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| Jeff's map |
There was some big wind and waves on the big lakes the first few days. The 3rd and 4th days were the longest portaging days. I was pleasantly surprised by the portages. They were not as tough as I had expected. I read somewhere that the portages on our 3rd day were tough, uphill ones. I have certainly done some tougher, more uphill ones.
I didn't outline the route on the map above, it should be fairly obvious, except for the 2nd day where we went from Manitou lake, through the lower portage (to see the pretty waterfall - it is worth the extra bit of mileage) and into North Tea Lake.
We did almost exclusively single carries on our portages with the exception of a couple of really short ones (usually under 100m). We only backtracked once when we'd dropped the safety kit off the back of the canoe. It dangles behind him as LT carries the canoe and although it was connected to the canoe very well, the bailer container managed to unscrew itself from the top. I ended up using the top as a great base for the back leg of my chair as I had lost the plastic foot a couple of trips ago. Our backtracking was for naught, it had been lost on the previous portage and wasn't noticed in time to rectify the situation.
We made an effort to remain together for this whole trip. Neither one wandered off from the other. Except when LT was scouting for a location to hang the foodstuffs away from any bears. And even then we would probably be in earshot of each other. Although it is amazing how sound does get absorbed in nature. You can be fairly close to each other, but have trouble hearing anything being said.
Weather was very cooperative. It never poured rain on us while we were travelling, maybe a few sprinkles here and there. On day 3 while we were paddling around Three Mile Lake checking out the various sites, it started to rain a bit more seriously. We were able to choose a site and set up a tarp or two before it rained a bit harder. It rained the most that night while we were in our hammocks.
Speaking of hammocks, this was our first trip with two hammocks and no tent. I miss the security of having my bodyguard right by my side, but we tried to share one tree when hanging our hammocks so we weren't far apart. I would not go camping again with my particular hammock. I would probably invest in a tent-style hammock.
It got cooler as we progressed. We had two cool overnights. I'm guessing it went down to about 6 degrees Celsius the last night. Brrrrrr!
Food-wise - we did pretty well. I started off carrying 14+ pounds of food. LT carried the fresh food, which diminishes very quickly at the beginning. I brought home two lunches (for 2), one lunch (for 1), and some bannock mix. That's pretty much it.
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| What came home with me |
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