After starting where my trail ends (above), the photos below represent another 70 metres of cutting and clearing on July 8, even slower progress than yesterday when I cut 130 metres.
Felled and down trees piled across yesterday's trail as a sign to direct me in the proper direction to the right.
More very dense bush requiring much cutting of small and medium size trees.
A vertical rockface that needs several logs piled to create a safe step.
The end of the latest trail, 1300 metres total distance, at the point where it starts across a boggy wet area in the little valley. The bog below here forms a small creek that falls down a steep impassable gorge.
Walking ahead across the valley, I scout a route on its right hand side all the way to the river. Success!
A piece of orange tape tied to a tree marking a spot from which I plan to cut a trail to reach the river. Flagging a spot makes it much easier to identify the place rather than have to bushwhack all over again when I forget where it is, one place looking like another. Note the multitude of flying moths framed against the sky.
Back at camp, all my sweaty clothes hanging to hopefully dry a bit, although the dark sky looks very threatening. Even my leather belt is wet from sweat. As it turns out I have to hang them all in the cabin still very damp and to don them the next day that way.
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Summary:
Investigate ahead of the trail through the mess of thick large down trees to no avail. The 130 metres cut yesterday involves 50 metres which proves unusable, as today I have to start that distance back and cut 70 metres in a new direction to the right. The new route first takes several hours of scouting and marking a new path to make my way around the large area of deadfall. So yesterday I really only advanced 80 metres of useful portage. Including today, I have progressed a total of (300 + 850 + 80 + 70) = 1300 metres. The good news though is that there is now a definite route to the target river; the bad news is that the portage will be about two km long.
July 8:
Up by 4:30 a.m., 17°C, very hazy, strong wind and heavy dark cloud lasting all day, temperature reaching a high of 20°C. Today I walk straight through the entire portage to the big area of down trees where I stopped yesterday. Now it is time to figure out where to make the trail next. From my journal: "Walk through the thick large down trees, crisscrossed willy-nilly, grown up with dense brush. What a mess. Aie! Have to carefully walk on some big logs at least 18" diameter, duck under some, crawl under some, push my way through very thick brush, getting hung up sometimes and having to back out and go around. Aie! Hoping against hope to find a route open up if I proceed far enough to either side. Make it to a high spot where I can finally see the river, just a glimpse, not a full view. But way too thick with large long down spruce and poplar from the fire of 2010. Make my way to the higher ground on the left, no better. Get back finally to the end of the cut trail, sweating just from the effort. Takes almost an hour to make the circle back to where I started. Now I walk down into the gorge that falls from the little valley on the right of the trail, but it is not very useful for a trail, too steep. There is a bit of water flowing and lots of wet muskeg with pools of water in holes that have to be skirted. Above the gorge, I cross about 100 metres over to the far right side of the little valley ... yay! ... finding quite open muskeg with moss and Labrador tea, not wet. There are a few large down trees to cross, but mostly new growth jack pine farther to the right up the slope of the valley. The 'open' relatively dry level muskeg running between the gorge on the left and the pine clad slope on the right looks very promising. Walk relatively easily all the way to just above the target spot on the river. Yay! The last 100 metres is small thick pines. The final drop to the river is a bit? (very?) steep but too thick to get through easily, even thicker than the section I just walked. But it does not appear to be a completely vertical cliff and I think I will be able to find a way down to the shore. I tie a 20 cm length of orange flagging tape on a small pine marking the route close to the river, then blaze some larger spruce and pine trees on the back trail along the gorge to steer me in the correct direction tomorrow. Walking farther up the valley along the gorge, I find a better place to cross above the gorge, more level, to get back to my already cut trail. There are open deep water holes that may need to be filled as I don't want to have a trail that wanders all over while carrying heavy loads. Back at the existing trail, I scout the best way to cross the little valley, having to walk back and forth a few times to make sure of the route, blazing a few trees, finding a route and then losing it. Aie! The 130 metres cut yesterday through thick bush is not all usable. Alas, the last 50 metres is of no value, so really I only cut 80 metres of actual portage. Today I cut 70 metres to the near edge of the muskeg in the little valley, having to cut from both directions to make sure I am on the right track; the bush is so thick, impossible to see very far. As it is I have to go over a vertical rock face but feel it is easier to do that than try to go around; provided I add several logs to create a shorter step it should be okay. When cutting a trail it is important to not have sharp turns within thick trees, with at least one metre width, so that the five metre (17') canoe can be carried. [A few times in the past I have had to set the canoe down to slide through sideways, a lot of extra effort.] So total, I have made a trail 1300 metres long over a course of four days (300 + 850 + 80 + 70). Today I cut the shortest trail, but the main accomplishment is exploration to find the best route, ruling out the left side of the valley thick with brush and large down trees, finding a good location on the right side. Yay! What a relief." [When I check the GPS waypoint at camp, the connection at the target river is bang on my bearing line on the map. The trail to the left of the valley had veered about 150 metres to the side of the bearing, not bad at all. A decent orienteering job, the chosen path to take advantage of much open muskeg paying off.] Finally I return to unnamed lake 10 for much needed water and lunch. I find myself grinning with the success of reaching the target, even though there are still two? days of trail cutting, one if lucky. The only uncertainty (the known unknown) is the path for the descent to the river. There is not much sun today, so the rinsed headnet and bandana take longer to dry, being still damp when putting them back on, and my two shirts do not dry much at all. The short shirt is totally sweat-soaked so I don my long T-shirt as an undershirt. (I wear two shirts mainly for protection against biting bugs.) On return to the boat, I leave the headnet and bandana on until I reach a spot protected from the strong wind. Surprisingly, I soon find out that a tailwind in a motorboat is more difficult and less comfortable than a headwind, the opposite to the canoe. Making a turn with too much speed is a lesson in safety, as I can see it could be easy to overturn if not careful, especially when there is little stabilizing weight in the bow. A wind gust could easily do me in. After that I am more cautious about turns regardless of wind. In a sense I think my canoeing experience counters rather than complements my motorboat use. Before supper at camp, I have a very welcome bath, and then, chilled, have to put on my heavy fleece sweater at supper. Today's sweat-soaked clothes hang on the outside line but do not dry much because of the dark sky. After chores (supper, journal writing, GPS recording), I planned to do a puzzle, but weary and tired go to bed by 8 p.m., still smiling about finding the successful route to the target.