This was to potentially be our only longer term trip this season just due to a planned trip home to visit our respective families in Southern Ontario. It would have been an exploratory trip into a new lake which had kept us at bay over the past few years due to low water conditions. I had figured the water would be low considering the early melt and lack of rain but upon arrival we found the most water we had ever seen, about 2 feet higher and a solid current we would need to paddle against. This intimidated me to a degree as I knew some of the portage entrances were close to the outflows so approaches could be interesting.
At the first rapid we encountered an older gentleman on his way out who informed us there was a group of 7 guys in 3 canoes with outboards on their way upstream. We figured by the way he said it was why he was leaving and we hoped we could either catch and pass these 7 guys or they would not take our planned camp spot at the mouth of the river.
We don't normally run any rapids and looking at the first one which is pretty straight forward other than the set of standing waves that were fairly high I was thinking we might just run it on the way out. This same thought occurred to me at #3, again, a ledge to start but a straight run mostly washed out by the high water. Proximity to the road was a big part of it for me giving it merit.
It was hard work going against the current and at a few of the swifts and necked down areas we had to paddle hard to get through, one in particular was a hard fought win, under a hot sun and sometimes headwind as well. It is funny about wind and a river... although it was a south 30km wind and we were mostly going north east, the wind tends to funnel between the trees to usually present a headwind when we especially needed a tailwind.
Obviously we had to portage all the major rapids/falls where in the past we have waded up some. At the double, which is actually 3 rapids in a row, we waded up the first set to the actual portage and skipped over that point, to paddle 100 feet to the start of the second port. We found the tree with the blaze had broken in half and the top was laying directly in the path, so as I humped gear over the port, Christy took axe and bow saw to it and we cleared the path. Bothwell's $5 bow saw did very well with that log.
The alternative to wading the bottom section and doing the small double ports is to start river right well below and do about 400 paces uphill to the pool then crossing to the second port. I'll take wading any day over a longer portage. By that point anyway with the hot day the water was getting warmer to us.
Although some of these rapids may have official names, we just go by their numbered sequence and at #6 we found 3 flat back canoes with outboards clogging the entire take out area for the portage. There is a campsite here that we have used numerous times and that is where the boys were set up. First thing we saw coming up from the water was the beer can tree. They had hung a half dozen empty cans on the ends of branches and many others were strewn around on the ground. Our nice pristine wilderness river was seeing more use and every port had garbage on it. It makes one wonder about people at times.
Due to the ongoing fires in this side of the province there is a full burn ban on but as we walked past the site the boys were at they had a fire going. A bunch of drunk guys in the bush having a campfire during a fire ban.
We passed the lads without a word, we spoke none and none of them came to say hi either and as we passed by the little island just upstream they began humping their boats and motors across to the upstream side.
We just kept moving diligently, now ahead of that group and our last obstruction was just around the corner. We waded #7 on the left side and put some distance on the lads as they tried to motor up the little rapid. We could hear motors rev then fade, rev then fade for quite some time before they became quite steady behind us. They did finally pass us as we approached the lake.
We got to our spot and set up in a difficult south wind, I needed Christy's help to keep the tent from blowing into the lake. It is one of our favourite spots of anywhere we have gone. It is about 12 km from the road and the 7 portages in 9 km's usually keep most people out, or used to.
There had been some good wildlife on the way in, 2 Eagles, 4 Trumpeter Swans, Beaver, many unknown Raptors soaring lazily in the wind, Painted turtles, the Garter Snake at #3 that I had to shoo away before Christy would get out of the boat and many geese and ducks.
While Christy got dinner going I went down the shore to take some casts and landed a nice fat pickerel on the first try. In this area there is a slot limit, 18-28" fish need to be released and this one was about 21" so back it went. Within 5 casts I had another that would have made a good dinner fish, but steak was cooking already. At about this point I kept hearing a loud chirping and a gosling walked up out of the river to my feet. It kept waddling after me no matter where I walked to and when I gave up on fishing for a bit, it followed me up to the kitchen area and stayed put. When I was sitting on the rocks eating my dinner it sat under my leg and waited patiently for something. It just did not seem to want to leave even with us trying to shoo it away and after Christy finally had to pick it up and plop it back into the river, but it again came to me and followed me around.
