Trip Log - Day 1: Cedar Lake to Carl Wilson, June 2015

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Happy Birthday, LT!  We both booked Friday off and were headed up to the Brent access point.  LT made the reservations online and was surprised at how little company we would have.  No one else would be on Carl Wilson Lake the first night and only one other campsite was booked for the night we were going to be staying on Cedar Lake. 

The plan was to leave by 6 a.m.  That was the plan in order to get a quicker start on the day.  But the birthday boy had trouble getting his butt out of bed.  I showed up promptly at 5:30 and he tried to act like he hadn’t just rolled out of bed. Ha!

My breakfast strategy to accommodate the earlier planned departure time was to make egg salad the night before, put it into flour tortillas that morning, and just make tea to drink in the car on the drive with the sandwiches.  I had also filled the car with gas the night before in a torrential downpour to avoid having to stop for gas.

We missed the plan by half an hour, which wasn’t too bad.  We left at 6:30 a.m. and were at the permit office around 10 a.m.  It took another half an hour to get to the access point and half an hour again to unpack the car, load the canoe, and get it ready to launch.  There were only 3 other cars in the parking lot, the quietest I’ve ever seen that access point.

The thermometer display in my car had climbed to 14 from 12 degrees Celsius.  The sun was out, there were puffy clouds in the sky and the wind had subsided from 5:30 this morning where the trees were waving around quite noticeably.

More important than anything else Cedar Lake was playing nice this morning.  We would not be impeded by any wind or waves while we headed to the top of the lake.  I have a lot of respect for the bigger lakes.  You can’t count that the going will be easy or even reasonable. 

Brent Access Point - Gorgeous Day!

 We made good progress, starting on the North shore crossing the lake after about 15 minutes of paddling.  We passed close to a small island that was obviously claimed by seagulls.  They decided we were a risk to their kingdom and decided to fly around us, squawking loudly, trying to deter us away from their nesting grounds.  It was pretty funny mostly because none of them pooped on us.  They got braver as we moved further away.  Very much the bravado of the posturing bully when he realizes you’re not going to fight him.

We made it to the island at the top of the lake with a campsite and a chimney on it.  There obviously had been some sort of structure here at some point.  We stopped for lunch.  The paddle to get this far had taken a couple of hours.  We had a really good lunch this time mostly because there was no bread.  Cold meats, salami, cheese cut up and fruit (grapes, apple, and pear).  The site is really nice you have a view as far as you can see down Cedar Lake.  The site gets a lot of visitors by the looks of it.

Lunch Stop

LT turned to me and said “Guess what I forgot? I forgot dinner.”  I didn’t believe him.  He had made chilli earlier in the week, carefully selecting ingredients like hot Italian sausage.  He had frozen our portion and it got forgotten in the freezer.  We keep trying to cut down on the amount of food we’re bringing.  We always seem to bring some food back.  This trip we may not have much coming back.

Continuing on we set off through a small channel into Little Cedar Lake.  At the top of that lake you’re into a small river flowing out of Aura Lee.  It has a bit of a curve and you have to paddle under a cement train bridge that is a bit dark.  It has two openings but only one is passable.  

Train Bridge - going into Aura Lee Lake

There are a couple of campsites on Aura Lee.  At the top of the lake there is a creek dropping in, the portage we were taking was to the left of that.  345m. There’s not much of an incline on this portage.  It has round rocks as the base in a lot of spots you need to step carefully.  We did this as a double carry as it wasn’t very far.

The next lake is Laurel Lake and it has 5 campsites.  The first one we encountered is an island site, it looks nice.  The other 4 are along the top border of the lake and we didn’t pass very close to them.  As we were going around the corner to left of the lake we could hear water falling, but we couldn’t see the source.  I’m always wary around rushing water I would never want to propel myself over any waterfall!  When we found it we could see it was falling into the lake from a source with jammed logs.  There’s a dam there, but I’m not sure how far up the creek it is.  It is very pretty, surrounded by forest, you just get a peek at it.

Pretty Watefall - sounded scary from afar

The 130m portage was just to the right of the waterfall.  This portage was very uphill.  Even though it wasn’t far it was still challenging.  On our way in we did this as a double carry.  I was breathing very heavily after carrying my bag up the portage.  We put in at the bottom of Little Cauchon Lake.  Shortly after that we paddled under the second train bridge.  It is made of wood with only one of the four spots under the bridge passable.  It looks like this was opened specifically for canoe travel.  Also motorboats are allowed on this lake.

Train Bridge #2

We didn’t have to go far before reaching our last portage of the day, 1070m.  I bet in the fall this is a really lovely portage.  As you follow a slight climb with plenty of well-maintained boardwalks, a burbling creek tumbles down the terrain by the trail.  However in June there are hoards of blood-sucking insects just waiting for you to come by.  I had taken off my hoodie, I had on a long-sleeved white Columbia t-shirt with long pants, a bandana on the back of my neck, full gloves, and my bug hat.  The shirt is snug.  I got my backpack on, put my gloved hands into the harnesses of my trekking poles and set down the trail.  LT was doing a single carry on this one.  I was miserable.  The mosquitoes were biting me through my shirt in places I couldn’t reach even when I took my hand out of one of my hiking pole harnesses to swat at them. 

There is a canoe rest about halfway through this portage, I didn’t even see it on our first trip through here.  The map says there’s a spring there as well.  I was walking head down, arms flailing, lips swearing, trying to make record time through this torture.

