10 Days Alone in a Canoe Camping Paradise - Temagami

[Music] [Music] back into mogami at last it's been about five years very excited to be back i had about an eight hour drive to get here to the access point at moet landing put in about a 10 kilometer paddle and one portage behind me to camp right here on the outside just outside of the conservation reserve and then i'll be heading somewhere down here something like this we'll see we played by here so many options garlic naan and butter chicken are my favorite foods on earth doing the long drive to get down here today i was starting to wonder like why am i driving so far for this trip i have infinite tripping possibilities and much shorter drive and i was feeling anxiety for some reason inexplicable chemicals in the brain and uh tamagomi has just immediately given me my campings then feels so good so so happy and relaxed here now and extremely excited for this trip i got a perfect sunset view just so that here's the tomogram [Music] um so beautiful morning on the water before 7am trying to get a head start on any wind that might kick up on lady evelyn lake here it's a big lake and i'm in lady eveland east lady evelyn lake conservation reserve it's the first of four parks or reserves that i'll be going through sandhill cranes are croaking like crazy over there and uh the balloons were howling all night like a pack of rabbit wolves it was beautiful unfortunately there's also the noise of motor boats on this lake which is okay those people have every right to be here but it's not what i want to hear on a back country trip but i've only put one portage behind me so i haven't earned that solitude and quiet yet uh this trip has about 30 portages in total depending on how i do it and once i put some more of those behind me then i expect to only hear the cranes and the loons there are two big fishing lodges on lady evelyn and it's big enough lake to disperse that traffic but it's noticeable [Laughter] hmm [Music] stopped here in the narrows for lunch and this fire pit is pretty much exactly what you don't want beer cans those are souvenirs for me some aluminum foil a disgusting like sponge or something i don't even know what this is scouring pad i guess that will come with me too or maybe i'll burn it looks like it's it would burn fine and uh some some toilet paper oh and cigarette butts lots of cigarette butts uh so i'm gonna have a good hot fire clean this out and go on with my life i'm gonna get a good rage and fire going here just to try and cleanse it stuff like this it's upsetting it used to make me outright mad there's no point in getting mad so an excellent quote recently and it was something to the effect of as soon as someone can make you angry they are your master and that's so true if someone if you're mad at someone they are in your head they control your thoughts so why be mad really hot fire sterile now at this point still garbage in there i'm sure um you can really taste the moist wipes and like a lingering of cigarette butts on the pallet it's a nice hot sunny day but the heat sucks the life out of me so i'm trying something new just this electrolyte a little sport drink mix see if it helps me i'm into sucker gut lake now and i can come down here into frank's falls there or cut across through betty's hole and down through chris willis lake this is it says peat bog numerous wetlands and sand dunes sounds quite interesting to me so i'm inclined to go there a little bit longer portage there but meaningless gets me to the same place i'm in betty's hole it's nice pretty warm though what come on this little creek that leads me to chris willis lake where i was hoping to set up camp tonight my map says this creek is shallow there's just enough water in it right now to clear my draft i'm hoping doesn't dry up because if i have to backtrack it's going to add a lot of kilometers to this day which is already going to be about 30 kilometers [Applause] ran out of water and there's about a half a kilometer left to the next lake so i'm gonna scout it out over land and see if it's feasible otherwise we've got a back track a long ways that's the walk of shame back to old betty just looked too nasty the other way and yeah i got several kilometers to backtrack but at least there's straightforward kilometers so [Applause] [Applause] oh [Applause] that was a full day earlier today i got the bad or actually the ugly of campsites and today this evening the good pristine site not a speck of garbage nice cut wood and even some splits left behind and perfect birch bark a lot of good people in the world too really nice sight this uh this fire pit's elevated a little bit nice view of the lake a little beach for landing that's perfect rock campsite with a little beach landing that's the ideal [Music] very nice site complete with wind chime this wind is actually really appreciated pap wilson along with his wife andrea operate the cabin falls eco lodge in tomogame ontario is that so some campsites are buggy some have tons of ants this one has a plague of toads but they're all very cute look at this one that burrowed into the sand under the canoe same with this one here just look at them all all these little things toads on my way at quarter after seven today and got some more santa and crackers for breakfast just get on my way today is supposed to be bright and sunny and 28 celsius tomorrow is supposed to be warm as well and then after that it's supposed to get pretty nasty potentially for four or five straight days so this is why i'm trying to wake up