-26° Solo Camping 10 Days - Predators, Snow & Storms

[Music] always wondered what it would be like to spend 10 days alone in winter but I know the question marks that always come up on a trip like this will the weather be gentle or intense will conditions even allow for a decent Adventure what trails will turn up in the bush and where will they lead What creatures will reveal themselves either above the ice or below and if I make it to 10 days will I be exhausted from fending off the or find myself in the swing of a bygone way of life before this winter passed me by I intended to find out and I had a feeling it would be a trip to remember no way two of [Applause] them [Music] [Music] a 17 below this morning when I left the car but with the sunshine and Hauling probably 200 lb a gear I'm shedding layers fast this Trail's been terrific so far it's unbroken aside from some old likely wolf tracks so that likely means that no one has come in here all winter which is pretty sweet from the air with the Drone and on satellite at home I could see that this Trail should get me to The Ponds where I want to establish the first camp but beyond that I'm not too sure if all goes well and I make it to my destination Lake after that it should be the longest winter trip I've ever done so I'm really looking forward to it [Music] [Music] he so I'm a few kilometers down the trail and it looks like these destinations aren't going to come easy I flew again with the Drone and I can't even see a way to these ponds let alone the rest of the route so I'm going to leave my load here and try to do a little route finding it's almost impossible to take a long Freight to bogging through Woods like this so I'm going to have to find something well it wasn't looking too good but finally stumbled across a trail that I thought I saw from the air just a small Trail so I'm going to follow this and see where it leads so this is the trail I thought I could see a trace of on satellite so this should get me to the main lake so that's good news bad news is I have no idea how to get my gear onto this truck Rail and there's a blast of snow coming soon so it's all right make for an adventure this what I'm here for just came to a creek that flows into the ponds I was hoping to reach and it is wide open had unusually mild winter here everywhere almost and yeah that's that's going to be a a bit of a problem beautiful though [Applause] dang this might rule out the Big Lake I was hoping to get to because there are warm temperatures coming for the back half of this trip and this could be flowing pretty strong by that point not to mention even getting my whole outfit over it right now I'm likely to get it soaked so yeah hopeful I can get to this Pond and start there so after 2 hours of trying to scout that trail I've come up empty-handed I'd really have to slog to get over there to those ponds so the thought of that just kind of fills me with dread it would be it would be pretty awful so I can also continue down this Trail which doesn't lead where I want to go but maybe I'll just find out where it does go that kind of fills me with hope better than Dre this is an old forestry road so it's wide open if this was a normal winter with several feet of snow I could get through this stuff' be a nice level platform but not like this this is much nicer I also spent all three drone batteries so won't be able to use that again until I charge it snow's starting to come down more and more blow down across this road but I'm getting close to a small Lake this lake is nestled in the little Hills that were shown from the Drone earlier so it just keeps climbing up and up and up and this 200 lb slippery load just wants to slide backward it was so close the final Hill to get up here is pretty nuts so I'm scouting it just to make sure it's going to be worth it getting low on daylight and I got a lot more than I bargained for today about triple the distance plus a bunch of elevation but I'm here the lake is just through there I scouted ah head just to make sure I could get through and I am pretty spent so I can't wait to set up my tent get in my sleeping bag and have Blissful rest and sleep it's going to feel amazing what a relief here it is just got to find home now so normally the number one thing I'm looking for is standing dead wood for a campsite just to have it close in handy but I would really love Morning Sun and to maximize the Sun as much as possible which this spot would do and there's a nice spot for the tent right there so a good option here I'll keep looking for a little bit decent spot right there but the other spot's better so I'm going to take it it's been warming up all day it's supposed supposed to be just below freezing tonight so at least they got that going for me it's not cold one big problem with this spot it's got a big Dark Root mat over there which looks like a prime bear Den kind of freaking me out I could go check it out and make sure there's nothing there but that seems like quite a risk it it really looks like a perfect be Den I I don't think I can camp here this is going to be it it's actually a nicer spot after looking at it a bit closer yeah get the tent up call it a day it was in the lake pretty fast here but should have just enough time to get this set up all settled in here for the night lots left to do tomorrow no fire tonight just don't have the energy and it's not going to be cold so I do need water so I'm using the last of my thermos water to melt some snow and that'll get me through to tomorrow warm it up on the candle too if that doesn't do it but it looks like it's more than done it I think that would be a pretty slow boil oh man this is the beautiful thing about destroying your body this just feels amazing it's going to be a good sleep Sun's starting to come up for day two very mild one atus 5 which is really nice to not have to scramble to get everything done last night that's why I started the trip yesterday a lot better than diving into minus 20 or 30 which I'm about to but I have lots of nice firewood got a beautiful Camp here very happy with it now in the daylight got a bit of firewood for a quick fire off this log on the ground which is convenient not the best quality but it'll certainly do some nice birch bark and the stove's up make a little Igloo for my water hole and keep it open for as long as I stay here and I can't wait to guzzle some water have a nice hot tea and have a big breakfast so while I wait for the water to boil let's have a look at the map I came in around here off of a Forester Road hauled in on this unused Forester Road and I thought based on my site Scout that I could get into these ponds on this Creek System but that proved to be exceedingly difficult although yesterday's haul ended up being probably just as bad I ended up taking the unused Force Road around here and it curled up alongside this Lake in the Hills so I'm right there and what I intended was to spend my f the first half of this trip here and then the second half on this larger Lake there may be a way to get through to the large lake from here this unused Forest Road might continue it's hard to tell on satellite it's very faint but I might still be able to get in there we'll see but for today and tomorrow I'm going to hunker down while this cold front moves through this Lake just happens to be on the map I had no intention of coming in here the load I held in here has no business going up hills on a freight tobogan