Day 7 - Norway to Carlyle

Left Norway at around noon, nice easy paddle across Norway, beautiful colour the whole way across. Powered across the 1420m portage in one shot, felt great. New boardwalks built by the Warden and Rangers near Norway. Thought for sure I'd meet up with them working somewhere on that trail but no such luck. Wonder what else they've been up to these past couple days. Pretty excited to see where we're headed to when we go back out on trip tomorrow.
Another relaxing paddle across Kakakise, bugs pretty bad near the end of the portage. Another power portage from Kakakise to Carlyle, sure do love those boardwalks. Lunch at the old Milne lunch spot in Hidden Bay and then a tailwind paddle down the lake to Mary's camp. One can of Carling Black Ice knocked me out once i got back. Real nice sauna. Kheema, baked beans, zuchinni curry, rice and butter pecan cake for supper and dessert. Great dinner to end a great trip.

Day 6 - Norway L.

Up a little earlier this morning, had a relax in the hammock before anyone else was up. Then pulled a solo mission to go have a shower in the cataract waterfall. Incredible collection of rose quartz in the creek bed, waterfall itself is a series of of drops and long, thin, deep and extremely cold pools hidden way down deep inside a big fissure. Awesome swimming, once again though, extremely cold! Great way to wake up though.
Practiced balancing on the tumblehome while paddle back. Definetely makes for a smoother ride. Cooked up the rest of the pancakes. Oil works better than butter. The last one I made looked like it could've been on a Denny's billboard.
Loon popped up not ten feet away from me while I was doing the dishes, thinking that it was going to be my best chance to get a shot of a loon swimming underwater so i took a dive with the camera; but i missed it.
Had a visit with a watersnake while I was down there too. Went back to the waterfall with Corrine, Kyle and Erica. Too cold for Corrine and Erica to go in. Kyle took off through the woods for a walk and to collect trap fixings. Collected some rock tripe for sushi dinner tonight. Made it up to the top most pool this time and took the plunge with goggles, very neato. Waterfall's cold enough that just sitting under it gave me an ice cream headache. Spent some time with Corrine looking at rocks and building inukshuks in the stream bed on the way back. Picked some cucumber root with numb fingers for Kyle and Erica to try.
Didn't do a whole lot of anything all afternoon, didn't even practice my diving technique. Have definetely switched gears out of work mode by now. Sushi went well. Corrine gave me a new haircut this afternoon, sure cuts down the drag while i'm swimming. Finished the whisky and chocolate tonight. Had a good fire and somehow got into telling everyone the story of Moses (it helps that I had just watched the ten commandments). Great grey owl swooped in and visited the island while we were still sitting around the fire.

Norway Meditations

Day 5 - 3Narrows to Norway

Early morning (relatively) eating breakfast by 8 am. A little bittersweet to say goodbye to such a great site (#42). West facing point was great for sunsets and moonsets (Fergie was up and saw it, said it looked like a sunrise!). Wind wasn't too strong by the time we set out on the water. 4 canoes on site 51, couldn't get a wave out of them though, maybe it was just too early for socializing.
Took a couple breaks crossing the 3km portage to Killarney L. Ended up duct taping the broken yoke onto my strap pseudo-yoke. It was as if the yoke had never broken!. Beautiful swimming and snack time on the Killarney end of the portage. Gorgeous beach, sitting log and sound of waterfall in the background, full sun. Saw two groups hiking ove the portage, campers from Killarney L. Not tough enough to bother to carry a canoe over as well; pansies.
Red tailed hawk sighting on the way into the Norway creek. From the condition of its tail feather, looked like it was the same one we saw when we left Kirk Creek to head into 3Narrows two day ago. I guess it's not so far as the hawk flies. Saw an immature great blue heron in the creek itself. A lot less blue and no neck ruffles but when it flew looked very close to full grown.
Nice quick jump from the creek into the lake. Maybe we'll be stepping back thataway to check out the waterfall tomorrow. Corrine was ecstatic about all the rocks (gems) on site 13, I was pumped that it was free. Got here at a little after two, portage took an hour and fifteen minutes. Went for a really great swim around the island after getting set up and FINALLY figured out how to even the pressure in my ears on dives (very exciting). Seems to work better when you don't have water in your ears. Had a nap, set up some more, ate falafel, hummus and couscous salad. Had a fire and waited for the moon to rise and illuminate our view of Silver Peak.

Day 4 - 3Narrows

Woke up real late today. Made a huge pile of blueberry pancakes. Two griddles on the go for a quick and ample pancake feed. Clouds cleared off and it turned into a nice, sunny but extremely windy day. After brunch I messed around with the lack of yoke debacle for a while while Corrine slept off the panners.
Eventually got around to packing some lunch and doing a quick recon mission in the direction of Quartzite L. Really cool water falls, big cedar tree, game trails, some really thick moss beds and lots of other stuff to see. The small lake that site 40 is on is much clearer than 3Narrows, and considering it's the next lake down from Quartzite's watershed it really piqued my curiousity about the colour of Quartzite.
Paddling back from site 40 secret lake was a little crazy. Made stir fry and stayed up late with the fire and enjoyed the moonbeams. Great to have a rest day in preparation for tomorrow's travel day.