early these days and try and cover some distance while i can beautiful falls sun's hitting it perfectly in the morning and i'm just really serving the fish here i i didn't have a desire to on lady evelyn it was just more developed than i expected and i just wanted to blow by it so the section that i'm about to paddle the north channel of the lady evelyn river is also known as trout streams so that's intriguing but i suspect this route is fairly well traveled and is not going to be some kind of honey hole but we'll see so so [Applause] gorgeous spot here at centre falls sculpted rock a beautiful cast dude give me help getting the canoe up here here we go the initial parts could be the hardest actually really helps if you have free hands grab okay huh [Applause] three portages down and five left for today i'm really enjoying this stuff got orange flavor today quarters up there on the left so this is probably the most scenic spot of the trip so far this waterfall i think this is center falls is no helen helen falls it's uh it's like an s curve and then there's this beautiful little canyon here with the narrows and a campsite badly wishing that aaron was here and we could set up there hang in the hammocks oh it's such a pretty spot this could be one of the highlights of the trip right here helen poles what i saw from the bottom was just this that's just a just a tail end of it wow phenomenal not a long portage maybe 300 meters but quite a steep one on to number five oh on to number six after this one i get a nice paddling break on catherine lake i'll stop there for lunch into catherine lake and there's a weird haze here that looks like a forest fire haze i guess it's just like a hot humid day kind of haste i don't smell any forest fire there weren't any in the area before i left i checked but how's that look ended up being one extra obstacle to get around but i waited that and then the subsequent portage my feet were wet so i just waited that one so worked out i'm now approaching the shangri-la falls which are supposed to be pretty scenic i'm actually going backward that way but just a slight detour to see these falls [Applause] another nice campsite if you like rapids sleeping side rapids and there's something on the ground here that's kind of interesting all right into my camp lake that last port was tough at the end of this day they were all pretty tough so i'm glad i'm here looks pretty unique [Applause] um yeah this lake is really unique i'm glad i came it was a grind everything ever since catherine like lake has been uh just a detour i badly need water i swim it looks really marshy along the shores i hope my campsite is going to have some decent access to the water made it to camp and it's uh it's a pretty rustic one doesn't seem to get as much use fire pit's pretty overgrown but uh that's usually how i like it so i've got water filtering that was first priority and while it's doing that i'm gonna jump in it's it's not ideal it's mucky and rocky and shallow lakes called dry lake so go figure but it'll feel just as good [Applause] a little buggy all right oh yeah oh yes [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so it's the most rustic one yet for sure but it'll do fine lifted up a couple of rocks to rebuild this fire pit of course our ants in there there usually are and it amazes me to watch them work all right ants have worn out their eviction notice it's time got some garlic bread going big pot of chili cheesy and i threw a ton of cheese in there got this small little grate that joe gave me last year it's perfect just a small little lightweight grill when there's nothing at the campsite very excited about this i ended up not stopping for lunch i always do that just caught up exploring every time i say i'll stop in 20 minutes just don't one thing i would love right now is a chair the back rest hmm just checking in with aaron on the zolio and checking the weather the weather has played a huge factor on how i've executed this trip and i'll show you what i mean so over here on the weather to tomorrow is looking fine tuesday wednesday thursday i knew this coming in significant rain but also a high chance of thunderstorms as well so i'm gonna have to get this section done tomorrow this river section because if i don't then i will be doing these rocky portages along the river steep portages on in wet conditions and that's uh that can be dangerous so yeah i have no intention of doing that it's a bit of a shame to have to rush this section but i've also just enjoyed exploring i don't really like sitting around all afternoon at camp so it's been good my body's pretty wrecked but i'll have rest day on that first rainy day and there's aaron's reply all good there that's good just nice to know so i've got everything done tonight that will help me get started tomorrow morning lots to do tomorrow morning just gonna have another look at the map so so far i've come down from my access point here landing down and across lady evelyn lake into sucker gut lake over to betty's hole and then i tried to go down this creek into chris welles backtracked camped there last night and then today upstream on the north channel of the lady evelyn river into dry lake here gotcha so a big part of the reason why i came to dry lake was for this trail here which starts at this campsite the trailhead is just up there but after that i want to do that tomorrow morning i was actually hoping to do it tonight but i just don't have it in me so tomorrow come back down and then so this is the northern channel of lady