it's meant for flat terrain my quads are on fire still today and I packed for flat terrain so my food bag is robust but now that it's in here I have a lot of good food to eat so that's the upside a lot to do today so I'm going to keep this quick and simple so this will be one of my four freeze-dried meals got pad Tha China Masala Curry and shepherd's pie go for the shepherd's pie but it's actually the lowest calories so going to do the pad thae you need every calorie today [Applause] can't find my ball cap I must have lost it on the trail yesterday which sucks so it's going to be a lot of bed head last night I was too tired so I just had some cheese and crackers and a bit of pre-cooked bacon so this is going to be good so today's is an easy day for weather but overnight it's supposed to change dramatically with heavy snow and strong wind and very cold temperatures so I'm going to get a flight in charged up the Drone and get the lay of the land see if that road does potentially lead to that bigger Lake before it gets too windy and snowy out there later today so that flight was very interesting I can see that the Forester Road will get me to the Big Lake if I want to go down that Hill the catch there is that I would presumably have to come back up unless I try to link back up with those ponds and make a real Loop out of this but that would be quite an adventure and then there's that Creek to consider as well that could be rushing later in this trip so I could get myself into a real Jam if I attempt that other alternative is doing just a day trip to this big lake so we'll see for now I'm sitting tight got to get lots of firewood because I intend to be the coziest person alive tonight nice chunk of chaga right beside Camp I'll leave it for now but I might come back for it got a bunch of random Camp chores done today firewood supplies coming along and I'm having what should have been last night's dinner couple of Italian sausages trying not to drool with mustard and fresh jalapeno still beautiful out just around the freezing Mark so it's perfect opportunity to do a little ice fishing and I can process more wood tomorrow when it's freezing cold got plenty up there anyway and I'm going to check out these rocks before they get buried in snow cuz they're quite beautiful not really any features to this Lake except for the little rocky points I'm camped on so this could be a good spot I'll just try my water hole first and I brought brought the underwater camera another thing that wouldn't have made the cut if I knew I was coming in here so I'll send this down see what it looks like down there see how deep it is it's surprisingly deep here nothing to see really this underwater camera doesn't show depth but it does have little markers on the line so I can count it and that it adds up to about 35 ft I'm pretty close to shore so it's interesting this lake has some depth no action at Camp after about 40 minutes so I've come along to the outlet of the lake we hole number two and even though it's a mild winter still plenty of ice a good foot there and I'm not quite through much shallower here but I prefer that for ice fishing feel like I'm more likely to find active fish and there's some interesting debris down there as well also looks like some little water bugs water boatman I think they're called something like that swimming around temperature's dropping now can really feel it especially with the wind so I'm going to pack it in soon but something interesting just happened unfortunately I I wasn't recording with the underwater camera but suddenly I looked down and it there was all this junk and debris all over the water so something sizable swam by and could have been a fish I guess that's the most likely scenario but I'm also wondering if it could have been a beaver there are I think two lodges on the far side of the lake here I wonder if it swam by and kicked it up cuz it was a big cloud of debris back to camp and after having a bit of a chill out there temperatur is dropping it's m is 10 now so it's not bad but with the wind decided I need a little more firewood once you start to feel the cold it seems like you can never have too much firewood for talini on the menu tonight lots of cheese spinach and tomato sauce and bacon bits that was a great dinner temperature is dropping outside steadily and the wind is getting pretty strong but I'm beautifully sheltered from it here so again I'm really happy with this camp and I've got a pretty good arsenal of wood for the night to fend off the cold I'm not planning on keeping it going all night but we'll see feels a lot better going to bed tonight very comfortable but still exhausted so off to Sweet Dreamland is it's crazy I think there's a snowshoe hair out there in the middle of the lake what on Earth would it be doing out there just serving himself up on a platter for a lynx wonder if there's a predator around that's such weird Behavior stand out in the middle of the lake that was a cool way to start the day off scann the area for a good 10 minutes after I lost the hair and didn't see a link or anything following but also have some chili and garlic naan to start things off and a mug of tea I am the coziest person alive it occurred to me that I can make things Cozier if I ate breakfast in bed so here I am loving life added some fresh jalapeno and chives to the chili wow seems like the storm is done pretty good dumping and it got down to minus 25 at least this morning is when I checked it I woke up around 6 check the temperature and quickly lit the stove eventually I let it go out last night wind was easily getting into the 30 km an hour range last night so it would have been probably more like- 35 with the wind chill but I was nicely sheltered on this side of the lake south side of the Lake's already bare of snow wind ripped it all off coldest night of the trip coming up so it's time to get some more wood still got plenty to saw up from yesterday feels so nice in the sun here love a cold sunny day I can still hear the wind raging over there it sounds like a distant surf it's like camping on Superior but perfectly common here [Applause] Birds been great on this trip and they often come by Camp for a visit black cap chickes red breasted nut hatches seen the odd woodpecker and gray J as well Canada J so nice to hear them in Winter running the stove all night coldest night of the trip so I'm getting the mix of rounds quarters and halves and I've got a sausage my last one slowly cooking on the stove there with some tea building up quite an appetite here what a gorgeous day wind still raging up there in the tree and there's snow devils swirling across the lake and I've got the secluded spot no one else around got to enjoy this spot for I think a couple more days I was planning on having two camps on this trip but we'll have to see how it pans out what makes sense things have changed obviously since my original plan Camp chores are all done I'm ready for a cold night and I haven't had a stroll around this Lake yet so it's time to change that I want to see if there are a couple Beaver lodges over there so this Beaver Lodge is no longer in use and the water levels have obviously gone down here a lot that's why there's a lot of exposed Shoreline of rock and this one's sitting like just up in the air now but yet again there's a perfect little Den for something there I don't think a bear would in there looks the entrance looks pretty tight but yeah a nice