The launch site at the end of the portage is decent. We were in a narrow section of the lake before it twists to the right and opens up.  It’s a pretty lake made prettier by the lovely sunny day we were having.  It’s obvious where the hardwood trees are on the West side of the lake.  We had already paddled by the first campsite next to a portage sign on the East side of the lake.  We landed at the next campsite on the West side to check it out. 

We were travelling with 3 structures on this trip.  The tent, the mosquito shelter and LT’s birthday present, a brand new Hennessy Hammock.  We didn’t need a flat spot to put the hammock, but the site was a bit hilly.  I was tired by now and even though it’d be nice to stop, being in the shade made the mosquitoes more annoying.  We pressed on.

The next campsite had potential.  It is on the East side.  The map showed another campsite close by so we went to check that one out.  It was around a point into a bay that was a bit marshy.  We went back to the previous site.  It turned out to be really nice.  The put-in wasn’t too bad, the site faced west, we were going to have a great sunset. 

Carl Wilson Lake

Priorities: the mosquito shelter went up first.  I started putting the tent up, although usually LT does it.  It’s his tent.  I set up right up front against the shore.  I had an unobstructed view of the lake.  The tent is a really nice one, it has doors on both sides which works really well when you’re sharing it.

Getting Settled In

The mosquito tent was just behind me and LT was setting up his hammock between two trees a bit further back on the site in amongst the bugs.  He didn’t try it out beforehand at home, this was his initial attempt at hanging it.  It’s an asymmetrical shape, a parallelogram.  I had purchased a set of snake skins which he chose to use with the fly instead of the hammock itself.  We put the fly up first.  Then we put up the hammock but it didn’t seem right.  It took two tries.  He spun the hammock 180 degrees.  He had to do the same for the fly, but only 90 degrees.  He had to take the snake skins off the fly and put them on the other ends. 

He will do a gear review at some point about the hammock with more information. 

Carl Wilson tucks us in

Dinner was late, we ate at 8 p.m.  We repurposed the next day’s lunch to be tonight's dinner.  We had Kraft Dinner with chicken pepperettes cut up and mixed in.  Dessert was pineapple pudding cake.  We had chocolate for an evening snack.  LT remembered his night caps and I had some Camino dark hot cocoa.  The sunset was awesome and the moon even more gorgeous.

I slept terribly.  It was the quietest night I’ve ever spent camping.  There were no leaves rustling, no waves lapping, no animals making any noise.  However it was chilly.  I hadn’t packed any extra warm clothing.  It probably went down to 9 degrees overnight.  Part of it was being in the tent alone.  I realize now that my air mattress is a narrow one.  LT has a much bigger one as he is so tall.  Both mattresses fill the bottom of the floor of the tent.  I never realized how much I spilled over onto his side during the night.

Trip Log - Day 3: Grand Lake to Clemow Lake and back (Victoria Day Weekend 2014)

go to Prologue     go to Day 1     go to Day 2     Day 3

We had planned on being up and out early the next morning.  I got up at 7:30 but let LT sleep.  His blue foam mattress wasn’t really that comfy, so as I left the tent I suggest he roll over onto mine.  He eventually did and slept until 9.

Clemow Lake Morning Mirror

Breakfast was blueberry pancakes, real maple syrup, more bacon and hot tea.  We packed up, headed out and crossed the lake in no time.  The portage was not difficult, by now we had walked it multiple times.  We saw a younger man at the portage end.  It wasn’t the couple from Clemow Lake.  He was wearing only shorts and watershoes (I still had long pants, long sleeves, a jacket and hat on), had a full face beard with an afro, and had been carrying a heavy canoe pack.  It looked like he’d just jumped in the lake to cool down (that would be a very cold cooling down for sure).  Then he headed back up to the train track and we were setting into the water.  We were back in Grand Lake and faced a 2 hour paddle to the Achray campsite.  LT was looking forward to the little ride we would get passing underneath the train bridge.  That marked about 1/3 of the trip done. 

Shortly after we passed under the bridge we could hear a constant noise behind us.  An aluminum motor boat came into view.  

The man we had seen was sitting in the front, an older man, grey hair sticking out from under his baseball cap at the back.  They were motoring along with what looked like a 5hp motor and were towing a canoe.  Okay, we’d seen the motorboat, the motor was probably underneath it.  But these guys weren’t in Clemow Lake, they weren’t in Grand Lake, they would have to have been up that high trail going to Green Leaf Lake.  I couldn’t imagine the older guy carrying the canoe down that trail.  I couldn’t imagine him just walking the trail.  They were close enough behind us that the canoe had to have been not too far away from the portage end point.  A mystery for sure.

We went that-a-way!

We made good time to the Achray campground.  We weren’t the only ones coming in.  The narrow roadway to the wharf and the beach were crowded with various campers arriving.  The Victoria Day weekend is indeed a popular time for everyone to come out and get back to the camping they’ve been thinking about all winter!

Epilogue

Once home and looking over Jeff’s map, I came to the conclusion that the mystery team may have used the train track to get to an older, traditional portage that wove more accurately through the hills to Carcajou Lake.  I thought with the lack of foliage, it would be easier to find and follow.  But, alas, we’ll never know.

Our next trip was an overnighter at Sec Lake.

Trip Log - Day 2: Grand Lake to Clemow Lake and back (Victoria Day Weekend 2014)

go to Prologue     go to Day 1     Day 2     go to Day 3

The day dawned sunny and not so windy.  The temperature was nice, the bugs, again, not so bad.  We had breakfast of fresh eggs and pre-cooked bacon heated up.  We lingered over a hot cup of tea, then we packed up the campsite.  We launched to do the short paddle to the portage sign we had walked to the previous evening.  Strange site at the portage, an overturned aluminum boat.  Hmmmm, I’m not sure why that was there.