evelyn river this is the south i'm hoping to come down here and get as far as i can we'll see and i suspect these portages are going to be about as rough as the north channel although i'll be going downstream which means dropping elevation so that'll help but still i don't want to do it when it's all wet like i said last night i'm reading hap wilson's book river of fire he actually owns this cabin here cabin falls and there's a chance i could see him tomorrow which would be interesting but i also own his book on tomogamy paddling in tomogamy and i made some copies of the the rapid details for this section it's a chance i'll get some white water in this tomorrow but i'll have to see the water is low ah time for a little morning hike for four sunrise this tea in the carved into the tree marks the trail head makes sense when i first saw it i thought it meant toilet [Music] giant here comes the sunrise i actually thought this tree was spray painted it's just the sun [Music] there's an old fire tower atop that hill there like i saw it from betty's hole too there's an old burn down there on the south end of the lake isolated just cuts through the forest and ribbons fantastic start to this day i can hear the rapids from afar and i've been thinking i was thinking about them planning last night with half wilson's maps and then losing maybe a small amount of sleep over it rapids i enjoy it but i'm always there's always some trepidation there and because of coved i've really lost the last two white water seasons the last two springs of camping because of camping bands i was starting to feel my stride get my stride with white water before then and then now i feel like i've been set back but only one way to get back to it and as a little bonus there are actually decent number of ripe blueberries up here my first real handful of the season in case of skin irritation like chafing i bring just a small amount of zinc oxide cream um this stuff works wonders got a little left nipple chafe don't know why too much sweating probably making burritos fill me up for a good while and for the first time ever i dehydrated green onion and add it now started the beans and stuff a little while ago the beans and veggies just because i don't think these will take long to rehydrate they're paper thin and yeah i love green onions especially in these burritos and i have an avocado which i'll be happy to get out of my pack it's somewhat heavy so that rocky spot is where i was this morning i'm on the water just after 8 a.m which is pretty good considering i hiked and had a fall breakfast and i was hoping for brook trout in this lake but it's very shallow throughout still give it a try on my way out but just as well because i have a lot of ground to cover today [Applause] right as i finish the portage nice pull all right starting off with a class two right ahead there and then a very short class one after that a little nervous i always am with white water i don't want to drown but i know i can do it you just go to start it's one of those things pretty straightforward come in the left and it looks pretty clean down through the center i waited up this yesterday but it's worth another look to get that line fresh in my mind yeah it's pretty clean it's a nice little run perfect to get me started obviously i have to avoid that rock there but that's pretty very easy just stick to the right at the end and pretty much the whole middle channel is clear okay let's get back up on the horse i'm already enjoying it it's nice to be back out on a little white water on a nice easy run almost blew it right at the end if i had come on river right there exited river right on the far right oh wait a tip there was a perfect sloping rock to just heave you over oh yeah let's do that again a friendly loon here and they're big birds when you see them up close haps maps have a lot more detail on these rapids so got them in the front this is the detailed view and then his overview here this is that interesting spot at the outlet of catherine lake i came up the north channel of lady evelyn there yesterday and today i go down the south channel it's just unusual to see a river split like this i can't think of another example i'm sure there are some but it's pretty neat so hop describes this one as a technical class one labyrinth it's barely a class one even it's a very low it is very bouldery but because it's not pushy at all i think i can pick my way through it i think i've got a decent line i'm gonna lose some paint on this one but otherwise i think it should be doable worst case i'll step out and wade it's shallow nice and easy so okay i gotta thread the needle here yep yep okay good good yep [Applause] yeah okay no problem after all those ports yesterday man i can't tell you how good that feels save me a port save two ports today i could have up to ten i'm already down to maximum of eight this one was a required portage there are at least four of those the next three being waterfalls that's one down that's the cabin falls eco lodge up there this set you can run the top of it but if you mess up canoe's going down a waterfall so what i think i'll do instead is skip over here paddle down here and do this short four times two short portages so this little shortcut would actually be pretty rough so i'm thinking i might just suck it up and take the one three hundred it's not so long anyway on his map you note some potholes this is one of them it's pretty cool just some point i guess circulating water just carved it out now it's dry sure is nice to be