little home for something now that was really nice walk stoked the fire and I couldn't be happier that I set up on this side of the lake where I get pretty much all day sun and a m of the wind cuz the other side of the lake was just [Applause] freezing gorgeous sunset to close out day three but there is a chill in the air and warm up with some Spruce tea steep that for about 15 minutes rehydrating some REI fried beans and tomatoes really nice dinner tonight while I wait brought in a little Scotch went light on the scotch heavy on the food questionable oh excuse me my tea is ready very zesty it's good lots of vitamin C too little bit of the bacon bit rations and jalapeno o That's the chives there we go stuff is fantastic I got to bring jalapeno on more trips and these babies are going into some quesadillas M I know it may seem stupid to be cooking meals in my tent with a suspected bear Den just down the lake I don't normally worry about bears in winter carry bear spray spring through fall and in the winter they're really never on my mind for some reason on this trip from the start even before I saw anything that resembled a den I I had that spooked feeling so it was funny that I came across that one maybe it was for a reason that I had that in mind as long as you don't go stomping around on their den you're probably not going to have an encounter and there are people who out there who will say you will never see a bear in Winter that's a red flag whenever some someone says anything is definite in nature nature has tons of erratic things that happen so and bears are not true hibernators they're they go into a state of torpor so they are kind of in a deep sleep they don't do much but in true hibernation heart rate drops and like organs are at a standstill almost so they're conscious if you go stomping around you'll wake them up so am I truly worried No am I sleeping with my axe yes why not it's just sensible for precaution and I'm just listening to one of my favorite books on audio book alone against the north Adam Schultz and there's a heavy bare danger theme so that's not helping either but I will put my food bag outside just in case and I'm going to bundle up and look at the stars it's crystal clear out there should be a decent night for him [Music] for [Music] Day 4- 26 out there so it kind of leveled off I was expecting it to get colder I had the stove running all night so I was comfortable it's also day four of bed head with no hat to conceal my shame and of course that happened when I was overdue for haircut starting the day off with some non-el zones cold clear morning in the Canadian wilderness God love it so now State four it's time to start making some moves I've been mulling this over the last few days two major considerations for the next steps last year I blew at my knee on a winter trip I shredded my miniscus badly and in surgery they tried to repair it but just had to pull it out because it was just gone um so I have no cartilage in my right knee so doing stuff like day one not not a smart option for me Solo in the wilderness repetitively anyway second consideration the highs for the coming days tomorrow is four then six four and six potential for rain as well so that makes travel incredibly difficult in the winter I'll show you on the map so I just printed out a basic map with water bot at home marked it up with what I hoped to do that was the Trap line that I ended up finding but I ended up swinging way out here now this continues I can see on the Drone somewhere over here and down into this big lake from the air I could see that the trail continues over here and then seems to fizzle out so conceivably that could be connected with the Trap line but and that would be a perfect Loop but there's that Creek there and with the warm weather coming that's just that can't be an option it would just be really stupid to set myself up for that I'm tempted to move Camp into the main Lake here but this part looks incredibly steep steeper than day one so again for my knee's sake that's a bad idea so weather and the knee kind of rule that out but I can do a day trip to the main Lake and that's what I'm thinking of doing today after that the question is do I backtrack and try to get into this pawns it's just a short distance of thick forest that I have to get through so it's manageable we'll have to see tomorrow but today I'm heading there but a perfect day for exploring a little too cold for ice fishing so I'm leaving that stuff packing late got lots of time for ice fishing when it warms up one thing about the injury last year is I learned never travel especially solo without pretty good emergency supplies in Winter especially got a little folding chair I can sit and hang out on if need be my day bag which includes myar sheet tons of calories worth of food some emergency fire starting supplies got a full first aid kit in here including a Sam splint and my big wool sweater so if I went through the ice I have something to change into 2 L of hot water and the most important survival item for any YouTuber my camera case so I traced out where I think the trail goes on my phone and it should be about 5 km round trip to the lake and then probably several kilometers on the lake so got to get going it's about -5 right now so it's warmed up and it should hit close to- 10 so perfect day on cold nights grous which are sort of like chickens if you're not familiar will burrow into the snow and create a little Igloo for themselves smash right in there tend to leave a pile of poop like that and then they take off in the morning a lot of hills on this Trail and this would be the easy Direction so I'm glad I didn't consider taking the whole load up here walking through fresh snow on a cold sunny day if you've never had the pleasure it's really quite a treat these tracks I think are Fisher too slightly staggered tracks looks about the right size I've only ever seen two fleeting glimpses of a Fisher on remote Islands on like Superior I never get to see them could also be Pine Martin but I think their tracks are supposed to be parallel not staggered I think I'm at the top of this Trail now so start going down the lake I'm camped on is right back there and I wish there was a clearing in the trees because there' be quite a view that way maybe I'll find [Music] one another gross [Music] hole nice Woodpecker on this Birch right here lots of Aspen around here which looks similar but it's the Birch and a pretty sure it's a hairy woodpecker but the male hairy and Downey woodpeckers look extremely similar but I think the Harry has a longer bill so I'm going with [Music] [Music] Harry and while I walk here's a riddle for you what do you call it when you're hoping for a northern lights but all you get is [Music] Stars [Music] getting pretty close to the [Music] lake feel like they're trying to intimidate me oh and there's uh there a couple wood Beckers here too don't know if I've ever been serenad like that by birds in Winter I'm at the fork that way leads hypothetically toward the Trap Line Trail and this toward the main Lake well that was a first for me I was coming up to this gross hole and I thought I saw something dark there and sure enough as I approached it shot out here into the woods there's a gross right in the center of the frame at the base of that Birch very close now there it is sweet after day one's plans went down the drain I didn't think I'd be getting here so this feels extra good it's