An anomaly for us was the liquor. I had suggested several nights before departure that we take something with us and so a medium bottle of Bailey's found it's way into our kit. Christy packed it in the bottom of the soft cooler with the steak and eggs so after camp was up we had some ice cold Bailey's to savour with our fresh coffee, steak, potatoes and mushrooms.
After a little while with me ignoring it and being quiet, it wandered back to the water and swam away across the river successfully without being eaten by a hungry fish. I though nothing more of it until an hour or so later when I saw it swim back over to our side to a island of grass next to our site and there was a second abandoned gosling there as well. It wasn't too much later we saw one of them head down in the water, no longer with us in our world.
We went out for our usual evening fish and just drifted the river section in front of camp as we normally do up there and in 3 drifts caught and released 7 more pickerel, the largest we measured was 23" and of the 9 fish we caught in the evening 5 were in the slot size. I also caught two pike which is an anomaly for that system.
The lads came motoring back by after having been skunked out on the lake and they outright did not believe me when I told them I had caught one on my first cast from shore. The second boat we just told them to fish the river and we found out later they did quite well doing just that.
Ticks. By evening I had already picked 3 off me and two more were found in camp. 5 ticks on day one.
As the evening progressed the frogs got going all around us, Spring Peepers by the thousands and it was amazingly loud. With the grass lands flooded by the high water they were all talking at the same time and as it turned out, they did not stop until almost dawn.
As is typical for me when out in the bush, I needed a sleep aid, which usually would be herbal but in this case I went pharmaceutical for extra strength, ear plugs also helped in hushing the frog choir. I slept well all night but Christine tossed and turned to frog voices and the Whippoorwill which came to visit for most of the night.
The plan was to cross two large bays of the lake and continue the 12km upstream to the next lake in the system. This is where the plan fell apart. In the past couple of years I have started to have panic attacks when we make long crossings and I have many other issues I deal with on a daily basis as well which tend to crop up under times of stress when out in the woods. We could skirt the edge around the bay to get across, Christine has been very accommodating in this fashion in the past so that was possible, but it didn't get that far. I was facing two crossings in whitecaps and the potential tough slog upriver again and I had a minor melt down. Panic attack. We could still have proceeded but the what if's prevailed, as in what if we get another 12km into the bush and I can no longer function when she really needs me to. I had considered not coming in the first place, because I knew it would wreck her trip if this happened.
So, back downstream we went, initially with the thought of stopping at the camp we had stayed at in 2014 below number 6, but by the time we stopped there and had a bite to eat, somewhere in my subconscious it had been decided I needed to leave, although I was never consciously aware of it. As we rested another boat came downstream, a couple who had been at the trappers cabin on the lake, with a Honda 2hp putting them along. So, we were the only human powered craft on this river this weekend and all those people had portaged boats and motors up 7 rapids/falls. Never mind the impact on the fishing, but the 2 strokes will be polluting the river and the camp sites will be dirtier.
5 & 4 are both short but you go up and then you go down and with 5 carries it can get exhausting fast for her, Christy even had a hard time getting me to fish, not that the fish were biting anyway as a Mayfly hatch had begun. The set of rapids after 4 we ran as usual on the left side against the rock face. We know from low water trips there is a cut channel along that side where most likely First Nations peoples had cleared it to get boats laden with wild rice back down to the big lake. 3 of the rapids have those channels created for that purpose.
We did fish our way out but they weren't biting, she had gotten two earlier which she cleaned at the lunch stop but that was about it for the day.
Christy wanted to run #3 on the way out and as I had voiced the opinion the day before it might be do-able, but now it was overcast and threatening rain and I just didn't wish to risk it. Again at #1, I thought we could run it but Christy this time opted to port instead, although the port there is flat and simple whereas #3 is more challenging in an up and down way, which is much harder on Christine physically.
More ticks on the way out, Christy finally getting some, I like to share. I had been sharing the black fly and mosquito's bites already but the ticks usually prefer me. We got back to the truck around 6:30 and were on the road for 7, stopped for some first aid once we reached the main road, I had a leech between my toes and we were still removing ticks and needed to do a more thorough tick check, then got home a little after 10pm.
2 days, 10 ticks.
We talked much on the way there, while there and today at home and I will no longer be going on extended trips with Christy. In some ways it is dangerous for her considering she cannot push that hard anymore since her heart attack two years ago and the amount of effort we put out over two days on the river beat us both down into some serious pain. After some other consideration, it would be better for Christy to go out solo simply because we could not guarantee that I could function as needed should she have an issue.
