didn't want to push my luck with the rain gods. After supper, to tent by 7 p.m., in bed by 8 p.m.. Uneven bed so move to other side of tent, having to transfer all the gear along the usual left side to the right. Aie! Same problem I had at previous camp. Aie! Thankful to gods for a good canoe day, making camp with no rain. Very thankful I had aliquoted grub for next week earlier than usual, leaving only about one week worth in Food Bag for the bear. In hindsight, wish I had left it in tent rear vestibule. I had taken it and Laundry Pail to canoe 'to save time' the next day. Aie!" Camp 10 is 10 km from previous camp, including the 220 metre portage.
June 27:
Sleeping in until 5 a.m., it is overcast, very subdued sunlight, dead calm, 17°C. Mosquitoes are only a bit bothersome. During breakfast, a loon swims past close to shore. I say "Good morning. Are you going to talk to me? Are you all alone?" She does not answer, just keeps swimming downstream. After hot cinnamon bannock for breakfast, I load the canoe with gear for the day to clear the next portage and to fish, plus the two barrels to pre-portage. There is just enough old brown birchbark (from a dwarf birch tree) to start the fire. It will probably take me several hours to clear the portage. I also want to fish below the rapids, hopefully for walleye, before returning to camp. A pleasant surprise awaits me; it only takes one hour to clear the 450 metre trail as someone has recently done so and even used a chainsaw to cut out many large logs that I would normally have to step over. [Later, I find out that Adam D and his son Caden did the work, so a big thanks to them.] The trail needs widening in four places, three because the trail is very muddy and full of water, two short spots and one about 20 metres; the fourth location is over a small creek where I remove the brush growing at the edge and middle as I have to step on stones and boulders where I do not want a misstep while carrying heavy loads. Two mergansers take off from the upper end of the creek right in the bush, a startling surprise right beside the trail where they have to fly out through overhanging brush to get to the lake. Because the mosquitoes and blackflies are so bothersome, I wear a headnet while clearing, a sweaty job. To carry the two barrels I am able to take the headnet off, aided by a fire at the start of the portage to shoo then away, plus the fact my sweat is drying a bit so I am less attractive to the bugs. I eat extra lunch not used yesterday. On my return walk for the second barrel I pick two servings of fireweed tops, plus some good birchbark as there is none at the campsite. After both barrels portaged, I place moss in the stern of the canoe to lay fish on, then assemble the four piece fishing rod and reel. To my dismay and chagrin water has got into the Fishing Kit, into the bag with the two filleting knives. The leather knife cases are a bit mouldy. Aie! Then rain starts so I forgo fishing and head back downstream the one km to camp. The rainfall is steady but thankfully only light until the skies open up when I get to camp. Temperature reaches 21°C, very calm, steady rain since 1:30 p.m.. I unload the canoe and place the gear under the Tarp shelter until I organize and store in tent vestibule. At lunch a stray ember landed on my sweaty long shirt that I had spread out to dry. I did not notice it until a very large burn hole generated enough acrid smoke odour! Aie! Deemed beyond repair, I cremate the shirt in the fireplace at camp, and get out a new shirt to wear, earlier than planned. Thinking the rain will stop to allow me to fish from shore, there is no such luck so finally I put the rod and reel away. To clean and counteract the mould in the knife sheaths, I use some gun oil to rub them down; on a nice day I will place them in direct sunlight to dry. [Later I change my storage in the Fishing Kit bag so all vulnerable items are in waterproof bags.] By 5 p.m., supper done, the bugs are quite bothersome so I erect the Bug Tent under the Tarp shelter. Once inside I cannot help but smile as I am updating my journal: "Very pleased to see portage already cleared. Thought would take several hours, especially the alder and birch brush grown thick in the centre 100 metres." The Bug Tent pack bag needs 40 minutes of sewing where the zipper stitching has come out. It is a good thing the Bug Tent itself is not sewn so poorly. My sewing is not neat, but does the job. At 6:30 p.m., still raining, dead calm, 18°C, very cloudy, I relax in the Bug Tent. I clip my fingernails, several broke today; I do keep them short but not good enough today it seems. Leaving the fire to die on its own, coals spread out in fireplace, I will let the rain extinguish it. By 7:30 p.m., the rain paused?, I pack up and take two trips to the tent to carry the gear. The rain continues all night.