got to go through a little Narrows there and then it'll be on the main Lake this is quite a large lake and it drains the North End of This Bay ahead and forms that Creek that stopped me on day one and I figured there might be some sketchy ice here here sure enough a little open patch even after a cold night and it's all covered in hor Frost there beautiful on to the big [Music] lake [Music] what a spectacular Lake dotted with islands and the way the snow was sculpted by that North Wind during the storm is it belongs in an art museum I wish I could see it all I wish I could have my Camp here but I'll have to take what I can get and spend a nice couple hours here think I'll go over to that bay and then tour around the islands and back gotta make sure I get back before dark there are wild beasts out here time for a little break haven't really stopped all day it's been too good too exciting and it's a little Bittersweet that I'm not camping here here but just happy I got to spend the day I'm in the island cluster now so I'll start working my way back slowly it's going to take probably 3 hours and I don't want to get caught out here in the dark oh that was wonderful back to the Narrows about 2 hours probably to get back and my feet are starting to drag but stove will be lit with dinner on in no time home sweet home oh [Applause] [Music] got myself freshened up change the clothes mug it tea and just as the sun's going down rehydrated lasagna for dinner delicious and here's the answer to the riddle what do you call it when you're hoping for the northern lights but just get stars constellation prize simple living out here feels good around another Bend I caught hold of a magnificent sight a majestic female moose standing together the bank with a young calf day five before Brave cing the Blustery Boreal black beam breakfast burritos just about ready got down to-5 this morning actually it was- 17 last night it's been rising slowly supposed to hit 4 degrees and sunny this afternoon so it's time to give this Lake proper ice fish and tomorrow weather permitting I'm strongly debating trying to get back to the creek at the pond I don't I don't even know can't even describe why exact ex L it just looks Scenic to me looks like a spot that's off the beaten path and wouldn't get seen much might not hold any fish it might be shallow it's just calling me got Camp tour is done a little firewood for tonight and I wanted to note one thing I didn't use a tripod or a bipod for the the pipe on this STP instead went with these lines and I really like this I'll probably always go with this it's just one less thing to have to get I got a hose clamp on there and for now some paper clips and a split ring okay on to the lake so I'm back to the outlet for the lake seems like the most promising feature and I did see that debris Cloud get kicked up which I now know wasn't beavers there's no inflow to the lake nothing significant it's just like a bowl in these Hills collecting the water that falls on them so seems like my best shot and today is a win-win if I get something then I know I'm always just curious what's in a lake and if I don't get anything then I can move on in peace to hopefully greener pastures well I'm on top of a log I like that it's good to have a solid piece of structure nothing doing down there aside from the Aquatic insects women buy but at least I got to the bottom of the debris Cloud mystery on the bottom it's quite Mucky and under that there's sometimes gas trapped and when you make bottom contact with the lure sometimes a some of that gas just belches out so that's what it was not a fish to be seen yet so after about half an hour at the first hole I'm out in the middle of the lake just to try something different but to be honest my mind is elsewhere I'm really thinking about tomorrow I almost wish I had left for the ponds today but then I wouldn't have even had a good chance to ice fish this and that just seems like a waste well this little lake is shocking ly deep just reached the end of my spool which I think is 100 ft long and I can't see bottom or anything so that is very [Music] interesting come up come [Music] up [Music] it is nice out here in the middle of the lake to have a panoramic view and I'm wondering about that Snowshoe hair that was out here in the middle of the snowstorm was it just admiring The View I can't imagine why else it would be out here Spence boat now in the middle of the lake One Last Shot here by Camp well even if the ice fishing is slow it's a wonderful day to be ice fishing wind is rushing through the trees and it's so pleasant so I'm happy and it's going to be hard to leave Camp behind that's the one thing about leaving this one is quite perfect got a perfect sun exposure but still quite sheltered great view parched 10 or 15 ft above the lake and tons of standing dead firewood and Birch Park so it's really a perfect winter camp hopefully I'll find something decent tomorrow back home for the final fire here tomorrow morning I'm packing up and leaving got a fall day moving hot tent camps is always a long day so and there's a chance of rain later in the afternoon and evening so I want to get the shelter up as soon as possible time to light the fuse made a fire before I left always nice to come back to and there's some Scotch that needs [Music] swigging [Applause] so here's the plan tomorrow and keep in mind all the lines I've drawn on here are not specially accurate at all but give you the idea come back on the trail that I took in get back up to here it's more like over here and this is the Trap line and it's just bulldo to get over to the Trap line which runs up along the north side of this pond and it's funny that I would call it a pond CU it's actually bigger than the lake I'm on SO call it a lake whatever you want it's just a widening of this Creek that flows through here from the air and on satellite it just looks quite Charming in here so I can't wait a and that there should be some unknown regions preserved as hunting grounds for the poetic imagination George Elliot Middle March 1874 day six and it is a privilege to be waking up so mild like this this feels easy at freezing and I got as much done as I could last night including something as little as putting a tea bag and sweetener in My Cup ready to go at 9:00 a.m. on the nose pretty darn good for hot tent camp passing the alleged bear Den one more time back to the trail it's going to be a long haul with these snow conditions So Soft thankfully I'm going down these Hills just about to start The Descent and there's a pretty good view here couldn't see with the snow on the way in on day one so I'm back to the area where I want to cut through the bush to get to the pond and that trap Line Trail and I've come to the conclusion that my route on day one was absolute Madness coming back was downhill in this snow it's like clumping to snowshoes and whatnot um it was tough but day one that was that was insane I should never have done that anyway I did have one decent idea on day one which is to split up the load leave the freight to bgen and do five trips probably with the utility sled so that's going to have to be my Approach with the Melt yesterday there's just no no chance of getting afraid to buing through there so it's going to be slow and steady but should get there okay here we go I just scouted the trail cleared it it's 250 m is the path of least resistance which seems like nothing but it's just the