Morning Calm Grand Lake - Portage in the Distance

We carried the bags to Clemow Lake, LT went back for the canoe.  The put-in was a bit dicey, rocky, swampy and logs around the shore.  The current flowed towards this side of the lake, we could hear the water nearby dropping the 4 metres into Grand Lake.  Later on, when the wind was really quiet we would be able to hear that from our campsite on Clemow, a large sucking noise instead of a water cascading sound.

We did not see the other couple leave and knew that if the first campsite was open, it was the one we would have to take.  We got to it, it was empty, we landed and unloaded the canoe.  The site was the least nicest site I had seen to-date.  It is a rocky mound with dead trees all around the shoreline.  Many of them had black charring, which made it look like lightning had a party there at one point.  The shoreline was not mucky, but it wasn’t dry either.  I observed that the site looked like a sprained ankle waiting to happen. 

Water's Edge at the Campsite

We didn’t set camp up, we had plans to go for a hike over the long portage up to Green Leaf Lake.  We packed some lunch (smoked salmon and cream cheese wraps).  I had found an organic recipe for granola for the dehydrator that was so delicious, we had trouble not eating it before leaving on our camping trip.  I added to it some dried bananas, pineapple and of course, some chocolate M&Ms.  We had some of that with us as well.

We canoed back across Clemow and after making sure our canoe was out of the way, we set out on the portage that would intersect with the 5 KM+ trail to Green Leaf.  By now it was after lunch and we should have probably stopped and eaten.  But eager to try the trail and get to the apex, which was going to be a pretty high climb, off we went.  At first it was a decent trail through the forest, but soon it came out into the open by the hydro line.  And it went up.  And up. And up.  The trail by the hydro line wove in and out of the towers, and was mostly a stream with broken edged path that was either split or crossed by the spring run-off.

Elevation at Grand Lake is 221m, the portage starting point is 228m, the apex of the trail is 401m, Green Leaf is at 257m.  The apex of the trail is past the mid-point.  I was tired from the previous night’s lack of sleep.  I was hungry.  I wasn’t doing well with the big climb.  The trail goes back into the woods before the apex.  As we walked up the trail I started telling the Little Mermaid story, which I’m sure confused LT.  Finally when I got to the point where she exchanges her mermaid tail for human legs, I said this is why I’m telling this story.  When she started walking every step was extremely painful.  My feet were killing me, and my knees.  I had made the climb and we were starting down the trail.  I had to call “uncle”.  I didn’t think I’d be able to go down the trail, then back up it, then down the part we’d done already.  And I was positive he didn’t want to have to carry me.  We turned around and tried to find a decent place to have lunch.  It was a bit buggy in the woods, so we waited until we got to the open hillside with the hydro towers.  It took quite a bit of time to find a flat enough spot to sit down.  Lunch was delicious, but it was too late.  I really bonked.  I was so disappointed in myself.  First the bad sleep, then the horribly weak feeling of not having another drop of energy.

It was so steep!

We eventually made it down the hill, back to the canoe, onto the lake, then it started to get choppy and it rained on the way to the campsite.  Sigh.  We landed at the campsite and I apologized, but I just had to lie down.  I got my mattress out, inflated it, and lay there helplessly as LT set up camp.

Ankle-twister Campsite on Clemow Lake

Dinner that night was:  ummm, not sure with fruit crisp for dessert.  We set up a tarp for a windbreak near the campfire (I can’t remember if we had a fire or not, I’m thinking not).  We didn’t have a flat enough spot to set up the bug shelter.  The thunderbox was flipped over at this spot as well, but into a swamp, so we would not have that luxury here. 

Unafraid Loon

While puttering around after dinner, I heard a huge kerplunk and noticed concentric rings right near the water’s edge.  A loon popped up only a few feet away from us.  I grabbed my camera and got some really nice shots.

Bedtime was earlier, probably around 10.  I slept much better, I was exhausted.  Around 4:30 a.m. it was probably the coldest of the whole trip.  I was warm and toasty though.  At 6:30 a.m. a very large bird sounded like it was going to attack us.  It was flying low, flapping it’s huge wings and squawking loudly.  We weren’t prepared to go into the cold to see what it was, but it woke both of us.

Evening Calm - Clemow Lake

Trip Log - Day 1: Grand Lake to Clemow Lake and back (Victoria Day Weekend 2014)

go to Prologue      Day 1       go to Day 2        go to Day 3

We planned to set out from Ottawa on Saturday morning, aiming to be at the outfitters at 8 a.m. when they opened.  The alarm went off at 5 a.m.  It took a while to get out of bed.  We took turns prepping stuff, packing the cold items, making tea for the road, cooking up eggs for wraps to eat in the car, feeding the cats.  No showering, no hair washing, no perfume and I think LT doesn’t even use deodorant while out in the woods.  We were anticipating that the blackflies would be out and very hungry.  I wasn’t looking forward to several days without washing my hair.  I have very fine hair, it looks limp pretty quickly when I skip a hair-washing day.

