June 26, 04:34 at camp 12 as I prepare to leave for the next portage; pretty rose coloured sunrise, hopefully not one signalling rain (but unfortunately does).
June 26, 13:22, just before shoving off to canoe to a campsite after two portages to this very big lake, the clouds not looking promising.
Camp 13 is three km from previous camp (including two portages, 450 and 220 metres).
The second laundry day this season. Photo of me sitting on the rock shore, taken from a motorboat by Adam who has a fly-in cottage on this lake.
June 27, 06:25, a nice thick 27 inch pike caught from shore for supper. On subsequent days I have to take canoe out and venture farther to catch fish.
June 29, 04:41 sunrise through forest fire smoke; not a cloud to be seen is a bad sign, confirmed later by a terribly hot 32°C.
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Summary:
Already soaking wet from the portage, I get dripping wet when it pours, then really pours, for five hours while setting up camp. Catch pike for supper each of three days. Change of clothes and second laundry. Get in a funk about having the energy for the original planned trip. Jeanette's text forecasts heatwave, and I have a very hot 32°C day leading to four baths.
June 26:
Up to alarm at 03:00, knowing mosquitoes will be bad I eat breakfast in tent. The day starts off clear and sunny, though the rose coloured sunrise might not be a good sign. From my journal: "Fall twice on first portage, once with a heavy barrel! Aie! Step on slippery sloping rock. Manage (barely) to get up again in harness with barrel. Aie! The other time is with the Clothes Pack with Canoe Pack on top. Both times landing in wet section of trail and getting even wetter as I turn to kneel before standing. Am getting soaked from tall wet brush on the trail. No sign of a bear, but it certainly is in my thoughts at the spot bear took barrel last year." Paddling up the small lake to the second portage, I am thankful that someone has cut a new section of trail bypassing the old landing which is at the base of a steep muddy hill. On the second last carry on this portage I feel woozy and lay down at the lower end of the trail for a few minutes; I am hungry and perhaps out of energy. It is only half km to next campsite, so will wait until then to eat, even though I have two more loads to carry. Reaching the island camp by 12:15, there is a thunderstorm in the distance, passing far from me ... I think. Needing lunch, I hope I am okay for weather so unload canoe, place some gear under, but carry most gear up the slope where I have decided to install the canvas Tent, more exposed than I would like but should be okay. Getting lunch out, I now realize there is a thunderstorm approaching from behind, hidden until now by the tall bush. The Tarp shelter and the nylon tent fly were packed soaking wet this morning from last night's heavy rain, the former now laid out to dry. From my journal: "By the time I realize I'm in for rain, I decide to forgo erecting Tarp shelter, just using it to pull over the gear on the ground. I think the storm won't be too bad and will pass over. Eating two protein bars as I'm getting rained on, I start clearing the Tent site and fell and limb three spruce trees for Tent poles. Already raining, sweating as I work, I decide to carry on and erect the Tent. I'm soaked already top to bottom, boots too, from the wet portages with lots of overhanging brush. It starts to pour, and then to really pour. Now I'm dripping wet. Rain is pooling in bottom sides of Tent as I put it up. Multiple steps to erect Tent - string ridge rope between two trees, cut vertical poles to fit, place roof tarp, cut sod cloth poles to proper length, stake out sides, fetch some rocks to anchor poles, tie roof tarp, lay out ground and floor tarps. Move gear into Tent from under Tarp which now has large pools of water collecting on it. I'm soaking wet, but Tent up! Yay! Now to find soil so I can use the stove. I noticed an overturned tree about 50 metres away with good prospects ... and yay! ... sandy soil. Use shovel to fill pail three times to carry soil to Tent. Don't use handle to carry pail as the plastic would break so carry it in one arm against my chest, the other hand to support bottom. Set up stove. Lots of birch bark cylinders on island and pick up a one metre piece which fortunately has dry material inside to use for extra kindling. Saw off a short six inch length from a down dry (on inside) spruce and split it for kindling in Tent on top of a stone. Find some dry poles and saw 12 inch stovewood. Get stove lit ... yay! Fetch water to boil after stove burns for about half hour with dampers wide open and stove lid ajar. Arms and hands quite dirty so I wash them at lakeshore, along with pail and shovel ... twice. Get wet gear hung up, some as soon as stove lit to get a head start. Jeans soaked top to bottom; all my clothes are. Cut some spruce boughs from the felled trees for doorway. Rinse hands and arms again! Now I can disrobe and hang wet clothes up. Heat of stove feels so so good. Window and door wide open, screened; have been getting some blackfly and mosquito bites outside. Organize gear in Tent. Sweaty under the wet clothes, so have a bath in lake; oh ... that feels so much better! Have to mix the stovewood as I stock the stove, some is a bit punky and damp but burns okay. Hope enough stovewood for the night. Supper finally at 18:00 when at last it stops raining so darn hard, macaroni and cheese, hot water, protein bar. Not as late as I feared. It has rained very very heavy for five hours straight, from 13:00 to 18:00, crazy. In bed by 21:00, falling asleep on bed sheet in just my pajama socks and undershorts, then up after one hour to close door, put on pajamas. Lay on top of sheet all night, feeding stove when I get up to pee. Give thanks for a warm dry Tent and a good campsite."
