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. 

      Day 1                                      Day 3                                  Day 4  

Trip log - Cedar Lake to Mink Lake: June 11 to 14, 2016 - Day 1

Saturday - Brent Access to Little Cauchon Lake

We were off on our second trip of 2016. The first one is usually the long weekend in May and the second one is usually for LT's birthday in June. We went a week early this year because of other things planned the weekend of. So we started off on Saturday, June 11. Yes, in June the bugs are bad. Real bad. But we have a bug shelter and head nets. 

The bugs can get to you when your patience is getting thin. But there's not much you can do to control the weather, which was another factor for this trip.

Here's what the launch looked like and it was an improvement over the pelting rain that we experienced on the 3.5 hour, 300 km trip to get to the access point.

Limited visibility

We had studied the weather forecast all week up until the trip and it was changing hourly, which was strange for a long range forecast. Today, Saturday, it was supposed to be raining and end around 8. We didn't arrive at the access point until later than usual as a couple of things had been forgotten at home and we were trying to find replacements on the drive to Brent. We stopped at the Canadian Tire in Deep River where we got a plastic egg carton.

Success for one item - a plastic egg carton

We stopped at another store to buy the eggs that we'd put into the carton. The other item that was forgotten was LT's sturdy chair, Larry. LT didn't find anything there that suited the need. Larry is pretty irreplaceable.

Larry - who didn't make it this trip

As a last hope we stopped by the outfitters right at Brent on Cedar Lake, but they did not have any travel chairs.

I had arrived at LT's at 6 a.m., we drove off at 6:30, but by the time we launched it was 12:30. This was a late start. The weather was certainly a deterrent to a speedy launch as well.

As we paddled down the lake the weather started to lift a bit. 

Our route for the day was to launch at Brent on Cedar Lake, paddle up to the top of the lake into Little Cedar Lake. The next lake is Aura Lee, there's a short portage into Laurel Lake, another short portage into Little Cauchon Lake and find a campsite along that lake for the night.

We made decent time up Cedar Lake and stopped at the island campsite at the top for our lunch. 

Here's looking at you, kid!

No need to unpack, just lunching

The view back down the lake

Raindrops on pine needles

Lunch was charcuterie, cold meats with cheese, cut up fruit. LT even packed a few crackers in his thermos for the Brie.

Back in the lake and we headed up through Little Cedar Lake, then under the train bridge into Aura Lee. There are a couple of campsites on this lake along the narrow section. But we were heading further along. The portage into Laurel isn't very long, 345 metres according to Jeff's map. It's a flat portage, fairly wide, but the base is mostly round rocks. You need to watch your step, especially when carrying a heavy load. I weighed my bag before leaving and it was 54 pounds with all the dried food and 2 full litre Nalgene bottles.

Laurel is a pretty lake with a high island campsite. I'm sure it sees a lot of traffic. It would be good if the breeze was needed to blow off some of the many bugs that were out right now. As we headed to the 130 metre portage into Little Cauchon there is a pretty waterfall and the weather was giving us a pretty view of that corner of the lake. This is not a long portage, but it's brutal. A big up and over into the next lake.

The next landmark is going underneath the train bridge along the bottom of Little Cauchon Lake.

This is from the other side of the bridge

We started up this fairly long lake, checking out any campsites we came across, mostly along the left side of the lake going up. It was starting to get late. June is good for having a lot of daylight. But that can get you into trouble if you extend yourself past your energy level.

We were very surprised at the amount of permanent structures on this lake. There are quite a few cottages, beachfronts and motorboats here. No one was out and about because the weather wasn't ideal.

We got out at the second-last site, but it wasn't very deep and we couldn't see where we'd be able to set up our bug shelter. So we were stuck with the last site. It wasn't great. We considered pushing on to Cauchon Lake, but it would be quite a paddle into the wind and we'd already travelled about 18 km. I had been up since 4:30 a.m. and it was now 7 p.m. I was done.

We tucked ourselves into this tight site, up against a rock at the bottom of a bay where the wind was whipping into us. The bug shelter went up first, then the hammocks. It took a few tries to get my hammock up. I finally went to sit in the bug shelter as I was defeated and LT hung it for me, right up against the rock. His hammock was a bit further over.

We didn't have dinner, our steak and veggies would wait until tomorrow. It wasn't long until I was in my hammock. The wind was howling so loudly in the pines above me, I was very anxious that the canoe would be flipped over and carried by the wind into the water. I got up and tied it so I could sleep better.

Me against the rock

LT's hammock

The bug shelter

The very safe canoe

      Day 2                                      Day 3                                  Day 4