It took us longer than we expected to get out the door, we were off schedule by 45 minutes, but arrived at the outfitters at 8:15.  We stopped at the Sand Lake gate to get our permit and some wood.  Our previous experience showed us that Grand Lake may start out like glass in the morning, but quickly ruffles as the wind picks up in the morning.  We got to Access Point 22 at the Achray campground and joined the others setting off.  Fortunately there’s quite a bit of space at this access point.  We were on the water before 10 a.m., however the ruffles were working their way up into waves, not whitecaps, but as we cut into them, my nerves were jangling.  I sit at the front of the canoe and had a real sense of how much the canoe was bobbing.  

Looking up Grand Lake

After about 20 minutes of paddling, my nerves calmed down, but didn’t disappear.  After half an hour we stopped at an empty camp site to have our lunch of fresh sandwiches, cut fruit and delicious cheese.   The rest of our meals would be from dehydrated foods, except for tomorrow’s breakfast of eggs and bacon.

After lunch we got back into the canoe and continued up the lake.  There is an abandoned rail bridge about 2/3 up the lake.  No biggie.  However it was a strange configuration.  The bridge had been built on ground extended into the lake and the opening was only about 12-15 feet wide.  The lake is pinched into this space and there seems to be a drop of about a foot.  We had to navigate the middle of the opening, avoiding rocks and climbing up the drop.  I got a little freaked after two failed attempts.  Being at the front gives me a different perspective and I’m working on building my confidence in the canoe after having had bad experience.  Third time was the charm as LT talked me through it.  Holy crap I had to paddle with every ounce of strength I had!

We had chosen a campsite that jutted out on a little promontory, we thought it would give us some great sun in the morning.  Ah, but we were not the first ones to arrive.  It was occupied.  I voted for the site closest to the portage at the top of the lake.  I would do anything to avoid having to cross the windy lake.  It seemed like those last few kilometers were the longest.  We came around the bay, spying the portage, but not seeing the site until the last minute.  It looked good.  We landed.

We'll take it!

On the plus side, there was a breeze keeping the bugs off.  On the negative side, there was a breeze that required a good jacket and helped me to burn a lot of calories over the next 18 hours trying to keep warm.  The site is really nice, the trees have some major spikes in them, railroad spikes.  I feel very sorry for the trees and I would never hammer either spikes or nails into them.  However, I was happy to use the ones that were already there.  There was a chest high table built between two trees that was perfect to use for a kitchen.  There was a great flat spot for the tent.

Cozy Comfort

I’m all about making this experience as pleasant as possible.  In anticipation of hoards of blood sucking insects, I had invested in the Eureka! Bug Shelter and Tarp (VCS).  We put that tent up as well.  Then we took it down and moved it to a different spot.  Turns out, we never used it at all.  I’m starting to call it our “Bug Insurance”.  Erect the thing and the bugs bugger off!

Bug Insurance

We had hauled a bag of wood from the park gate, LT was planning on a great campfire that night.  Originally to scare the bugs off, but with the evening breeze, albeit a bit less stiff, the fire would be mostly for pleasure.

Warmth

Dinner was pasta with spaghetti sauce and various dehydrated veggies (mushrooms, celery, corn, peas) and dehydrated ground sirloin.  LT made some savoury bannock, which I had added oregano and parmesan cheese to.  We both have Whisperlite stoves, their simmering properties are limited, we’re going to have to hone our bannock skills.  Dessert was dried angel food cake chunks with rehydrated strawberries in warm syrup and chocolate sauce (made right in baggie and drizzled on top).

I had explored around our campsite, okay, yeah, I was looking for the thunderbox, and discovered the abandoned track behind our site as well as the ruins, which were just four log-type lumps on the ground completely covered with moss and growth.  When LT had assessed the site earlier, he had found the thunderbox turned over.  It looked like a bear had flipped it, probably looking for food someone had thrown down there.  He flipped it back over for me, he’s so thoughtful!  After dinner I suggested we walk the track to the portage site, then walk the portage to see what the next day held.  We did the walk and it was rather pleasant.  The track smells strongly of creosote.  There was relatively fresh bear scat, both between the campsite and the thunderbox, and along the track.  The portage was really a forest road.  The put-in at Clemow Lake looked a bit swampy, but we’d manage.  There’s a drop between the two lakes, nothing major for the portage walk, but a nice sound at the top where the water flows from Clemow into Grand.

The following picture (from Jeff’s maps) shows our campsite on Grand Lake, with the ruins behind the site, and the train track, leading to the portage, over to Clemow Lake.  Also circled is the campsite we had the following night.

Our home for 2 nights

That afternoon we had seen another couple canoe to the portage and with only two sites on Clemow Lake, we knew we would not be able to choose the next day which site we would take.

Sunset top of Grand Lake - hydro tower visible

Thursday night I hadn’t slept well at home.  I drank some pop late at night forgetting there was caffeine in it.  Friday night was spent at LT’s, it’s very comfortable, but combined with the early wake-up call and Christmas-Eve-like nerves, I didn’t sleep well again.  And the wind blew and blew and blew Saturday night.  I wriggled and wriggled (usually I toss and turn, but in a sleeping bag in a small tent I need to alter my movements).  I had worn a long sleeved cotton shirt to bed with underwear and socks.  I have a Chinook sleeping bag that zippers from the hip up to the top, however it is like a jacket zipper.  I had pulled the zipper up without engaging it with the opposite set of teeth.  My bag wasn’t closed as I thought it was.  LT had given me one of his precious silky Ranger blankets.  I had placed it on top of my silky sleeping bag.  But two silks make a “Not”.  The slippery Ranger blanket had slid to one side where it had zero contact with me.