freak toog is too long so this will be doable and I think I can get it down to four loads which I've split up fairly evenly here so it shouldn't be too bad so we got the first load to the Trap line 100 m down the Trap line which is pretty clear and then 100 m through these Woods which is not bad at all and I can get to the pond here but to get my first look CH yelling at me wow what a slice of paradise okay I'm going to have to go a little further down the Trap line at some distance but I want to be more out in the middle there uh just encourage me that didn't make sense at all why go in the Trap line where there's blow down travel on the pond I'm so thrilled so I look for the closest spot I can find to camp and that'll probably mean half a kilometer for each load so before long I found a trail leading back to the Trap line so that would have got me here in the end but doesn't matter either way and there's a pretty perfect clearing here for the tent I don't think I'll find better and I don't want to add too much distance and it's nice to have the illusion of being you're the first person to fish something but that's never the case not a problem I'm sure it sees very little action I think this will be home okay three more trips each way and then I'm in Paradise load number two three number four baby made it is a highlight of the trip for me right now energy is low though need some fuel I'm going to cook something up boil some water and enjoy this paradise have it all to [Laughter] [Applause] myself [Music] still a ton left to do today but just feels good to get off my [Applause] feet setting up the frame I've got a line that I run from end to end and that's not just to hang things off of to dry I have a tot line hinch here so I just tighten that up and then that keeps this part together with the two orange Corners the legs slide in and out freely from the orange Corners there's no way to stop that until you get them into the corner of the tent and then that holds it all together should be a really nice Camp mug of tea and shepherd's pie ah so uplifting energy levels are already up before even eating it sometimes you just need a good old boil up it is 4° C my boots are sof and wet no shortage of dead standing wood here I won't need much with the temperature coming it's nice to get some in the bag tomorrow could be fairly rainy final chore of the day I'm going to light the fire and dry out so here it is Camp two pretty happy with it little gear tree over there had to get some boughs to stay out the wet stuff and the hanging line is going to be hopping tonight ow second ration of chili tonight oh I need a good meal and then I'm going to drift right off to sleep dry clean clothes on actually this shirt's unworn I've been saving it for the right day that feels amazing see fitting as well delicious piece of garlic na I can't wait plenty of cheese in there oh yeah it is way too hot in here with the outside temperature but I got to turn this thing into a dryer basically that's good well I can't keep my eyes open any longer so happy I'm here and can't wait to explore this Lake tomorrow the rain held off all day and on my satcom forecast it looks like it might come in a bit and might even be snow now that it's a little colder so fingers crossed for that oh morning day seven bedad situation continues to deteriorate I've got canola for breakfast seeds um sunflower and pumpkin and almond powdered milk cinnamon and de dehydrated apples that's like probably three apples there so good breakfast to get going and the tea as always it rained a bit last night and freezing rain but snow so if you're starting to think what if all the snow melts with this warm spell it's a good question satcom forecast is calling for strong easterly winds today and possible rain this evening and overnight so East Winds are never any good feeling very happy with Camp I'm going to prep a bit more firewood this morning while it's cool and then hit the lake which I have a beautiful view of here actually I'd have a great Sunrise view if it was an overcast so hope you I'll get that some point another Charming aspect of this Camp is that it has an indoor plant small Balsam fur taken quite a shine to it and I'm calling him wallom fur because wallam fur eventually becomes walls the very walls that plag back country users not me I would never do that to you Dad so here's the deal on these ponds I'm camped somewhere on the North Shore of this main Pond here in fact I'm going to call it a lake it's bigger than my last Camp it's just an unnamed Lake then there's a second sort of separate Basin here which looked shallower on on satellite not not sure and then this third smaller Basin looked very shallow so probably Focus my efforts here today and maybe try these later in the trip one last order of business before I get out there it's the Blustery Boreal I harvested a little bit of the chaga that was on a birch right beside the camp one tent and I'm going to plunk it into this Kettle and just keep that simmering there and we'll have some lovely chaga tea full of antioxidants so I got my Camp Tores done short up the firewood Supply a bit and it's just a couple degrees below freezing I hope it stays below I'm heading out on the lake do some ice fishing and exploring and that lure that I saw yesterday hanging off the tree is a worm harness which is commonly used to troll for walleye in the summer so I have a sneaking suspicion or a hope that this is a water walleye water body so I crossed over to the south side of the lake that Hill back there I was camped on the other side of that that's where the little Lake was and this Bay is where the inflow is from the big lake that I snowshoed to so I think this will be the best bet get all those nutrients coming into the lake here so I think fish will be attracted to it and a big Point here at the mouth of the bay so stop number one the ice is plenty thick here just as thick as anywhere else over a foot but I'm sure around the inflow it's pretty pretty sketchy so I'll stay well clear of that and let's have a look on to Hole number two which has some more features there a couple of logs falling into the water here which made me stop some small weeds down there but nothing yet oh he's back water over there that's awesome to see there's some visibly bad ice here at the outlet which is expected but I'm going to cautiously get out here I think it's the best spot for fishing so take a small risk it's bad ice right over there but drilled a few holes as I came further and further out and no problem plenty of ice very shallow though see the mud there that came up the bay is extremely shallow here and it's almost Frozen to bottom so that's not promising for fishing but what a treat to get to watch this otter that's why I love off the beaten path places like this we can find more Wildlife totally worth it for just for that guy and that's the other thing with the otter I don't think too many fish are just going to be chilling out around here that otter wants a fish for dinner even more than I do [Music] [Music] for moved a little farther rout to get some depth and I nearly dropped the camera on a northern pike looked like a log at first I was like what the heck is that okay see if he's still around some freshwater clams down there which I'm sure the otter is enjoying y y yep yep yep O come on no yes yes still there still there oh uhoh Tangled Up from the camera that's not good okay camera's out well my