Day 2 - Return to George via Old OSA Portage

Last day of the trip and last day of August; what a feeling! This seemed like such a faraway date at the height of summer but now it's here and even though I'm still on the lake i'd say 90% of the my mind is elsewhere. Already thinking about what's coming up next. Small town living, still on the bay, GT's with the cats, rambling on the Bruce Trail, getting a career started etc.. etc..
And Winter! Snowshoeing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing.
Had a really hard time falling asleep last night. I stayed up for awhile at a sitspot in the moonlight down by the shore. Watched the sleek black silhouette of a loon making its way across the lake and in the meantime sitting in blazing reflection of the moon. What a sight. Once it had passed through the silvreriness the loon seemed to carry some of the moon's shine away with it. Silver glinting off its wake as it continued on its darksome, moonkissed way.
Just before I climbed into my tent for what I thought was going to be to be the last time that night, a great blue heron glided motionlessly and low over the water from a secluded spot not far from where I was standing. They're majestic birds at any hour of the day or night.
Rested my head for awhile without being able to fall asleep, and glad I didn't or else I would have missed out on one of the most puzzling beaver encounters of my life. It started with the usual slapping about of its tail but from very close by. Then I heard it taking a few steps through the shallow water near shore. It sounded more like a clumsy moose or a five year old stomping through puddles as five year olds and moose a know to do. At this point I wasn't even sure it was a beaver anymore so, just as on the night of the fighting snapping turtles at Cat Lake, I got out of the tent to take a closer look.
Sure enough, it was a beaver and close enough to shore for me to be able to hear it breathing as it swam. For the next half hour the beaver ran a 100 ft long circuit back and forth along the length of the shoreline that I was watching from. At various points druing its seemingly pointless laps it would pause right in front of where I was sitting and just swim in circles right in front of me. Strangest of all, it wasn't agitated in the least (no more tail slapping, even, deep breaths) and seemed quite content to hang out with me before finally heading off on its own beaverish way.
A relaxed paddle back with stops to chat with campers all the way out. Lots of pitcher plant in the west end of Killarney Lake. No blooms anymore but the pitchers themselves are all deep blood red. Gorgeous paddle in the sunshine across OSA. Saw some researchers gathering water samples. I don't envy them having to portage 8L jugs of water out of these lakes. The Old OSA Portage starts from the eastern shore of OSA's southermost bay. I was fully expecting a bit of a bushwacking mission to get through to the mature forest but it turns out the trail is still fairly well used and very discernible from end to end, albeit with a couple of trees across the way here and there. I can see why we don't maintain it anymore. There is one beast of a hill in the middle of the 600m portage. The trail comes out at George L. E of where I would have thought. Watch for two quartz outcrops/rubble piles. Success!

August 30-31 Killarney L. and back again

Out on an enforcement trip. It's oddly fitting that my last night spent camping/working in Killarney should be on Killarney Lake. S

Saw on very large, and in charge otter chomping away on something serious as we paddled the length of Freeland L.; three feet long! Now that's a rodent. Saw three more otters further down the lake, these one's were smaller and very curious. One of them was tearing into either a snake or an eel (?). Tried getting a picture, one of them might have turned out. Started into John Barth's 'Giles Goat Boy'. Nice feat of the imagination but I'm not sure I'll be reading the whole thing.

Day 7 - David to pickup @ Bell

Early finish to a good trip, time to use up some accumulated overtime! Didn't bother cooking breakfast this morning, just finished off my chocolate, fruit and almonds. Set to work on the spruce roots I had soaking over night but they kept splitting. Maybe it's time I sharpened my knife. Quickly lost patience with the roots once it became time to head out for the day. I need to try that again someday; it seems a lot easier than twisting dogbane and cedar. Quiet paddle back down David and Bell. Loons and mergansers are already starting to raft up.
Things are boppin' in Killarney tonight. Good time to get out of the bush for a couple days. Wonder what i'll be up to for my last few shifts?