Finally at 2 a.m., still awake, I was like an overtired 3 year old, I was beside myself.  I sat up in the tent (one cannot stand in it), and burst into tears.  LT awoke as I sobbed that I was “soooooooooosooooooooosoooooo cold” and “soooooooosoooooosoooooo tired”.  My twisted logic then stated that I would never make a soldier.   It only took a few minutes before I gathered my dignity and fished out my fleece shirt and put that on.  Then I put the Ranger blanket inside the sleeping bag.  And I figured out how to properly zip up my sleeping bag.  With LT curled up behind me, I finally fell asleep.  The next day when I apologized, I noted to him that in almost one year of knowing each other it had been the first time he’d seen me cry.  He responded that technically it was dark so he hadn’t actually seen me cry.  Yeah, he knows how to make me feel better. 

Trip Log - Prologue: Grand Lake to Clemow Lake and back (Victoria Day Weekend 2014)

Prologue      go to Day 1       go to Day 2        go to Day 3

Something very exciting happened this spring while planning for our first trip of the year, I discovered the concept of “dehydrating” food.  After various Googling exercises, we were at Canadian Tire looking at a dehydrator.  As we hummed and hawed over it, LT found the exact same appliance at Walmart for $15 less.  Please look the other way as you picture us traipsing over to that place that shall not be named.  I really try to never shop there, but occasionally exceptions are made.

There were several on the shelf, I grabbed one and opened the box.  In order to buy the tray liners (two different types, one is a ‘screen’ for smaller items like blueberries, the other a solid liner for fruit leathers and other liquids, I would have to mail away to the distributor in Montreal.  Okay, I could do that.  We decided to scour the shelves to see if anything else could be substituted for the liners.  Someone had fortunately lost interest in an art supply and dropped it in our vicinity.  It was plastic mesh meant to be used for needlepoint.  Perfect!  At $2.65 even if it failed, oh well.  I brought it home and promptly cut it to fit the circular trays and pre-tested it in the oven at 150 degrees Fahrenheit (better to melt there over a cookie sheet than in the new dehydrator).  It didn’t melt!

Oh the Googling that ensued!  I purchased a cookbook online.  I bought one at Chapters. I mailed away and received two fruit leather trays and two mesh trays.  I scoured many websites, watched plenty of Youtube videos and jumped into my own dehydrating adventure.  We even sampled some of the recipes at home so we’d know if they were good or not.

I will provide more details on what I learned, what works, and what’s delicious elsewhere.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited to bring my newfound food skills into the field.

While waiting for camping season to open up, we had done a lot of planning and purchased equipment here and there.  We had added the following to our kit:

•         Gravity water filtration system (Platypus)
•         Steripen (for the nasty germs)
•         Eureka! camping mattress for me (narrow)
•         2^nd Whisperlite stove
•         2 new backpacks from MEC
•         Couple of drybags and compression sacks

Reservations were made, this would be our first 2-night trip to the park.  The official ice-out date this year was as late as May 7^th.  To be honest, this is based on the largest lake, Opeongo, the ice was probably gone on Grand Lake and Clemow Lake earlier than that.  But I was still nervous about being on water that is so cold.  I had heard the following rule: 1-10-1.  One minute to control your breathing when you get dumped into the cold water, ten minutes to get to safety, after that your limbs would no longer perform the commands sent from your brain, and one hour until hypothermia sets in.  I have been in ice cold water, it’s very scary.  I was nervous.  Also Grand Lake is bigger than any of the lakes we had been on so far together for any extended period of time.  The wind would be blowing in our faces as we paddled up the 11+ km to the top of the lake.

Rental canoe with new gear

go to Day 1       go to Day 2        go to Day 3

Trip Log - Day 3: Grand Lake to Upper Spectacle Lake; in to Little Carcajou Lake and Return (Victoria Day Weekend 2015)

go to Day 1                go to Day 2              Day 3

I woke up very early and opened the tent to see mist hanging over the lake.  I was tempted to get up and take pictures, but I was tired so I just went back to sleep.  When we finally did get up the lake was like glass.

The beaver wasn’t shy.  He was swimming around his bay early the next morning.  Breakfast today was pancakes with dried blueberries in them.  And this is where I finally realized I had forgotten something – the maple syrup for the pancakes.  We ended up putting extra butter on, sprinkling white sugar on top, with some cinnamon.  They were almost as yummy as they would have been with maple syrup.  And we ate the last of the bacon.

Mr. Beaver's Den

We packed up camp.  We were on the water by 10.  It took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to do the portage.  It was 20 minutes less than on the way in, but those 20 minutes were spent by LT cutting back the tree that had been blocking the trail.  When we were paddling through the pond we saw a pair of turtles out sunning on a log in the middle of the pond.  One was shy and slipped into the water but the other turtle didn’t budge.

Dam on the other side of the lake

It was nice to have the hardest portage of the day done first.  The rest of the trip felt leisurely.  There were campers on both sites on Upper Spectacle Lake – and they knew each other.  There were about 10 tents pitched in total for the 2 sites.  Lots of people.  Lower Spectacle had 2 canoes out floating around, both campsites were occupied.  Again, each campsite had a large number of people.

We got to the top of Carcajou Bay, the easy put-in on the smooth rock.  However, there was a crowd of people, adults and children, all spread out sitting on the rock.  And no one was moving to give us much space to land the canoe.  Someone had a dog.  That wasn’t the worst of it.  When we got to the other end there were 4 kayaks and 2 canoes all tied up at the small put-in, making a tricky move even more difficult to accomplish.