June 27:
Camp 13 is on a small island in a very big lake, three km from last camp (including two portages 450, 220 metres). After trying to go back to sleep, I am up by 03:45, sunny, 15°C, strong wind. First priority is to catch fish for supper. Stoking stove with firewood, second priority is getting more stovewood. I try fishing unsuccessfully in six spots on three sides of the island, at the last spot two loons quite close by, observing my fruitless endeavours. I imagine they are chuckling at my efforts. Every location I try as usual casting the lure about five times in each of three directions, a red and white Len Thompson spoon my first choice in lake water where pike is the most likely catch. Luckily I only snag the lure once on rocks in the mostly shallow water near shore and manage to get it released. Finally I move to the fourth side of the island, having to walk through very wet bush to get there, my reason for trying the other areas first. This is in the channel between island and mainland, where it gets quite shallow at one end. More chances to snag the lure here. A tiny pike keeps following the lure all the way to shore where I see him bump it. Perhaps the lure is too big for him which is fine with me as I would release him anyway; I only use barbless hooks (barbs crimped with pliers). Finally I get a nice sized pike, a thick 27 inches and fillet him on the spot. Having noticed some standing dry stovewood poles nearby, I fetch saw and axe to allow cutting more stovewood before breakfast at 09:30, having spent longer fishing than hoped. One other chore before baking bannock is to rinse yesterday's wet dirty heavy socks in the lake and hang over the stove to dry; I hope to do laundry tomorrow but they will be cleaner just in case laundry does not happen. Today proves to be nice, reaching 23°C, a welcome change from yesterday's downpour. Sitting in the Tent in only moccasins, my outer clothes hang to continue drying over the stove. There are lots more chores to do: dry nylon tent and Tarp shelter, replace stones from the fireplace that I used for the Tent, more spruce boughs for doorway, split kindling, saw stovewood, pick fireweed salad, fetch moss to level spot beside stove for pots, aliquot supplies for next week, get out clean underclothes to do laundry, erect clothesline, update maps and journal, bath, Sunday check of satellite phone for messages. Text message from Jeanette: "Heat warning here. Up to 36 deg next week. No fires. JH".
Interestingly, as I transcribe notes from my journal, I have forgotten that I wrote: "The more I think about the target river that I cut the long portage to last year and plan to finish that trip this season, the more I'm not sure I have the energy. The episode on the last portage where I was ... dizzy? disoriented? reduced energy? ... makes me think I maybe shouldn't attempt that trip. I know there will be lots more portage cutting to get down the joining creeks. There is another trip I could do by possibly portaging through a series of lakes to get to another river system. I think I have the maps for most of that area with me, but will check tomorrow after laundry. May not have all the 1:50,000 more detailed maps but the 1:250,000 maps would do. [For backup, I always carry enough of the latter maps which cover a larger area but in less detail.] Won't have route notes for the river that has many rapids but have been down it once before and maps will have my annotations for portage location and distances. Will see!" I must have been in a bit of a funk after setting up camp in that downpour and still not fully rested.