I will take a leave of absence from longer trips for some time until I get my collective crap together, ha ha.
~ Those of us who are uncomfortable in the woods, sit facing them.
Those who are comfortable in the woods, sit with their backs to them. ~
Karin and Christine
At the first rapid we encountered an older gentleman on his way out who informed us there was a group of 7 guys in 3 canoes with outboards on their way upstream. We figured by the way he said it was why he was leaving and we hoped we could either catch and pass these 7 guys or they would not take our planned camp spot at the mouth of the river.
We don't normally run any rapids and looking at the first one which is pretty straight forward other than the set of standing waves that were fairly high I was thinking we might just run it on the way out. This same thought occurred to me at #3, again, a ledge to start but a straight run mostly washed out by the high water. Proximity to the road was a big part of it for me giving it merit.
It was hard work going against the current and at a few of the swifts and necked down areas we had to paddle hard to get through, one in particular was a hard fought win, under a hot sun and sometimes headwind as well. It is funny about wind and a river... although it was a south 30km wind and we were mostly going north east, the wind tends to funnel between the trees to usually present a headwind when we especially needed a tailwind.
Obviously we had to portage all the major rapids/falls where in the past we have waded up some. At the double, which is actually 3 rapids in a row, we waded up the first set to the actual portage and skipped over that point, to paddle 100 feet to the start of the second port. We found the tree with the blaze had broken in half and the top was laying directly in the path, so as I humped gear over the port, Christy took axe and bow saw to it and we cleared the path. Bothwell's $5 bow saw did very well with that log.
The alternative to wading the bottom section and doing the small double ports is to start river right well below and do about 400 paces uphill to the pool then crossing to the second port. I'll take wading any day over a longer portage. By that point anyway with the hot day the water was getting warmer to us.
Although some of these rapids may have official names, we just go by their numbered sequence and at #6 we found 3 flat back canoes with outboards clogging the entire take out area for the portage. There is a campsite here that we have used numerous times and that is where the boys were set up. First thing we saw coming up from the water was the beer can tree. They had hung a half dozen empty cans on the ends of branches and many others were strewn around on the ground. Our nice pristine wilderness river was seeing more use and every port had garbage on it. It makes one wonder about people at times.
Due to the ongoing fires in this side of the province there is a full burn ban on but as we walked past the site the boys were at they had a fire going. A bunch of drunk guys in the bush having a campfire during a fire ban.
We passed the lads without a word, we spoke none and none of them came to say hi either and as we passed by the little island just upstream they began humping their boats and motors across to the upstream side.
We just kept moving diligently, now ahead of that group and our last obstruction was just around the corner. We waded #7 on the left side and put some distance on the lads as they tried to motor up the little rapid. We could hear motors rev then fade, rev then fade for quite some time before they became quite steady behind us. They did finally pass us as we approached the lake.
We got to our spot and set up in a difficult south wind, I needed Christy's help to keep the tent from blowing into the lake. It is one of our favourite spots of anywhere we have gone. It is about 12 km from the road and the 7 portages in 9 km's usually keep most people out, or used to.
There had been some good wildlife on the way in, 2 Eagles, 4 Trumpeter Swans, Beaver, many unknown Raptors soaring lazily in the wind, Painted turtles, the Garter Snake at #3 that I had to shoo away before Christy would get out of the boat and many geese and ducks.
While Christy got dinner going I went down the shore to take some casts and landed a nice fat pickerel on the first try. In this area there is a slot limit, 18-28" fish need to be released and this one was about 21" so back it went. Within 5 casts I had another that would have made a good dinner fish, but steak was cooking already. At about this point I kept hearing a loud chirping and a gosling walked up out of the river to my feet. It kept waddling after me no matter where I walked to and when I gave up on fishing for a bit, it followed me up to the kitchen area and stayed put. When I was sitting on the rocks eating my dinner it sat under my leg and waited patiently for something. It just did not seem to want to leave even with us trying to shoo it away and after Christy finally had to pick it up and plop it back into the river, but it again came to me and followed me around.
An anomaly for us was the liquor. I had suggested several nights before departure that we take something with us and so a medium bottle of Bailey's found it's way into our kit. Christy packed it in the bottom of the soft cooler with the steak and eggs so after camp was up we had some ice cold Bailey's to savour with our fresh coffee, steak, potatoes and mushrooms.