It was the same story at the next portage.  Somewhat fewer people, a dog not on a leash, and a canoe completely across the spot we needed to launch from.  We learned a valuable lesson that day.  If we want to avoid seeing people, don’t camp near here.

LT lost his footing on the very last put-in into Grand Lake and got both feet soaking wet right up to the knees.  What I forgot to mention is that today was a gorgeous blue-sky day and warm.  Once we were in the canoe he took his shirt off and I took off my long-sleeved beige shirt to my t-shirt. 

We were in no hurry and took advantage of the time to hug the shore on our right to check out the campsites there.  I predict that we will never use one of these sites – too many people.  The campsites are pretty trampled and worn.  We commented on the portage exit we missed the first time on this lake together as we paddled by it.  We crossed to the final beach point where we were taking out the canoe.  It was nice to be here on a day that was quieter as everyone else is staying one more night. 

Things we learned on this trip?  Take the saw when doing a hike to check out a portage to get rid of the blow downs while not loaded up.  And don’t bother going to the campsites in the Carcajou Falls area if we want some peace, quiet and isolation.  Ain’t gonna happen.  Especially on a long weekend.

We skipped breaking open the bags to make KD for lunch at Achray.  Dealing with the dirty dishes alone isn’t worth it.  Instead we hightailed it for the first chip wagon we could find and I drank not one, but TWO cans of Coke!

The car was making some funny noise when we got home.  I brought it to my mechanic and had to replace a broken link in the back end (well, the parts come in a pair, I think – he replaced both).  $214 later.....that dirt road is hard on the car.

Little Carcajou Lake

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Trip Log - Day 2: Grand Lake to Upper Spectacle Lake; in to Little Carcajou Lake and Return (Victoria Day Weekend 2015)

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I woke up early.  The birds in Algonquin don’t realize we’re not keeping office hours!  I unzipped the tent and the fly to see if the sun was shining.  It wasn’t, but it wasn’t bad, just slightly overcast, not threatening.

Breakfast was fresh eggs and pre-cooked bacon reheated and tea.  The eggs we put on English muffins with some shredded cheese string.  Today’s snack was granola with raisins, pineapples and walnuts tossed in.  LT’s version had dehydrated bananas in it as well.

Our neighbours were up and out earlier than us.  They passed us, 2 canoes, 3 men.

We packed up and were on the water by about 10.  It took us 2 hours to do the portage.  LT spent 20 minutes cutting the blow-down tree at the beginning.  I walked ahead, dropped my bag and walked back.  I had my trekking poles.  These are imperative for me to have a successful long portage.  I should have had them on my hike the previous day, but you know, we were just having a peek at the next campsite. 

We stopped several times to catch our breath.  We were very happy to launch the canoe into the beaver pond, it was actually a pretty pond.  I don’t have any pictures from this section of travel. I had my large DSLR camera.  The day before, I had dangled it off my large backpack.  Today it was packed deep into my bag.

We pulled the canoe out of the pond, had a break then eagerly started the last 10 minutes that seemed to take more like 20 minutes when we were fully loaded.  We got the canoe into Little Carcajou Lake and started to look for the sole campsite on the lake.  We found a pile of rocks that looked like a fire pit, but no campsite sign.  We continued to the end of the lake where the portage is for the next lake (Wenda).  That sign was sitting on a post sticking out of the water.  There had been a ranger cabin here at one point.  We couldn’t tell where it had been.  We doubled back to our single option. 

There had been a campsite sign here at one point

Once we landed and looked around we realized that we were in the right place.  There were 4 orange corners still nailed on the tree – just no sign.  And our 4 friends from the previous day had left a long length of bright yellow nylon rope tangled in a tree.  Probably their unsuccessful attempt at a bear bag tie up.  LT spent a few minutes getting it out of the tree.  The fire pit was still smoldering from the fire the previous tenants hadn’t full extinguished.

There was no thunderbox to be found anywhere here.  We both looked for it.  The campsite was very hilly.  It was tough to make a final decision as to where the tent would be pitched.  LT picked one, set up the tent and I set up the hammock between two trees on top of a grassy hill leading to the water.  If I fell out I would roll down right into the lake. 

My hammock

Lunch was rice with salsa and vegetables.  All dehydrated food.

Nap time was scheduled.  I had set up some of the yellow nylon rope as a puller for the hammock from a third tree.  Sweet!

Settling in at Little Carcajou Lake

Dinner was a bit more complicated I made raised pizza dough using yeast.  I don’t even make this kind of dough at home.  Last year I was using an envelope mix that I’d been looking for but had not yet found this year in any grocery store.  LT made a fire, we used a rock on the side to set the pot and get the dough rising.  It easily more than doubled in size.  I punched it down and manipulated into a buttered fry pan.  I had been rehydrating the pizza sauce in one baggie and the veggies in another one.  Cut-up turkey pepperettes were the protein, along with bacon, and more shredded cheese strings.  I put the lid on the fry pan and put it on a rack over the fire embers.  I have an “oven” which is really just a special fabric dome.  I put that over the fry pan and we left it on the fire for about 20-25 minutes.

The pizza turned out pretty good.  It was slightly burnt on the bottom – but not much.  Dessert was my first attempt at a pineapple upside down cake.  It is made from dehydrated: pineapples and angel food cake.  I made milk with powder and cold water, which I then mixed instant vanilla pudding into.  It turned out pretty delicious and will go into regular rotation as a dessert option for future trips.