going down today oh look at this hap tasteful very nice here's today's noodle scratcher there's a campsite on this portage two fire pits one meter apart super special i had to use my single blade there in case anyone saw me can't let pop wilson see you sporting a double blade so the waterfalls on this route have really exceeded expectations so scenic all of them they're all hard earned i think joe did this route several years ago with his buddy kyle and he did this section of it and i remember it being a grind for them it is a grind but the fish are not here if if anyone else has paddled this and fished this be curious to know how the fishing was for you i've been caught making a few casts at the base of each falls and some rapids not a bite scouting out the next rapid this one is a set of three first one i think i can do it's a little bit tricky but not that pushy here's where it's gonna get a little more interesting well i got lucky and grounded out here on this rock in a pretty smooth fashion i think i'll just wait for a bit this part was going to be really tricky and i'm in a bad position to get into it now so just a little waiting clean up this run a little while i'm here oh should i use the portage to be done by now the entire thing i'm only halfway down this rapid here's an ugly site canoe down oh what a shame it's like a lightweight kevlar boat too that's just painful when i first got outside of it i felt my lip quiver it hurts to look at and i think i'm just going to use the portage i can hop back on it now and that's a good enough sign to expect that option this portal is just so flat and straightforward if i'd started with this instead of scouting trying to run waiting the first half of the rapid then i'd be done it by now but you win some you lose some i wouldn't recommend doing that rapid and low water though [Music] going around fat man's falls and on this portage there's something called the fat batman squeeze interested to see what that entails so i accidentally went the long way but it's for the best because this is fat man's squeeze right up through here and there's your squeeze i stopped here on the river to filter some water and chug some they're starting to get like crampy feeling in my brain which is not good the sun has definitely got to me not to mention i've started at five and it's after five now and i've been going non-stop i didn't stop for lunch so i was feeling like i didn't know how i would finish the rest of this day and i just checked the zolio and got the best gift ever i have a good hourly forecast now and it looks like tomorrow morning won't be too rainy i would rather do the rest in a little bit of rain than try and leg it out now so fantastic news chill on this really nice sight tonight i love this tarp from amok it's got this little piece here that just auto adjusts you knots just makes it easier to set up and take down i'm not doing anything else tonight i make some popcorn once the sun goes down because i can't have the sun on my skin and that's it this is actually the perfect spot for this hammock and tarp because there's a spot to guy out every guy line without staking into the ground and that gives this nice lofty pitch i can fully stand under here just nice to have some breathing room and after a grueling day like today i'm gonna hit the bottle pretty hard with electrolytes that is couldn't think of having scotch right now i'm so dehydrated i don't even know what electrolytes are but gatorade over the last 30 some odd years has convinced me that i need them got some salt and vinegar powder some much needed sodium for me today well that hits the spot huh but decent walleye that's not what i was expecting now that's not so hot i'm feeling more like fishing [Applause] can shut the fish down shut me down yeah i wasn't expecting walleye here still got some rapids before i get back to willow island lake my hands nice and wet yeah nice eater walleye under 20 inches oh just enough water i was just waiting for that that helps help me get along today which saves a short hundred meter portage but i'll take it probably should have scouted this one it's low consequence oh that's fine don't well shucks that's not what you want to see big white pine went down here hasn't been cleared yet but i can drag over it [Music] hmm through the river feels great it was so spectacular and scenic but it was a challenge and first cast another walleye yeah [Applause] it's a little guy cute great way to start the day with some walleye some easy white water and the river just opens up here into this rocky section very pretty excited for some easier travel and some more rest with the rain that's upcoming no fight from whatever this is up there it goes another walleye barbless hook pops right out just love that no messy business and this guy can just go in the water the whole time that one on a shadow wrap trolling and then the first two on this little flasher jig with a tiny paddle tail size down i like the size better for walleye than a longer paddle tail which they will often short bite so [Applause] coming into willow island lake now so i'm leaving lady evelyn smooth water provincial park back into obamacare river provincial park for a little bit a couple of big sand hill cranes there big birds another walleye i presume yep very small one just let them flip off here having lunch on a small island campsite and they tend to get pretty thick clean of firewood so it's nice to bring some with so oh um so i came through this small lake with just one campsite on it thinking it