Trip log - Cedar to Radiant: Canada Day - Day 2

Good morning, sunshine!

What a difference a day makes!

I stayed in the hammock as long as my bladder would allow me (isn't that a thought-provoking opening statement?) I got up around 8 a.m. I hadn't slept great, normally the first night is like that. I was comfortable in my hammock, warm even. I took my purple sleeping bag liner out around 3 a.m. when I got up to answer nature's call the first time. I could see the shoreline and the lake from my bag. It was relaxing and today I didn't have to go anywhere.

He's still asleep and hasn't got much clearance from the ground

I went and got the food bags down from the bear hanging spot. I made myself a couple of cups of tea by the time L.T. got up at 10. He'd had even less sleep than me the night before we left. I also attempted to wash my filthy clothes from the day before. I emptied out the small dry bag I use for my camera, filled it with lake water, some camp soap and put my shirt, pants and wool socks in it. I sat in the bug shelter and agitated the bag, jiggling it around. I dumped the water out away from the shore, rinsed my clothes and hung them on my new clothesline (I love this clothesline, I would recommend getting one). The mud stains in my shirt didn't come out. It still looked like I'd gone face first into the mud.

L.T.'s new chair

Breakfast was fresh eggs with bacon and hash browns. We did the dishes, lazed around a bit, enjoyed the breeze coming off the lake. The day was nice so far. We talked about going out for a paddle. Two-thirds of Radiant Lake is fairly shallow. At points you can stand up on sandbars in the middle. We were at the shallow end. However, in the wind, a shallow lake will get very choppy. We waited so long that the water wasn't very friendly looking anymore. Oh well. It was time to gather wood to make our steak dinner.

It did rain a little bit. But it blew through pretty quick. Fortunately L.T. had already put up a tarp over our hammocks. He put another one up to store gear under near our bug shelter. Eventually he tied it into a position to block some of the wind whipping up from the lake.

Any activity outside of the bug shelter meant lots of bugs. As much as I don't mind doing the work, I hate the bugs. I dragged one six-inch diameter deadfall tree into the campsite, used the new saw a little bit (until I nicked between my left thumb and forefinger), then retreated back into the shelter.

I started using the mosquito coils when we landed on the beach the day before. I had them in my fanny pack, mostly so they wouldn't get squished and broken. I jam a lot into my large backpack and it gets dropped a lot into the canoe and onto the shore coming in and out of the canoe.

I burned them in the mosquito shelter the whole time we were awake. I started burning one under my hammock about an hour before going to bed. As for the Thermocell? I used that inside the bug shelter. And it came with me to the thunderbox, even if that was just psychological and made me feel better. 

L.T. suggested we go to the beach and haul up a couple of dozen of the round rocks to build up the back of the fire pit. It certainly helped with the wind break. Once the fire had burned down and the coals were ready, L.T. put two foil packets of steak and two foil packets of veggies onto the grill that was at the site. Most sites have grills, although they all look like they need a good scrubbing with steel wool. 

He left everything on for slightly over an hour and it was all cooked perfectly. The steaks were so tender you could peel them apart with a tiny camp fork. The veggies were cut up white potatoes, sweet potato, baby carrots and asparagus tops. With lots of butter, of course. 

Dessert was rehydrated banana-mango fruit leather with banana pudding and dehydrated angel food cake. I don't rehydrate the cake, we just put it on top of the other mixture and mush it in. Yummy!

The last trip, and this trip, I had brought a deck of cards and the only cribbage board I have, a long, heavy wooden one. I thought we might play cribbage in the evening, but we didn't on either trip and I'm never bringing it again! Instead we sat and talked. I threatened to go to bed around 9:40, but was convinced to stay up another 45 minutes. I was so tired. Even though we didn't do much today, I was still exhausted.

My hammock

Sunset on Radiant Lake

Timetable                                   Day 1                                      Day 3

Trip log - Cedar Lake to Mink Lake: June 11 to 14, 2016 - Day 2

Sunday - Little Cauchon Lake to Laurel Lake

It had been a very blustery night. The winds sounded so strong, I was worried that we'd get blown away overnight. I didn't sleep very well with the noise waking me up every half an hour or so.

It wasn't raining, but the wind was still blowing....in our faces. It would be a tough slog to pack up and head into it to get to Mink Lake today. We've been on Mink Lake before and with the wind coming in this direction, it would be blowing directly down that lake too. 

We were staying put for the moment anyways. It didn't look like a good idea to venture out on the water.

Breakfast was made, fresh eggs with bacon and hash browns. I also made our lunch for the day in the thermoses, a new menu item. Tortilla soup with dehydrated chicken in it. 

Not a lot of flat spaces here

Not too wavy, but pretty windy still

Something pretty on the site

Shortly after 2 p.m. we made a decision. We would not press forward to Mink Lake, we would turn back and head to Laurel Lake, find a spot there, and just sit pretty for a couple of days. We did not have reservations on that lake, we were scheduled for Mink Lake for tonight and Little Cauchon again for tomorrow night. We had not encountered a single canoeist on this trip so far and tonight was Sunday. We would not be putting any other canoeists off their reserved lakes, no one else seems to be crazy enough to travel into the park when the bugs are so bad. 

Once the decision was made, we tore down and packed our gear and headed out on the lake to take advantage of the breeze that would push us down the lake. We were on the water around 3. It took very little time to be portaging back into Laurel Lake.

Coming up to the bridge

Close-up of the bridge

Loon picture

Getting ready for the short up and over portage

We checked out the first campsite, it was high up, facing the portage we were coming out of. There didn't seem to be much space and the access to it was poor. Next. At least this was a small enough lake that if we got out and inspected each spot, not happy with the last one, we could double back and go to the best spot.

We checked out the second campsite. It didn't have enough room, we could tell from the shoreline.

We checked out the third campsite. We landed and walked around it. It was nice enough, but we couldn't figure out where to place the bug shelter. The bug shelter is essential to travel in June, but it presents its own problems. We can't place it too close to the firepit if we're having a fire, it needs a relatively flat spot as we're cooking on stoves inside the shelter and we spend most of our time there when not sleeping, and we need two good trees to support it (no poles with this baby).

Next. We checked out the fourth campsite and decided to take it. There is also an island campsite, but with our experience of the wind from the previous night and possibly extending into tonight, we chose to stay out of the direct line of it. We'd covered about 6.5 km today. 

Our day's route from Little Cauchon to Laurel (source: Jeff's Maps)

Tonight we'd be having the steak dinner cooked on the fire. Once the bug shelter and hammocks were set up it would be time to get the fire going. Having a fire is a lot more work. 

The fire pit

LT built a fire after sourcing some wood in the nearby forest. Once the logs had burnt down into coals, he put on the steak and and potatoes both wrapped in foil. We were so hungry, I forgot to take a picture. Considering I had dropped my steak on the last trip, my main concern was to hold onto this one and devour it as quickly as possible. It was even more delicious than the steaks he'd made in May. Last time he let the butcher season the steaks and he'd been a bit heavy-handed. 

However, I do have pictures of the birthday cake I baked on the stove. It was a tad burnt on the bottom, but I heaped on chocolate icing I had whipped up at home to distract from the burnt part.

I'm not sure what he wished for....

Tonight was looking much better than last night. I was eager to climb into my hammock, but we didn't check in until 11 p.m. 

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