As we settled into the tent for the night, the spring peepers were again in full song.  Although later on, around 11, there seemed to be only one lone peeper still singing.  I guess all his buddies found themselves a girlfriend for the night.  Shortly afterwards another one joined him, but he seemed off-key, like he’d came back for seconds.

I have a 2 litre Platypus water filtration system with both a filter and a carbon filter and it has 2 bags, one for dirty water, one for clean.  I have a second filter in case the first filter doesn’t work.  LT also has a Steripen, which we use on the filtered water to kill any germs specifically the one that causes “beaver fever”.  On this lake we had 2 beaver dens that we could see – one was in the bay right by our campsite.  He came out to inspect our campsite when we were in the tent that night.  At least we surmised it was him.  As we were lying there in the dark the whole frame of the dome tent moved like something had landed on it falling from the tree, or something tripped over the frame on the edge outside.  We lay there frozen for a while.  Shortly after that the paddles were rattled.  They were stored under the overturned canoe.  I teased LT that the beaver would take his paddle as it’s much nicer than my cheap lacquered $24 one.  His is oiled and would be much tastier.  Luckily the next morning both paddles were there waiting for us with no teeth marks.

I did get up to look around the campsite in the dark to see if there was anything disturbed and there wasn’t.

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Trip Log - Day 1: Grand Lake to Upper Spectacle Lake; in to Little Carcajou Lake and Return (Victoria Day Weekend 2015)

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This trip was the first one for 2015 and the first one in the new canoe.  We were both excited to be going back to the park. 

The melt was fairly late this year and the park didn’t take any backcountry reservations until May 1^st, the official ice-out date.  The Victoria Day weekend came early as well.  We had gone last year on this same weekend, it was cold then, I packed some warmer clothes this time.

I was at LT’s house 10 minutes before the agreed-upon rendezvous time of 6:30 a.m.  We were going to save time by not having to stop and rent a canoe, but we still had to load it at this end.  We carefully checked that we had all the bags.  There’s always something forgotten each trip.  I made sure not to rush LT, I let him walk around the ground floor, glancing around to see that everything he wanted to bring was loaded up.  We angled the canoe out of his fenced back yard, along a path to my car parked in the designated Visitor’s Parking spot.

We were on the road shortly after 7 a.m.  LT made some egg/bacon/cheese breakfast wraps that we ate in the car with tea, no drive-thru required!  The traffic was good – we were at the Sand Lake Gate in good time.  A couple of guys in shorts were coming out with their permit as we went in.

 

The new canoe - completely without scratches!

LT had scheduled us into Upper Spectacle Lake for the first night.  It has 2 campsites, both on the same shoreline.  He wanted to get there first to have his pick of the 2 sites.  As we were driving the car onto the small road leading to the dock, we could see the shorts guys paddling off in the direction we were going to be heading as well.

The lake was fairly flat.  The canoe was taken off the car, the bags unloaded from the car, the canoe loaded up, the car parked and the pictures were taken – we were off!  It was 10:10 a.m.  Our route wasn’t going to be very arduous today.  It was an area we hadn’t camped in before, although we’d been deep into Carcajou Bay of Grand Lake in error on the very first trip we had done together two years earlier.

It was a day before the long weekend, so the traffic was minimal.  I like this strategy – going out a day before the busy time.  As we got to the middle of the lake LT remembered what he forgot to bring – his nightcaps!  I depend on Camino hot chocolate for my nightcap and I knew that was packed.  We didn’t turn around to drive into Petawawa to go to the liquor store, but he certainly considered it for a minute.

Loons were escorting us into Carcajou Bay and I tried to get a few shots of them.  I’m going to have to get a telephoto lens for these moments.  I’m not sure I would want to take it out and use it on a lake just yet, but I’ll get there someday.

Our escort on Grand Lake

Our first portage was only 20 meters.  It wasn’t marked, but it was obvious.  It was straight over a large rock that was beside the narrow flow of water that dropped maybe just over a meter.  It was tricky getting the canoe and bags out, but it was the only way to go.  

Our route, map is from Jeff's map of Algonquin Park

We were now in a pool that had several waterfalls landing in it.  We paddled close to each of the cascades to get some great pictures.  To our left was a high rock with a couple of tents on it.  I think that spot is very specifically reserved, it’s a gorgeous location, although I’m not sure what shape the site is in.  It must have a steady stream of residents all through the camping season.

Carcajou Falls

The portage was again to the right and it was another tricky landing spot.  We got out of the canoe and had to go straight up a rocky, treed hill.  This is another very short portage – only 90 meters.

The put-in was nice though, a big smooth rock to ease our way into the water.  After a very short paddle, the next 220 meter portage came up.  As we went through here we noticed 4 guys sitting in an area that didn’t look like a campsite, however, I was betting they were going to camp there.

We came out, loaded up the canoe and headed straight away from the portage site.  We paddled a narrow channel through a marshy area for a good 15 minutes before LT decided to check the map.  We were going the wrong way, but it didn’t take long to get back to the portage and head towards Lower Spectacle Lake.  As we turned in that direction we were directly above the roaring waterfalls.  They look very innocuous from above – just a line on the horizon, nothing at all really.  The roar reminds you that all is not what it appears to be.  It also makes me instantly scared to death.

The narrows into Lower Spectacle Lake is gorgeous, rocky walls rising above, not nearly as high as the Barron Canyon, but evocative of the canyon.  Lower Spectacle is a nice lake.  There are two campsites on the lake – they are on opposite sides.  We saw one site, but not the other.