battery chose a funny time to die look at that perfect eater northern pike got my club here dispatch it right away thank you so much what an absolute gift perfect eating size maybe four or 5 lbs oh yes my body could sure use this I can't wait to have this for dinner I'm going to Fay it up right here and of course I'll leave the carcass for my friend over there yes that was exciting just cleaned it up with the five Fila method and this one is a female you can see the egg sack there and I eat that sometimes but I'll leave it for the otter in this case it's H or Miss and five beautiful filets for me plenty of meat on the carcass here in the W bones which you have to play around unfortunately but in this case happy result for the otter so I caught the fish there at those Narrows welcome back to my original hole I haven't actually seen the otter in maybe half an hour anyway I'll leave it here I'm sure I'll pick up the scent thanks to the fish and now we wait the wind should be spraying that scent all over the place should be easy for something to find well it's been about 45 minutes and I bad the wanted to see the otter enjoy the fish but no ice and I got to get back and enjoy my own dinner so I'm going to head back to Camp it's pretty chilly out here in this wind too it's supposed to be some really strong wind tonight and possibly rain so yeah I want to get back to camp and get nice and cozy M really good I just had salmon spice or text mix I can't remember what was in that little jar but it's working that was very satisfying wash it down with a nice mug of CH of tea very dark it's tasty it's kind of like in between a coffee and a tea subtle vanilla I don't know it's hard to describe it is unique subtle honey it's good and earthy very earthy well I've had a lovely evening here looking out my window drinking chaga and listening to the wind which is supposed to continue getting stronger so hopefully all these trees hang on tonight some big spruces here so other than that it's pretty much a wrap for day seven tomorrow I hope to do some more exploring but I'll have to see what the weather does [Applause] for [Music] [Music] he this is some magic this morning would have start to day eight n hatches and chiadis around and woodpeckers and the breeze gorgeous fog rolling over the lake unreal and it's supposed to hit 7° today after a thunderstorm last night and earlier in this trip it was- 26 air temperature would have been at least - 35 with a windshell in a snowstorm that is a 42° C temperature difference on one trip I've never had that absolutely insane weather the only casualty here is the snow and I am somewhat concerned about hauling out but it'll be what it'll be if need be I'll leave the camp here this is my contingency plan wait for some snow and and come back which I wouldn't mind doing this is just an amazing spot I got the sunrise through the window as I hoped wum is quite enjoying it he said he's ready to start growing season happy times and another muga chaga I leave that chunk of chaga in the kettle overnight in cold water cuz it actually extracts antioxidants in a different way than hot water so you can get a double bone benefit and you can also extract once that's Tapped Out the remaining antioxidants using alcohol to make a tincture we have done eron that at home morning morning world this is now my longest winter trip ever I've done a few week-long trips first time I've hit eight days so I was woken around 1:00 a.m. last night this deafening Roar and I thought it was the wind at first I was relieved to realize that it was Thunder after that front hit the wind died down a little bit but the rain continued through the night and you may be wondering how a cotton canvas tent doesn't leak well the fa fabric is treated for mildew fire retardancy and I believe water repellency as well but even without that it's a tight weave and the water just Wicks down the outside side and no leaks whatsoever pretty interesting how that works and with all that water the lake is pretty soupy today so I'm going to take a stroll down the Trap Line Trail and see if it'll offer any benefit to getting back to the main trail in a couple of [Music] days so I'm a kilometer down the Trap line and it is in fantastic condition it would have been the best trail of the trip if I had hauled on this but I have no idea where it starts and no how idea how far I have to go to find out so I'll keep walking for a bit but it might be too far to be of any [Music] use [Music] [Music] looks like a lynx has used this Trail since the last snowfall pretty round track no claws the more notable Predators around here are links wolf bear and there was a cougar spotted in pakasa National Park a year or two ago 6 months before that I was in pakasa National Park driving around or just outside of it actually and 2 or 300 M down the road I saw a long figure with a long tail and I was I was like there's no way that was a a mountain lion or a cougar so I talked myself into believing it was just a wolf and it was far down the road and I just it was kind of a mirage but then the trail cam footage showed up from puasa so I probably did see that cougar which is pretty cool big moose tracks [Music] now moose and Lynx tracks have been going alongside each other for a bit now along with mine now and then the lynx properly veers off moose continues seen trees with a lot of caners if that's what you call these I can't remember but this one takes the cake it is more growth than it is wood even the branches couple of particularly huge trembling Aspen here so this is pretty interesting after 2 and 1 12 kilm this Trail hits another Forester Road as I thought it might this Trail is not visible on satellite and I could exit this way it say it would save me doing the F the four runs back and forth with the utility sled which would be nice but it's a little further with the freight toin so I'll have to mull it over and if I ever ran into an animal I do have a weapon this so This tripod is quite solid and the head on it [Applause] yeah back to camp and here's why I stuck to the Trap line today this lake is turned into soup so it's supposed to get to - 6 tonight and then - 11 for the final night hopefully that's the case and then tomorrow I'll explore Those Distant ponds losing the snow here just brought my ice fishing gear down and I was just going to stay close to camp but in the last 30 or 40 minutes it's gotten even worse so I'm going to pass and hope that this free freezes up reasonably well for tomorrow what a mess just padded my firewood Supply a little more to see me through the rest of the trip and I wish I could do more with today it's beautiful but just a soupy mess one thing I can do is go retrieve my Freight toboggan I've decided I'm going to take the trail that I explored today it's a little more distance but I don't have to go back and forth with the utility sled and there's snow here there were no bald spots so I'll take that Assurance so I'm going to go grab the sled and then I will just cozy up in the tent back to my original Trail where I left the tobogan and with no load and reasonably well established Trail now no problem to get it through with no load slides through everything pretty well but I made the right call this would have been hell this is what I mean by wallam fur it could be a lot worse than this Snow's decent here but stuff like this makes me more confident in the Trap line look at this gnarly chaga it's a good size