After a little while with me ignoring it and being quiet, it wandered back to the water and swam away across the river successfully without being eaten by a hungry fish. I though nothing more of it until an hour or so later when I saw it swim back over to our side to a island of grass next to our site and there was a second abandoned gosling there as well. It wasn't too much later we saw one of them head down in the water, no longer with us in our world.
We went out for our usual evening fish and just drifted the river section in front of camp as we normally do up there and in 3 drifts caught and released 7 more pickerel, the largest we measured was 23" and of the 9 fish we caught in the evening 5 were in the slot size. I also caught two pike which is an anomaly for that system.
The lads came motoring back by after having been skunked out on the lake and they outright did not believe me when I told them I had caught one on my first cast from shore. The second boat we just told them to fish the river and we found out later they did quite well doing just that.
Ticks. By evening I had already picked 3 off me and two more were found in camp. 5 ticks on day one.
As the evening progressed the frogs got going all around us, Spring Peepers by the thousands and it was amazingly loud. With the grass lands flooded by the high water they were all talking at the same time and as it turned out, they did not stop until almost dawn.
As is typical for me when out in the bush, I needed a sleep aid, which usually would be herbal but in this case I went pharmaceutical for extra strength, ear plugs also helped in hushing the frog choir. I slept well all night but Christine tossed and turned to frog voices and the Whippoorwill which came to visit for most of the night.
The plan was to cross two large bays of the lake and continue the 12km upstream to the next lake in the system. This is where the plan fell apart. In the past couple of years I have started to have panic attacks when we make long crossings and I have many other issues I deal with on a daily basis as well which tend to crop up under times of stress when out in the woods. We could skirt the edge around the bay to get across, Christine has been very accommodating in this fashion in the past so that was possible, but it didn't get that far. I was facing two crossings in whitecaps and the potential tough slog upriver again and I had a minor melt down. Panic attack. We could still have proceeded but the what if's prevailed, as in what if we get another 12km into the bush and I can no longer function when she really needs me to. I had considered not coming in the first place, because I knew it would wreck her trip if this happened.
So, back downstream we went, initially with the thought of stopping at the camp we had stayed at in 2014 below number 6, but by the time we stopped there and had a bite to eat, somewhere in my subconscious it had been decided I needed to leave, although I was never consciously aware of it. As we rested another boat came downstream, a couple who had been at the trappers cabin on the lake, with a Honda 2hp putting them along. So, we were the only human powered craft on this river this weekend and all those people had portaged boats and motors up 7 rapids/falls. Never mind the impact on the fishing, but the 2 strokes will be polluting the river and the camp sites will be dirtier.
5 & 4 are both short but you go up and then you go down and with 5 carries it can get exhausting fast for her, Christy even had a hard time getting me to fish, not that the fish were biting anyway as a Mayfly hatch had begun. The set of rapids after 4 we ran as usual on the left side against the rock face. We know from low water trips there is a cut channel along that side where most likely First Nations peoples had cleared it to get boats laden with wild rice back down to the big lake. 3 of the rapids have those channels created for that purpose.
We did fish our way out but they weren't biting, she had gotten two earlier which she cleaned at the lunch stop but that was about it for the day.
Christy wanted to run #3 on the way out and as I had voiced the opinion the day before it might be do-able, but now it was overcast and threatening rain and I just didn't wish to risk it. Again at #1, I thought we could run it but Christy this time opted to port instead, although the port there is flat and simple whereas #3 is more challenging in an up and down way, which is much harder on Christine physically.
More ticks on the way out, Christy finally getting some, I like to share. I had been sharing the black fly and mosquito's bites already but the ticks usually prefer me. We got back to the truck around 6:30 and were on the road for 7, stopped for some first aid once we reached the main road, I had a leech between my toes and we were still removing ticks and needed to do a more thorough tick check, then got home a little after 10pm.
2 days, 10 ticks.
We talked much on the way there, while there and today at home and I will no longer be going on extended trips with Christy. In some ways it is dangerous for her considering she cannot push that hard anymore since her heart attack two years ago and the amount of effort we put out over two days on the river beat us both down into some serious pain. After some other consideration, it would be better for Christy to go out solo simply because we could not guarantee that I could function as needed should she have an issue.
I will take a leave of absence from longer trips for some time until I get my collective crap together, ha ha.
~ Those of us who are uncomfortable in the woods, sit facing them.
Those who are comfortable in the woods, sit with their backs to them. ~
Karin and Christine