The put-in at our last portage of the day was interesting.  It took a bit to figure out where to go through the marshy grasses, those beavers keep making paths!  But once we had the right one, there was a floating dock!  Such luxury!  When I peeked through the entrance to the portage, there was a tree that fell over and the base of the tree sticking up looked just like a black bear’s profile from the neck up.  I took a picture. 

Portage at Lower Spectacle Lake going into Upper Spectacle Lake

See the bear?

This portage is fairly short and easy to do.  We put into Upper Spectacle Lake, most of the work done for the day.  We paddled to the first campsite.  It was okay, but we went to check out the second site and picked it over the first.  We’d be that much closer to the portage for the next morning.  We’d put the canoe in the water shortly after 10:00 and it was now 12:30.

We had a fresh lunch that LT had made.  Three small subs with cold meat and cheese.  He’d made a homemade version of sub sauce, which he’d packed in a Ziploc bag that he cut the corner on after shaking it up to apply on the subs.  It made a difference for sure, my first exposure to sub sauce.  He’d cut up 2 apples and had some green grapes for dessert.  And he’d cut a large wedge of Gouda cheese with caraway seeds in it, very yummy.  A couple paddled past our campsite, the first people we’d seen along our specific route.

After lunch, we set up camp.  We erected both the tent and the bug shelter.  The bugs weren’t horrible, but they were gathering.  I pulled out my hammock and set that up.  I got the hammock at Costco late last summer.  It’s not designed specifically for camping.  But it’s a double-sized one and I splurged and got the mosquito netting for it.  I retired to the hammock for a nap and LT claimed the tent.  I made sure I had my pillow and sleeping bag.  I don’t really remember falling asleep, but someone claims I was lightly snoring.  Hmmmmm.

One thing I did to add to the ambience of the campsite was to load up an empty plastic bag with carbon from the fire (there were no ashes) and dump it into the thunderbox. When I was doing my initial scan of the site I noticed that the box was quite full (and pungent).  This is something I’m going to do more often, it significantly improved usage of that item especially on the following day.

Once naptime was done, we got up and were a bit antsy.  LT suggested we take a walk over to the first campsite.  The shoreline looked like there had been a fire at one time, a lot of the undergrowth was gone and many trees were charred, although most were standing.  We walked over not going too close too fast in case our neighbours had arrived.  LT knew that there was another party reserved on the lake for that night.  They hadn’t arrived yet.  We walked back to our campsite.  He suggested that we walk in the other direction to see how far we could get.  We were able to walk all the way to the portage that we would be taking the next morning.  There was a bit of bushwhacking required, but not heavy woods.

Well, we were here, why not walk the portage to see what it was like?  Right?  Early on the path there was very old scat that was really just the fur remains of the digestive deposit.  A little further on there was more of the same.  We came upon a blow-down.  It had been a big tree but the parts across the path were the various smaller branches.  LT snapped off all the smallest ones.  He decided that tomorrow he would take his saw out at this point and clear the remaining branches.  He would benefit for both the trip in and the trip out.  He was doing a single carry every time with the canoe.  This was our first trip where he did that.  This new canoe was working our really well for us.

A bit further along the path had some mush, wet spots.  There were several boardwalks, but we could have used a few more.  The map stated that we would come upon a pond that we’d be able to put the canoe in to paddle for 300m if we were so inclined.  We were keeping an eye out for that landmark.  We came upon two floating logs in a small creek.  Neither of us were going to attempt to walk across that.  I went upstream, he went down.  He was right.  Turns out, you don’t need to cross these two logs anyways.  The path veers to the left around a hill and bam, there was the pond.  We were on foot so we attempted to find the portage on land.  It was tricky.  We had to climb a small ridge that was topped with trees.  LT would have to weave the canoe through these tightly knit trees, just like threading a needle.  We decided the pond would be the way to go the next day.

I was so, so, so thirsty.  This was going to be a small stroll, we were now 2/3^rds of the way through a 2km+ hike.  I probably mentioned it once or twice or more.  The rest of the portage didn’t seem that far from the pond end, maybe a 10 minute walk, but it was a rough one.  Up and down, rocky, not a smooth path, one more blow-down, a full spruce tree that needed to be detoured for.  The arrival point on Little Carcajou Lake was a bit tricky.  We eyed the lake, then turned around and walked back.

We were about 7/8 of the way back when we came upon four young men carrying two very heavy Canadian Tire type canoes.  The ones that seem to be one big moulded plastic boat.  LT noticed that the canoes didn’t even have yokes they were carrying them by the ends, two guys to a boat.  However, I did notice (I always walk with my head down through the bush – I don’t want to sprain an ankle) they had a Go-Pro attached to the bow of one of the canoes. They asked us if it was much further.  I was more optimistic I said they were maybe 1/3 of the way.  LT said more like ¼.  But afterwards we realized they were probably not even that far.  By now it was after 6 p.m.  It might be dark by the time they set up camp.

Our supper back at the campsite was fresh beef stew that I’d made on Wednesday night.  It was yummy.  I had brought some bannock mix, but we were full of bread from the wraps and subs.  Besides we had a lot of stew.  Dessert was banana nut bread pudding.  I had chocolate that I shared.  We didn’t have a fire.  We were pretty tired and went to bed fairly soon after dark.  We were going to play cards in the tent, but I seemed to have misplaced my reading glasses.  Oops.

The spring peepers were in full force as the sun was setting.  We also heard a bird that was singing a “whip-oh-will” song.  He started singing in the twilight and seemed to go on for ages.  

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