and chaga is fairly valuable as well people sell it online it could be $100 worth maybe more so since I have the time today took a little detour back to the creek that I hit on day one just curious to see how how fast it's flowing yeah it's definitely got a bit more flow nothing insane I could have put some logs here and threw some snow on top but it just seemed like a risk and there's so many variables on day one oh it's nice to hear flowing water more chickes nut hatches and woodpecker seem to travel together which is interesting and there's an old bird's nest here that's broken on this Branch okay whole family's back together and tomorrow is one of the most anticipated days of the trip finally get to explore the rest of these ponds not much snow left here ooh look at that the water is raining down my water hole now it's all scuzzy well I guess I'll just scrape some water off the surface somewhere else it's cleaner than [Applause] that pad thae kit for dinner and I was wishing I had some eggs or tofu or some fresh veggies but it do have some cashews that'll have to do comes with some dried chives and peanuts too should be pretty good hungry Crow out there [Music] too to close out day eight I regret to inform you that I have another riddle for you to endure here it is on you I float I walk on water trudging after the mink in the otter clicking and clacking in Frozen sand drifting across a desolate Land hours will spend bound to each other till I grow weary of my wooden brother I'll take you off for a while I think but quickly recall how fast I sink [Applause] [Applause] don't worry it's just the surface ice plenty of good ice beneath [Applause] it gor just start at day 9 and it's- 600 or 7 this morning almost forgot what it was like to to feel chilly today is the day I've been waiting for get to explore the enchanted ponds The Ponds that for some reason are just calling to me so I'm really excited I'm going to get some lasagna on for breakfast and get on my way the heat of these last few days and the Heat of the stove we've been waking up a number of spiders almost a spring buddy last night while some confided me that his Crush lives right down the street her name's ficia put this log there so I don't crush her all right I'm ready to get on my way I was going to leave my ice fishing gear and pack light but I can't resist just going to break this down for now I'm going to break this down for now could not have asked for better conditions for this day first stop Pike carcass ice looks a little sketchy around here beautiful though no that's just the old ice it's good very good ice but now it's exposed because there's no snow no on top look at that that is gorgeous I do have my pick on me though of course this is that slippery ice that's hard to pull yourself out of so these would help me get grip oh I love that well the Pike's gone I'd be shocked and disappointed if it weren't but unfortunately no snow left to show trash or anything but it was probably the otter in any case I'm glad something got it so here's the plan I'm going to check out this interesting bowl-shaped Wetland I'm here right now and then after that I'll continue and just do a loop around these ponds and back and see what catches my attention for fishing stop number two oh yeah beautiful spot this is my kind of Scenery Hill in the background in a big wet land lovely spot for a Beaver Lodge this one's somewhat in shambles so it's probably abandoned there's a long track straight across this little bowl and it leads to the some Flowage here so could be the otter again but tracks are so indistinct yeah there's an otter slide right there they slide on their bellies I'm at the end of the lake at the first connector stream and it seems to be quite a tangle with no sort of a path that I can see so I'll have to leave the sled here just carry on pack and light any fish species that would be in these ponds should also be in here in the spring they could easily flow into this so it shouldn't be like there's brook trout in there and not here and a glorious secluded pond on the other end here really love this if there had been more snow would loved to haul in here and set up a third Camp uh to be an otter sliding around on your belly here's another little Bay that looks like it's getting ready to ice so it's early March and for reference this sort of thing and this level of snow usually hasn't happened until early May here so just a crazy winter on to Pond number three somehow sounds even cooler right now these ponds are getting me closer to the feeling that I live for which is seeing and walking and paddling new places exploring them for myself and having the sense that not too many people tread on this land or see it there is that trail that leads to the lakeem camped on which sort of took away from that sense but you know you're never really the first to see anything and really it's most likely a handful of Anglers and Hunters who use the lake that I'm camped on there are thousands of trails out here in the bush and most of them are only known by word of mouth so generally not too many people know them but it's great to get off the beaten path like this End of the Road the end of the third Pond there's a long Beaver Dam small Lodge out there and a large one in the distance there but the ice is getting kind of sketchy there's moving water here so I'm going to head back and I've got plenty of time for [Music] [Music] fishing [Music] there's a [Music] gross yesterday's riddle answerer snow shoes although the ones I brought in this trip are just lightweight modern one since there's not much snow not wooden and I'm not sinking much or at all right now Beaver Paradise here back to home base time for fishing still curious if there's anything else besides Pike in here including that hunch about walleye starting at out the outlet of the Pawns ready here extraction tools do keep a spare set of blades on a longer trip like this if you bought them out on a rock there could put need a super sharp edge to drill through the moved a little further out for hole number two and I love fishing shallow because a is better lighting for the camera which I can't use right now cuz it's low battery and B you can even see right down the hole it's fun to watch so I've been all around the lake drilled about eight holes including where I caught the pike no luck today but I'm just happy I got a panful of fish I'm not going to be too greedy about it and there's a big hole here this is the outlet Bay of the lake and that's pretty unusual shape I wouldn't be surp surpris at all if a moose went through here at some point recently that's my guess but no tracks to reveal more it's getting pretty icy out here skating rink beautiful day though yet another Beaver Lodge at the outlet this one seems like it might not be used but it's time to head back to Camp I'm hankering a nice hot meal and some tea back to Camp not quite empty-handed got a little beud log to add some hardwood to the fire tonight [Music] perch [Music] the wolf coming my way two of them no way no way that's so awesome oh my God there's the pack a pack this one's glaring right at me wow still not sure where the third one went have to keep an eye on my [Music] surroundings [Music] [Music] o it's one thing to see an animal the side of the highway another thing altogether to see it on day nine of a solo Backcountry trip in Winter I can't believe that just happened that was one of if not the best