June 28 Sunday:
The day opens at 15°C, very cloudy, light wind. From my journal: "Weather not looking promising. While eating fresh cinnamon bannock for breakfast and updating journal, two ravens croak nearby. New long shirt on, better be careful of this one Barry! New birchbark from portage works a lot better than the old dwarf birch pieces that I have here. SAT text message from Jeanette: 'OK here. No fires near you. Lotsa rain4u. Same here. JH.' Canoe to rapids at portage hoping for walleye. Wear hat scarf as blackflies are bothersome even while canoeing. Actually see a beauty in shallows but no luck. Even drift down half way back to camp, then canoe back to rapids. After trying all lures finally use big red and white Len Thompson spoon ... and bang ... literally ... hook a nice pike ... and the first fish of the season breaks the new tip of rod that was warranty replacement for the same thing happening last year (just not as soon though). That's it for this 'Rapala Magnum' rod ['Rapala® Magnum Spinning Rod 4 piece 7' MG20SP70M4']. Will buy an 'Ugly Stik®' rod that is supposed to be very hard to break. At least I can use the hard tubular case from the Rapala for the new rod. Land at side of rapids but not good place for access to water to clean the fish. Go back to camp to fillet fish, then wash and scrub the rock face at shore with moss. [I try to clean fish away from camp to avoid it as an attractant for a bear. As well, I always throw the fish guts far out into the water.] A nice big thick 27" pike; this one sufficient for two meals, filling two small Ziploc® bags. Hang sleeping bag and fleece shell on clothesline and then have late lunch at 1:45 p.m.. Looks like rain all morn, so will need to watch. The zipper pull on fleece shell finally quit working last night; one side fell off and I removed the other. On arising I used a large safety pin to seal the pull so will now have to just crawl in and out, which is what I had to do after midnight to get out of the shell and into warmer sleeping bag. [I use the shell in warm conditions spread out on top of the sleeping bag.] Plan to move on tomorrow, but weather not promising, so will wait till morning to pack. I don't anticipate the second portage trail to need much clearing after seeing the good condition of the longer trail yesterday. Will still get up at 3 a.m. though, unless already raining, to check what the day looks to be. 2:30 p.m., whew ... mad dash a few minutes ago when it started to rain, and then pour. Got sleep gear off line with very little rain and laid out in tent. My long shirt and hat were hanging on the line too and got a bit damp. Quickly get some dry lichen-covered branches on the dwindling fire to start it again. Fetch a big firewood pole from beside fireplace to saw underneath the Tarp shelter. Put several small sticks on fire to keep it going. Will put bigger wood on when rain lessens. Continue reading Reader's Digest. Cool, so don long shirt and tie up boots. Thunderstorm and heavy rain roll through in about half hour. When rain lessens, saw three fallen trees nearby to yield 18 one metre logs and many axed limbs. Easier to saw tree lengths with limbs on and then use axe to limb all in one place where I want the pile near fireplace. A few mosquitoes and blackflies, but not too bothersome; in short shirt, no hat. Stoke fire for supper of fried fish. Two pans full of fried fish, one for tomorrow supper; that's two meals fish this week already, the weekly target. Scald my left forearm rinsing the Dutch oven frypan with boiling water - forgot the knack of doing it safely! Aie! Submerge hand and forearm in lake several times to minimize the burn. Weather cooperates, no rain during supper. After supper, a gusting strong wind, so afraid another storm moving through. Flies bothersome, wanting to sample my food. 6:20 p.m., yeah ... solved a 'hard' sudoku. Sky clears a bit, 21°C, so I pre-pack, only for the sky to blow in very cloudy and ominous. So much for my weather forecast. To bed by 8:30 p.m. My earlier prediction of another storm moving through proves the accurate one. But human bias (or mine anyway) is for the positive, in this case a negative [forecast]."
June 29:
Very cloudy, strong wind, 14°C, blackflies bothersome all day until 5 p.m.. From my journal: "Up by 4:30 a.m. after waking at 3 a.m. as I promised Wilson when he woke me. Pull on boots and step outside in PJ's. Very cloudy and very strong wind, as it has been all night, making the tent shake and vibrate. I say out loud 'Well Wilson, it's very very very windy, the sky is very very very dark and ominous. If we move on we may get very very very wet and we may be very very very sorry.' Get back in bed till 4:30 a.m.. When I arise for good, have to unpack all my pre-packing and boil water anew. After washing eyes and nose by dipping potable water from the aluminum travel pot, get fire going as blackflies very bothersome. Then unpack Kitchen Barrel to get pots to boil water. Fetch enough misshapen spruce trees for boughs to place under Tarp shelter, doing early cause want dry ones in case it rains. Stash the trees under the Tarp to keep them dry while having breakfast, updating journal, doing a puzzle, napping, before cutting boughs to serve as a better floor. The strong wind all night sure dried branches and underbrush. After breakfast have a nice refreshing cold bath. Chilled I get in Bug Tent, fleece sweater on, hat on, fully dressed, bandana on. Thank goodness the wind is from behind the hill at camp and not directly on shore. 9:45 a.m., so far no rain ... 'so Wilson, we could have gone'. C'est la vie. 11:10 a.m., yeah ... a bit of sunshine. Hang out sleeping bag and fleece shell. Stretch medium tarp across the windward side of large Tarp shelter. Replace the bungee cords on the new tent fly with a heavier set brought with me used on the old fly; the new cords are already stretching out thin to the point of breaking, as happened on the original fly. I thought I would give the new ones a try, but to no avail. It is 21°C, the wind has died to just light but it is still very cloudy. Except for my feet, am warmed up enough to remove extra clothing. Tasty supper is refried pike. In bed by 8 p.m., after pre-packing; if I end up staying in camp again tomorrow, have all day to unpack."