Made another long day of it and had great time, not to mention dug some crapper and came home tired and hungry (spinach noodles with alfredo sauce, veggies and prosciutto and let myself have a double ration of chocolate tonight).
Sites on the eastern end of Killarney L. are absolutely stunning and definetely way more secluded. 15 is especially choice, long sweeping rocks, bonsai trees and little islands reminiscent of Fraser Bay off its western shore. We got steered into a boggy stump flat that took us a while to get through, lots of banging around and poling over logs. Meanwhile there was a navigable passage on the S side of 14 the whole time, which we took on the way back, unbelievable.
The creek to Norway is indeed navigable, VERY oxbowed and meandering but that's alright. Saw a big raptor, creamy white underneath and sort of a sandy golden colour on top. 1/3 smaller than a red tailed, still pretty big. Portage in good shape but must ford a stream. NOTE: next time put down canoe at stream and go check out waterfall, looks and sounds like one you could shower in.
Did the full portage on the way back rather than take the creek. Other than a big patch of Amanita Muscaria that made me feel like i was in a fairy tale, MUDDY and too long; especially when you keep getting glimpses of a perfectly navigable creek through the trees.
Campsite 13 is actually on an island (the map is wrong), honest to goodness outhouse with a roof, freshly dug, firewood stashed away, bladderworts blooming in the hundreds and great swimming, as well as a good view of Silver Peak. Norway campsites in order of desirability 13, 12, 11. Only two get booked per night. Plus Norway is big, whodathunkit?!
Bushwacked with the canoe up a cliff, not exagerrating, right near the creek south of 11 to hook up with the portage saw another snapper on the way and got some more great shots. Bushwacking, however really didn't save all that much time and the portage is easily doable and definetely NOT 1300m. Paddleable directly from the bottom of the first swamp on Sandy all the way to Sandy itself, with two dams in between, one of them big and steep. However taking the second section of the portage into Sandy is actually faster than continuing through the swampy section.
However if we knew that we would have missed seeing Mama Loon sitting on her nest, she was extremely freaked out and this is another good reason not to take the swamp route. Speaking of loons saw 9 swimming and fishing together on Killarney this morning. Seems like a lot to be all together on a lake with no fish.
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