Wildlife setting in my life I've seen tons of bears and moose and special ones but I've never seen wolves like that where they let me actually film them oh man I was shaking with excitement and one went out of view so I had no idea for a moment I thought were those two trying to distract me and the other one was going to circle around what a Capper to this trip I truly can't believe that just happened and I just heard a little stirring thank goodness it is dead quiet right now I never would have seen them it would have walked right past camp and I never would have known I'm absolutely thrilled by that one last call to the water and hole and I am still just Overjoyed brought the axe just to be cautious but attacks on humans are so rare so nothing to be too afraid of it's supposed to be clear tonight so I planed to stargaze and that'll have a slightly different vibe as well but I'll keep the ax Clos just in case you got to respect their power going to have a look for any tracks oh yeah there are some and it's not that the wolves are benevolent toward humans no they need every bit of the food they can find they just I guess they understand that we're a power look at this see links are more rounded without the claws here you can see clearly see the claw marks that's the one that went back in just fantastic I said these pawns were calling to me I never could have expected this much what an [Music] experience [Music] I'm just soaking up the final evening here still in awe tomorrow I'll be continuing on the Trap line which will go somewhere like like that and then I'll take another Forester Road up to here for about a kilometer I think and then there's the main forcer road that I came in on I walk 3 km back that way and get back to my car and drive back here to pick up my load day nine I never thought it would come to this my men have resorted to cannibalism two of my devices are currently devouring their fellow drone controller and battery pack just for the energy to stay alive one more night and we thought AI was a threat well I can easily say now that this is my favorite winter trip ever hands down and I thought that the whole trip was going to hell after my plans on day one got totally scrambled and I ended up at that little Lake in the Hills but as fate would have it I still got to see the lake so that I plan to when I discovered that there was a trail to the big lake saw that big wind sculpted Lake and then eventually these Charming ponds The Enchanted ponds generally I got to cover a lot of ground on this trip and it gave me that feeling of exploration and Adventure that I don't always get on a winter trip I didn't see a soul out here or even have any sign of anyone else having been here this season I got to move camp this trip which I don't often do in winter with the hot tent alone it's a big job with this outfit and the wildlife even before tonight was was really nice there were tons of birds as many birds as I've ever got on a winter trip the interaction with the otter was a highlight they're such interesting animals so playful and curious I'll never forget the Snowshoe hair standing in the middle of the lake in a snowstorm that was so Random also got to track lots of animals and got a pike dinner for me and my friends and the rest of my meal plan was very good as well lots of enjoyable meals put in just a little extra effort on this trip and paid dividends except for hauling it up the hill then I suffered for it and then the wildlife was just capped off with one of the best interactions I've ever had in the wild and after thinking about it only two things I can think of that compare are the two Woodling Caribou that I've seen in my life and one link lyx interaction the one good one I've ever had but aside from from that that was tops having them stare me in the eye and to have one come out and two and then three a pack it was amazing Unforgettable and then there was all kinds of weather from- 26 before the wind chill to a heatwave plus seven in Winter there were snowstorms sleet and even a thunderstorm strong wind and finally on this trip I got to spend the full 10 days in Winter for the first time and it's always satisfying to explore your own personal boundaries I know this wasn't some heroic epic achievement but it still means something to me and it's an experience I think I look back on later in life and be really glad that I had it and I could happily stay out here longer 15 days I feel like I would be happy to do maybe even longer but I'd be able of batteries to document any of it and that's that's been the biggest challenge of this trip is trying to power all these devices and I I love filming it wouldn't be the same without it for me so it's totally worth it but I've had to ration the batteries pretty strictly the last few days I've really restricted my phone use as well there's no signal out here but I still use it for various things including audiobooks like I was listening to earlier now if I did listen to an audiobook I'd put it on really low volume and have the phone right beside my ear while I was trying to fall asleep just to save a little power and aside from that I've only got a day and a half left of food I want to get back to Aaron and I have lots to do at home before the busy spring canoe tripping season starts and spring isn't too far off now which is very exciting in winter it's the darkness that's tough not the cold and you can just feel the swell of life that's about to return to this land in the north it's very exciting but it's also a wonderful time of winter so we got now and I've got spring coming up it's wonderful I'm just going to enjoy this last evening here by the stove tomorrow I got a full day packing up hauling out and getting back home [Music] got nice place going and close it down for the night little pile of fir hood here if I want to keep it going and I've got my stick for the damper so I don't have to get up closing this flu damper really slows down the burn just like that okay what a trip day 10 last night I told myself if I happen to wake up early I could have one more fire I had just enough wood and I woke up at 5:00 had to pee the ice was booming out there and decided to get up and enjoy it and watch the sunrise which is just starting to glow on the horizon [Music] [Music] back to the Forest Road after the Trap line snow held up and all went well got about a kilometer down this road with the load and then a 3 km walk back to my car on the main forestry road to wrap this up just a week before this trip Aon and I did our 7day Igloo build trip so I've spent 17 of the last 24 days out here in the bush in winter so glad I got to get the most of this season while it lasts maybe maybe there's more to come maybe this is just a false spring but this has really recharged my batteries anyway this battery is about to die so see you in the next [Music] one [Music] yeah every year the world gets a little more crowded a little less wild a little more subtle we are fortunate to still have vast areas of wilderness in some unexplored territory but what remains is unlikely to last long in the face of an evergrowing human population coupled with an insatiable thirst for natural resources

Channel: Lost Lakes

Views: 210,140

Keywords: lost lakes, camping, fishing, ontario, canada, bushcraft, backcountry angling ontario, winter, wilderness, solo

Id: _12FtlUPJuE

Length: 117min 50sec (7070 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 22 2024