would be a ghost town on fish online it said it just had pike so i didn't think it'd be much of an attraction but i can hear voices ahead and there's only one campsite on this lake so my day night might not be over yet and i was really hoping to stop here before the rain comes but if it's taken it's taken i'm at the campsite no one home so either there were some people leaving the other end of the lake on that other portage as i got here or i'm losing the marbles nice looking site this is actually a fabulous site i love it nice white pine here small fire pit good pile of sticks no garbage and then the camping areas up here up top beautiful how sweet is this lofty tarp pitch awesome view half rest day on this quiet little lake i'm in heaven and got the tarp up before any rain started that's so nice just helps keep everything dry for the rest of the trip nice now i don't have my cup but i'm gonna make a little cocktail oh that's terrible you know when you combine two good things and they make something terrible like chicago mix popcorn i prefer both separate um [Laughter] my franken juice okay holy smokes the day after tomorrow there's i'm checking the zolio weather again there is supposed to be 41 mils of rain in that 24 hour period i don't think i've ever seen that much in a forecast for ontario you know we don't have like coastal or tropical weather and i'm actually so excited for it just to hunker down tomorrow actually looks like a pretty good travel day got rain rain rain rain rain and then looking good tomorrow until probably early the following day and then it's gonna the deluge begins but yeah i i check the weather all the time like it's an obsession for me and at home too especially now that i'm canoe tripping full time i'll check the weather 10 times a day easily sometimes more especially if i have a trip coming up uh you know in the days ahead so i'm very excited for this veggie curry it's a bit early for dinner but if it starts storming i want to just have this done [Applause] [Applause] hmm [Music] [Music] beautiful clear morning after a rainy night that's exactly what you hope for when there's rain in the forecast a fantastic campsite is probably my favorite so far i'm expecting to have a tailwind today so far that's true just two or three portages into sugar lake conservation reserve should be terrific day walking over a few rocks on this portage this morning is making me so glad i'm not doing those portages around the waterfalls when they were wet it would be really really bad good filming so we camped there last night plan today is to come up back through lady evelyn and into sugar lake conservation reserve and stop on one of these three lakes good fish angler or sugar lake quite appealing by name speaking of good names i is peanut butter and banana bay [Music] so [Music] approaching the first portage into sugar lake conservation reserve and i'm glad to see some kind of marker here i really have no idea what the state of portages and campsites are in here how well traveled it is i've never heard a report of it i'm sure people travel here that's evident from the sign there but it is too hot for a real slog it's 880 meters climbs 27 meters in elevation so i'm hoping it's good trail [Music] [Music] to sugar it's a good fish [Music] so that ended up being 1250 meters instead of 880 measured in my phone it's all right still worth it beautiful lake and i'm hoping it has a really good campsite where i'll feel inclined to ride out the next two nights i'm gonna stay here for the storm the whole storm [Applause] oh my i better find camp other bass in this lake i can tell you that this one did a couple cartwheels already oh a little acrobat keep the rod tip down if i pull up when it's trying to jump it just gives it more leverage jump out of the air and when it's in the air there's a better chance of spinning the hook it's just a little smally yeah i'm just going to record it here in the water thank you got a campsite here it looks fabulous the fire pit i don't know what happened maybe this root system kind of destroyed it but it looks like it used to be here and there's even a sign pointing to a thunderbox back there and it's a sign site it is established but it looks extremely unused it's got an amazing jumping rock perfect perfect vantage point to take in the storm too frodo [Applause] [Music] yeah baby oh that's good swimming beautiful water my clothes and i needed that probably my clothes more than me wind just kicked up out of nowhere and there's been thunder booming in the distance pretty much non-stop for about an hour i got the tarp set up first thing when i got here shelter's all set up i was just about to start cooking dinner and i think i will i'll start a fire if it starts raining then i'll i'll bail good talk so with the rain holding off i'll give a proper tour here now that i'm all set up nice stone staircase up to the main quarters got my laundry in the dryer nice fire pit here i probably should have set it a little farther back from the edge of the cliff and this is the uh adult level jumping rock i use the kids the kids level good little fire pit red pine site happy as a clam there's a thunderbox back there it had just been installed probably in the last year or two i'm assuming had some pine needles rotting on top of it which i cleared off no one has used it i'm actually surprised that they established a site here because i didn't have a hammock i don't know where i'd lay a tent down i do not see any tent pads but perfect for me got a big bucket of penne for