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.

Day 2 - Norway to Carlyle (side trip to Sandy)

Done our work for the day (dropping a hazard tree on Sandy) and off to Carlyle). Packed up soaking wet tents this morning, managed to stay dry on the inside though. Very light drizzle throughout our travels today. Portages from Norway to Carlyle not very kind to us. We must have been in the zone to do Notch Creek plus the two long ones out to Frood on the last trip. Short paddle down Carlyle just in time for dinner at Camp. Fresh veggies and peaches! Read a bit of Conan until our island neighbours came over for a cliffjumping mission. Wound ourselves down afterwards with a deep hot sauna.

Circumnavigation Trip Aug 21-28 George to George and everything in between

Day 1 - George to Norway

Got an early start to the day. Very quiet, no traffic on George or Freeland at all. One family on Killarney L., and one deer, totally unspooked by us. They just continued eating some greenery as we paddled past Got to campsite #13 on Norway (again!) and set up camp for the night. I took the site closest to the privy this time; if only for the sake of not having to sleep there next time. Slept for six hours with some breaks to read old Conan the Barbarian comic book reprints. Slept like a log for some reason, maybe due to the late nights at the staffhouse? Got up and had a swim, hydrated some Thai Beef Satay (lazy meal night, passable flavour, the peanut sauce was a nice touch) before getting back into some serious Conan time by candlelight. Extremely satisfied with my Sudbury purchase. Off to more relaxation: Carlyle tomorrow.

Day 6 - Cat, Howry, Murray, Carmichael, Grace, Frood, Willisville, Whitefish Falls, Charlton Lake

Big travel day today to say the least. Got it done in record time though. Had myself well organized the night before so packing and cooking was a breeze this morning. Ready to go by 10 to 8. Able to zip through Howry Creek since having done it twice already this trips we knew where the deep channels were. Really do get a visual thrill from those Cardinal Flowers. Murray was as much of a wildlife sanctuary as on previous days. Red tail hawk was still hanging around, not calling out though. Heard a moose crashing through the bush, lots of goldeneye and black ducks. Saw the otters again, but this time going from an active beaver lodge to an inactive one, thought that was strange. In the last narrows of Murray saw something medium sized, fast, brown and furry make a beeline for shore and dive in. Beaver, muskrat, otter or mink?

Easy paddle across Carmichael since we knew it was going to be our only break between the 1470m portage across Notch Creek and the 2 km portage into Grace. Tall, steep ridges on Grace, one even looks like a real mountain. Semi-clear lake, gorgeous pine stands on small islands dotting the surface. Bright white quartz shoreline on the North shore. Had lunch on the last campsite and a little nap before tackling the next 2km portage to Cranberry Bay on Frood Lake. Neither of the last two portages were too bad, maybe a different story in the opposite direction. Both run through deep and narrow gullies between ridges, mature hardwood growth on both. All in all, a nice walk in the woods. All told, about 6 kms of portaging in one day.

Made it down Frood Lake in a little over an hour. Just motoring despite the headwind. A couple great old log cabins along the way. Got to Willisville by four. Asked around and were pointed in the direction of Whitefish falls for a restaurant and an LCBO agency. Stashed the canoe about half a kilometre up from the dam buoys and bushwacked into town until we hooked up with a Rail to Trail ATV road. Managed to be the first customers at the Red Dog (just like in Peterborough) Bar and Grill for Thursday night wing night. Put back a lot of Corona and limes, nachos, onion rings and finally, the wings. The place got pretty packed with boaters and Americans (not necessarily mutually exclusive). Mostly a grey hair crowd with a couple grandchildren scattered here and there. Live Music!! Just a local girl with an acoustic but she sang "Love Me Tender" and finished with a little bit of Bob Seger Night Moves. Great stuff.

Hit up the agency store (a place called Wheeler's) before they closed at eight and got a twelve of Carling tall boys. Stuck to the west side of the river and on the ATV trail on the way back, road beers in hand. I swam the river to retrieve the stashed canoe and then it was just a matter of heading back up through Willisville with boat beers in our lifejacket cozies and off to Charlton Lake. Nice point to camp on, bad bugs. Didn't even get a chance to finish all our beers.