Day 3 - Fish to 3Narrows

Paddled in the rain from Fish until it broke on Little Mountain, what a lake! Gorgeous blue with big hills on all sides. Two huge cliffs at the tip of Great Mountain's southernmost bay were also quite impressive. Heron flew along the shore, past said cliffs and through the portage gap; showing us our route. Oh and how could I forget to mention: the portaging yoke broke at either end where it attaches to the canoe not even halfway across the first portage from Fish to Grt. Mountain while Corrine was carrying it. Sure does suck but I only have myself to blame since I noticed it was rotten when I picked it up on Saturday morning and fully knowing I had access to a better canoe Scott Canoe still persevered on taking what is now a busted canoe.
Macgyvered some strutural support out of some strapping I had in my lifejacket. Resting the canoe on the height of my canoe pack to portage it. Could be a lot worse but it sure does up the amount of weight i'm carrying on my legs. Try to fashion something more durable tomorrow in preparation for the 3 Narrows to Killarney portage; what a pain.
Kirk Creek was as nice as ever. Corrine navigated while Raven hopped into the canoe by herself for the first time. Red tailed hawk gave us a good scream right as we emerged onto 3 Narrows, great welcome. Lucked out and got island site 42. Burgers and root mash for dinner; greasy, filling and delicious plus chocolate almonds and whiskey for dessert.
Heard a waterfall on the southern shore that comes from a second outlet from Quartzite L. Experienced one of the more unique scenarios I've ever encountered out here: saw a bear and 10 minutes later heard an animals death cry from the same area. Very eerie and very loud. Would've freaked the crap out of me if it had been at night. Could it have been a baby moose the bear took down?

Day 2 - Fish L, Gem L and Back

Took our sweet time waking up this morning. Had a quick breakfast of an orange and a granola bar, couple spoonfuls of some sweet granola, water and lots of Silver Peak blueberries. Made a picnic lunch and headed down the lake into a seious headwind with Corrine steering. Passed some fishermen in from Bear L. Wilderness Camp catching pike.
Quick liftover and into the creek where we got to wade for a while before finally hopping in the boats and cruising with the current down to Gem. Scared up a big flock of geese when we were really close to Gem.
Had some wraps, figs, orange and carrot soup with Hit cookies for lunch. Went for a big swim to see if I could spot the waterfall but to no avail. There was a loon out there diving with me though. Extremely dark and murky lake but managed to spot a rock bass when I first jumped in. Spent a good long time on our "sofa" on the rocks easing back into summer mode and sharing Edgar Cayce; enjoying the view. Much easier paddle on the way back, wind at our backs. Saw the geese again and two painted turtles, one large one that slipped away and one little one that stuck around for a photo op. Also, one huge frog.
Back on Fish, fisherman still floating around, three sandhill cranes flew by overhead. Shish kabobs and rice for dinner. Whiskey and sweet fern tea to follow.

Vacation Trip Aug 1-8

Day 1 - Bell to Fish

On the water by about 11. Bell L parking lot completely full. Saw an old co-intern from Ignatius. Small world sydrome stikes again. Coincedences hinting at us that we're right where we should be. Felt so good to paddle barefoot and in a bathing suit after 2 months of workboots and overalls.
Got a REALLY lucky break on David. Wind was gusting hard but from the E. Paddled for a while and then sailed from site 102 to H34 until the wind switched to come out of the S. Lunch at the beginning of Portage: Hard boiled egg sandwiches with sprouts, pickles, tomato, mustard and cheese. Gourmet compared to pepperettes and cheese of my usual workdays!!
First leg of portage decent enough. Took our time going through the swamp. Made the bad decision of trying to go past the spot where the trail picks back up. Stuck on a lots of logs/mud patches, Corrine fell in twice but quickly recovered her spirits. Saw lots of flowering sundew and found a big heron feather before turning back to the portage. Portage wasn't as much of a chore as it usually is but still really long and moderately painful. Some decent climbs in there too.
Went for a swim at the end of the portage (hooray for vacation time!) before battling a good stiff SW wind across Grt Mountain.
Saw a big red tailed hawk and the awesome old dilapidated cabin. Threatening rain by the time we got a quarter of the way down Fish L. Spitting by the time we got to site 153. Set up tents and tarp double time in order to have some shelter for the downpour that followed. Shared the site with a large abandoned beaver lodge. Stole a stick from it to use on the tarp. TVP, pasta and sauce for dinner. My stove really needs to be cleaned. Nice flame height for simmering though. Rain still coming down hard and continuously all through prep, dinner and cleanup.
Went to bed almost immediately after that (about 9).
Stayed nice and dry all night and got to sleep in this morning to wake up to sunny blue skies (9:30!). Can't wait to see what got packed for breakfast!