From my journal: "19:40. Trying to do sudoku but falling asleep. Busy day. Time for bed." Added the next day in journal: "Aah ... a level bed. With stove off there was a good position lengthwise in Tent, feet beside stove. Slept well."
June 28:
Up at 04:15, dressed in clean underclothes to do laundry today, but first priority is to catch fish for supper. Trying yesterday's productive spot I get lure hung up on a rock so have to launch canoe. Fishing up the lake along mainland I catch a 25" pike in short order, bringing it back to the island to fillet, but at a distance from camp where I can still easily walk to camp. I am sweating, making my clean clothes dirty already. Breakfast finished by 08:00, I start laundry and am finished well before noon lunch. It is calm, 23°C, cloudy, not an ideal drying day like yesterday's sun and wind. The clothesline is in a spot that was good for sun yesterday, but today I realize it would be better located closer to the lake, so have to take clothes down and move line. Aie! I erect the Tarp shelter because I may need it to shelter the laundry if it rains. By early afternoon it is 26°C and noticeably hotter, very little breeze. Two motorboats pull up to shore and I introduce myself to the family who has a cottage on this lake (to which they fly in by float plane). Thanks to Adam and his son Caden for clearing the two portage trails last year. With a smile, I mention that there are two large trees that need to be cut out with chainsaw, and the thick brush could be pruned from the trail. Shortly after they leave, a thunderstorm drives through with heavy rainfall, but I take down the laundry beforehand, a few items dry and I hang the damp clothes in the Tent, a crowded line. Now in the Tent, it is still raining at 16:30 and I ready food for fried pike supper if weather clears, fish chowder if not. The good news is the rain has cooled the temperature, and I wonder if Jeanette is getting that forecast heatwave. Finally the rain stops and late supper as planned is on at 18:25 that includes a cool beer thanks to Adam. It does rain more through the night.
June 29:
After a restful sleep, I am up at 04:00, mostly clear sky, the sun a red ball through forest fire smoke, already 22°C portending a hot day. First priority again to catch a fish for supper, I try from shore with no luck. While standing on shore, there is a big splash behind me so I think that is where I should try my next cast. But then the typical sound of blowing out of nostrils announces an otter, who I had surprised, while she surprised me. Out from shore, she kept bobbing her head above the surface, standing up in the water, a real water gymnast. In the canoe again, I try multiple spots, paddling at least half km along the mainland shore. There is one curious pike that keeps following the lure up to the canoe; I give up on him after trying several different lures, remarking with a laugh that maybe I just confused him. Then I troll back along the shore until the hook gets snagged in shallows so I have to paddle back to free the lure (easy to do when little wind like today, hard to do in a strong wind when having to paddle and reel in the line while steering the canoe). Back to where I caught the first fish a few days ago, I get a 23 inch pike; all that work and I come back to the start! At camp I hang out the damp laundry then get a bannock on fireplace to bake. Meanwhile I cut branches from a down spruce for more firewood, getting sweaty so have a bath, hanging all my clothes on the clothesline after removing most of the now dry laundry. A cold brunch at 10:30 combines late breakfast and early lunch. Soon I have a second bath. From my journal: "Now that I'm rested, I'm back to doing the original trip! Aie! With any luck will be able to wade down the connecting creeks and not have to do a lot of trail cutting and portaging." What a difference rest and food makes. By midafternoon the Tent is in full sun, very little breeze, HOT at 32°C. Thinking about Jeanette's heatwave forecast, I sure hope it is not widespread. Sitting outside wearing just my sandals on the rock point near camp, I keep moving to stay in the shade of trees. I have cleaned the gun which got damp a few days ago, fetched more firewood, prepacked some gear to move on tomorrow followed by my third bath. By 17:00 temperature is down to 29°C, hopefully a trend, so I go to the Tent to dress for supper (to be protected while at the fireplace). Thankfully the bugs have been okay, just small annoying flies. Supper at 18:20, hot and sweaty again, I have a fourth bath after chores are done; any exertion brings out sweat. Now I would like some rain to cool off! To bed at 20:30, Tent screens wide open all night.