Day 5 - Cat, Van Winkle, Van L. Portage, Hanwood and Back

All in all quite an enjoyably relaxing day, if it weren't for the heat that tapped my energy levels so hard. Headed over to the Van Lake portage early this morning, saw a big red tailed hawk flapping about in the breeze. Spent a lot of time trying to figure out where we could reroute the portage to, tramping back and forth through really thick underbrush looking for game trails we could piggy back on. Turns out they're smarter than that and they use the portage we were meant to replace due to beaver flooding. Didn't end up rerouting the portage at all. It'll either take an insane amount of boardwalk that'll likely get flooded out or a brand new portage on the N side of the creek, nice gradual slope up a tall ridge from which you can see the Howry ridge. Old oak stands, infinitely preferable to the actual portage (this year at least). Lots of game trails on the North side. Off to Hanwood to pinch a camper for overstaying their permit. They were booked for Leech, Hanwood and finally, Van Winkle for 2 nights. Seems he liked the look of Hanwood and decided to stay. He tried to tell us he thought he was on Van Winkle but his lies quickly fell apart under closer questioning.

Stopped for a swim and lunch at Van Winkle, definetely the highlight of the day: long swim, cat nap, watched a northern flicker for a while. The big excitement to report happened last night. Lots of general bush critter activity while reading in bed, mosquitoes like crazy, frogs croaking, you name (whippoorwill again, cranes sounding off before sunset). Once I had put my book down I started to hear all sorts of bubbles and thrashing about in the water, some of it coming from quite close to shore. Listened for about 15 minutes, deciding that the bugs were too awful to go anywhere. That is, until curiousity got the better of me and I finally poked my head out the vestibule. Immediately I heard a beaver slap its tail really close to shore (nothing to do with the bubbles and hissing, just another indication of the level of animal activity last night) while not much further away something was rolling, hissing and bubbling away in the water. Decided that this show was too good to miss so got out of the tent and took a closer look. Couldn't make out what was going on (at this point I was thinking either otters having a party or a writhing escaped anaconda) so went off to the Warden's tent to borrow his halogen headlamp.

Turned out it was two medium sized snapping turtles having a battle royale! One would blow bubbles then the other would launch itself into tthe instigator, biting anywhere it could. You could tell by the sound that the bites were connecting but neither lost blood or limbs. They were rolling and tumbling, sometimes seemingly trying to drown each other, hissing at each other when they disengaged. Eventually there was a winner, for no clear reason from what I could see, and the loser came over to where I was standing and started hissing at me! I had had enough of the bugs by now so went back to bed, not a minute later a pack of wolves started howling and barking in earnest. What a wild night! So far nothing but loon's tonight.

Day 4 - Cat, Howry, Murray, Leech, Hanwood, VanWinkle back to Cat

Have not only gotten used to going to bed at sundown but have begun to really enjoy it, especially when I take the time to consider the benefits. In bed before the bugs do their worst, get to watch the sunset from bed, with a good book (these days it's Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories from "Celestial Railroad and other Stories"). Lots of sleep for the work day ahead, and maybe best of all, by the time I get up at either 6:30 or 7, depending on whether or not it's a travel day, I've already woken up a couple of times and been able to snooze; to the point where it feels like I've slept in by the time I'm actually getting out of the tent. And that still leaves me with lots of time to mess about in the morning whether it be on first aid needs or picking wild raspberries to put in my oatmeal.

Set out at 8 into a crazy heavily fogged up morning, halfway cleared off by the time we got to Howry and had dug one hell of a crapper hole through sheer clay. Not nearly as much action on Murray today, although I was lucky enough to hear a red-tailed hawk screaming away across the sky just as I got off the portage into Murray. Most disappointing: no otters. Maybe by the time we head back through here on Thursday (Day 6) they'll have rekindled an interest in us.

Still haven't quite pinned down why I liked it so much but really enjoyed the portage from Murray into Leech Lake. Maybe it was because I didn't have a canoe on my head and could actually take a look around. Or maybe it was because the scenery had changed: bigger clearings, grassy hilltops, red pines, jack pines, birch and poplar. Leech L. is definetely nicer than it sounds, but then again, what semi-remote lake have I ever not liked?

Hanwood small and picturesque, for some reason was really reminiscent of Group of Seven Paintings. Van Winkle was a nice surprise, colour a couple shades lighter than Muriel, nice long archipelago of islands running straight down the middle of the lake. Back into a bit of silvery of quartzite, decent size lake too, good long paddle.