Day 6 - Hike to Boundary and Back

Slept in a little bit. For some reason, upon waking this morning, I was convinced I was at a university buddy's place on Golden Lake. Sure, the lake outside my tent was indeed golden in the morning light, but I was nowhere near Calabogie. Just goes to show I needed that extra bit of sleep.
Got everything packed up adn tucked away behind the canoe before heading up and over the ridge to clear some hazard trees on the hike-in site on Boudary. Took our sweet time over there chatting with some hikers and were back by noon on David. Hummed and hawed for a while about whether to move sites or not before finally deciding to do an enforcement tour of David.
Eventually got my hammock set up and treated myself to a royal feast of what I have leftover as far as food goes. Ate till I was stuffed and then took an hour to revisit and ultimately finish Hesse's Steppenwolf. What a stunning read!
While it philosophizes a lot it still retains the feel of a novel, with believable characters that are more than easy to empathize with and a plot that proves to be quite a page turner. Nice synchronicity between the conclusion of the book lining up with the conclusion of this trip and pretty much the conclusion of the summer.
I've been in a fairly reflective mood on this trip, thinking about my summer's idyllic wanderings through the wilderness, wondering how much it's changed me (other than the obvious physical changes). So, just in time, comes along 100 pages of a book that spells it out perfectly and walks me through a literal regenesis. When I closed the back cover on the last page with Harry Haller heading towards his new life, I realized I was ready to move along too.
Ready for the summer to be over, aching to get back to a certain state of domestic bliss. Ready to begin what may very well end up becoming a career in education.
One knock against the conclusion of Steppenwolf though: why is Hermine suddenly a passive character in what is most definetely the most important part of Harry's transformation? Literally becoming an insignificant chesspiece to be put in Pablo's pocket. Is this some kind of veiled misogyny on Hesse's part? If that is the case it kind of sours the motives behind the author's attention to Hermine's "lure of the hermaphrodite". Is she thus simply because a wholly female character cannot play such an actively significant role in events without being, in some way, masculine?
Spent the rest of the evening swimming, setting my tent back up, trimming my mustache, playing harmonica, spying the opposite shore through binoculars and messing around with birch bark. Had some fairly decent success making a box like container that was even able to hold water thanks to some handy cedar sap. Spruce roots are soaking overnight.

Day 5 - Peter to David (via Panache)

On the water for 8:00 this morning it is now 9:30pm. This is almost as long as some treeplanting hours. Gorgeous morning on the beach @ Peter Lake. I bow paddled us to the portage while the warden checked us into with the Park. Wind was just howling out of the S, SW and W all day. Had a great time watching the shadows of clouds rip across sunny green shorelines. Almost should have taken a video but I was too mesmerized, not to mention too busy paddling.
Panache is one hell of a huge lake. And I haven't even seen the merest slice of it yet. Got to Harry by lunch time (our proposed campsite for the night). Laid a ticket and decided to go for David. Dug a privy, checked a whole bunch of permits, laid two well deserved tickets (14 people, 10 tents, lots of garbage, one site) and just now finished our day doing what we could to help out a group camped on the Boundary L. portage. One of their number was medivacced out from Little Mountain L. We helped them replan their options. All in a days work.

Day 4 - Bell to Peter

Slept in a bit this morning and used up a bit of the overtime we accumulated last night. Finished the Conan chapter I started yesterday, and that's only before I got out of bed. Leisurely pack up and breakfast. Contemplated hiding the Warden's canoe on him, sad to report we didn't. Checked more permits all the way up Bell and Three Mile after clearing the Grey L. portage. I got to cut down the hazard tree on Balsam L. Still driving the saw upwards on my backcut, not as bad as yesterday but it could be a lot better. Still fell where I wanted it to though.
Saw two very small painted turtles sitting in a row on Balsam, oddest thing was that they were both resting on their bellies with their back legs stretched out behind them. Saw a loon landing up close. They land right on their chest with their wings way up. Very strange and penguinish. Camping on the red pine/beach site on Peter. Very nice

Day 3 - Carlyle to Bell (side trip to Ruth Roy)

On the water by 8:30 on a chilly grey morning. Felt like fall. Paddled into a headwind all the way down Johnnie L. Exceptional considering we were paddling east. I got to drop a big tree on Ruth Roy. Still figuring out how to let the bar sit flat but still torque it through the wood. At least it fell where I wanted it to. The Warden took care of the next hazard tree on Johnnie since the site presented us with some unforeseen challenges. Lots of permit checking. Were planning on camping on Deacon/Fox tonight but decided to stick around in order to serve an eviction notice on Bell L. Cans, too many tents and they left the fire going while they were out. Had the pleasure of blowing on it to restart myself. Turned it into a dinnertime enforcement cruise around the lake. Laid 4 tickets tonight in addition to the eviction. Had to get another Warden to come in and help. Good thing we took a longer lunch today.