When we got back to Cat there were some fishermen in from Bear Lake Camp not far from the cabin. They weren't having any luck so they came over to ask for some tips. The Warden supplied a couple and then they spotted a snapping turtle in the little bay in front of my tent. The Warden (who had just been about to jump in the lake) immediately took up lookout duty since he hates snappers while I went running for my goggles and camera. Last night I read a Cottage Life article about snappers in the ranger cabin saying how they're not aggressive and how, if your lucky enough to have one around, you should take the opportunity to go for a swim with it. I was a little freaked out (hearing the neighbours at the cottage go on about them hasn't helped) but went in anyways. What an experience!

After the warden told me where to look the turtle and I just floated around together for a while blowing bubbles and checking each other out. I took a couple of shots but believe it or not I was too close to the turtle for them to turn out really well. Eventually he turned tail and disappeared, vanishing into the murk just like a moose can into a forest. Saw him again later but he wasn't into swimming with me anymore.

Day 3 - Helen L. to Cat L. (sweet pea central)

Absolutely stunning sunset out the front door of my tent on Helen last night. That site is a real winner. Other sites on Helen are decent as well. Took a detour over to Ishmael Lake to check on sites. Hardly used at all. Saw two ravens flying really close together, one kept wheeling onto its back seemingly trying to get at the underside of the other. Snapped a shot of a heron nest while on Ishmael as well.

About halfway to the unnamed pond on the Helen-Nellie portage I heard some crashing through the brush, thought it was the Warden muscling his way through a particularly overgrown section of the trail. A little further up the trail came across two old school types (canvas everything) who we had seen twice the day before on Baie Fine and McGregor Bay. Turns out they were using a 15 year old map that showed a portage running from the creek N of Helen, around the unnamed and finally joining up with the existing trail to Nellie; f***ing crazy bastards.

Took two breaks on that portage, one to show those old bushwackers what's what on the new map, and the second because I needed it. Nellie Lake is as stunning as ever. Had to charge two people for camping off site and for not having a permit, pricey mistake. The two bushwackers were last seen heading due east, past the last campsite and straight down the lake. Maybe their map shows a campsite or, heaven forbid, another ludicrous portage?! Didn't feel like giving chase, they were moving at a fairly good clip and halfway down the lake by the time we spotted them.

Notch Creek portage was a bitch to me today, didn't slip or anything but had to rest three times, shoulders were killing me by the end. Checking permits on the site immediately East of the portage on Murray, found out that there's an unmantained and unmarked trail that runs from the portage to the site. The people staying there knew about it and had left their canoe on Nellie, smart.

Followed three playful and very curious otters down Murray until they disappeared into an old beaver lodge, thought that was pretty cool, not to mention resourceful. Cardinal flowers on Howry Creek, very nice. A surprisingly tough portage to Cat Lake. Swim upon arrival at the Ranger Cabin which is absolutely surrounded by sweet peas. Also had the satisfaction of beating the other work crew here.

Western Boundary Trip

Day 1 - George L. to Muriel L.

Got an early start to things this morning. Powered up on egg mcmuffins and bran flakes. Arrived at the staffhouse with enough time to change into uniform, rouse the roomate and head over to the office. Nothing much going on over there at 8 am so went back to the staffhouse to unpack/repack. Only forgot to pack one thing: my found fleece leisure suit. Oh well, only six days without, maybe it'll be warm enough I won't need them.

Short day checking permits on George, Killarney, OSA. Killarney Lake for lunch @ noon. Saw a loon with a fish in its mouth. Tried to get a shot of it but no luck. Managed to get a decent shot of a hawk at the portage from George into Freeland, nicknamed him George after the lake. Not very original I know not to mention quite presumptious since the hawk could easily be a female.

Overcast throughout the whole paddle but only started drizzling on OSA right near the last portage of the day. Sharing the lake with 3 other canoes who are staying to the west of us. Park seems to be nearly abandoned. Met a few groups heading out early on Killarney L. Seems they're afraid of a little weather. Only saw two canoes heading into the park.

Ended up bringing the tent after considering just packing the tarp and a footprint. Too afraid of bugs. Final decision was made weighing the importance of good sleep over the the novelty of no door. I might try it on the tentative hiking trip, that way I can argue the weight saving factor.

Found a dime on the bottom of Muriel L. tonight. 10 times as lucky as finding a penny?! Seems logical enough to me.