dinner tonight i livened it up with some dehydrated mushroom tomato and spinach and dehydrated tomato sauce of course and then also some real parmesan and of course sriracha it's always interesting to see these trees toppled over here on canadian shield so little soil it's just sitting here on bedrock maybe six inches of soil but most of that is just stones and roots for a decent sized tree eventually it wasn't enough and it toppled over but it's just interesting how clean like that is all attached as if it's an organism and it just lifts it up off the rock and the rock is perfectly clean so it's 4 30 a.m and this rain is aggressive it's coming down like it's trying to hurt the ground [Music] yeah it's up for over 12 hours i think i needed that rest day still coming down hard stops periodically seems like it'll be like this all day [Applause] [Applause] so i stubbornly didn't bring a gas burner which i probably should have considering that this rain could have been four days instead i got it mostly during nights except for today so today i'll mostly be eating some cheese and crackers which is good anyway like this has to be eaten up i've been saving it for this day so worked out fine [Applause] [Applause] a situation like this is where a hammock really shines first of all aside from all the rain there's no flat ground here and it's all scrubby i'm off the ground i'm elevated off the ground so it really doesn't matter similarly all this rain would cause concern for drainage issues it would be hard to find a tent site tent pad that wouldn't have some pooling with this amount of rain and then finally i can see everything i'm trapped in here maybe for 24 hours or more i'm comfortable i can sit up in this uh with the chair mode and in the amok and i can see everything in a tent i'd be looking at the inside of a fly the entire day so this yeah this is this is a perfect example of why i love hammocks so nice and cursed [Music] i can't do this sam i know it's all wrong but right we shouldn't even be here but we are it's like in the great stories mr frodo the ones that really mattered full of darkness and danger they were and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy how could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happen but in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow even darkness must pass a new day will come and when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer those were the stories that stayed with you that meant something even if you were too small to understand why but i think mr frodo i do understand i know now folk in those stories they had lots of chances to turn them back only they didn't they kept going because they were holding on to something what are we holding on to seven that there's some good in this world mr frodo and it's worth fighting for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so it seems like the storm has passed i left my pot out yesterday to see how much rain accumulated and if i just put a spoon in here got that much which looks like about seven centimeters to me there it is in reference to the nalgene and yeah this thing is just about i don't know eighty percent full that's a huge amount of rain i know this is a crude measurement system but i don't see why it wouldn't be effective so that would be the biggest rainstorm ever camping tastes like the pot so got a nice cache of fine kindling and tons of birch bark everything is soaked of course this piece it's got this big growth on it and it appears to be full of resin so that will burn really well tried to strip the bark off of the cut logs as well because it's so soaked and damp getting that outer layer off helps a little bit feels extra good to have a fire after a day under the tarp just cooking up dinner here it's almost sunset and the sun is starting to break through it could be a very dramatic sunset so that ended up being the perfect day just what i needed slow down the pace had been go go go pretty much the whole trip and i needed to just stop and rest my body felt terrific [Applause] for a little efficient this morning before i pack up beautiful calm misty morning bit of weight well maybe it is a bus and they fight so well for their size that they can be deceiving it could be a two pound smallie it's staying down pretty well yup it's about a two pound smallie nothing special i have not fished bass for quite a long time i don't have them in my region of the province believe it or not about the same someone's there got a tube jig on that must be too small for a jump holy nice there it goes perfect similar size okay for a jump [Applause] there it is good tube jig ripped it down a little bit but this jig head is specifically made for tubes the lens hits up there it kind of dives and it just has a beautiful action the tentacles in the back are very tantalizing it's just a great bait for bass if you're trying to fish humanely for me the number one thing is just reducing the number of hooks a standard jerkbait like this will come with nine hooks on it three trebles and all of them are barbed i only keep the back one and i pinch it down i cut off one hook from it to a tandem even one larger hook would do and then pinch the barbs that's very important to catch and release in places like manitoba it's actually the law they're light years ahead of us oh i got a jumper trying to keep my rod tip low and if it jumps i'm trying to real hard just to keep tension oh wow oh there's a huge school oh i'd rather capture the school and get this fish on camera there's like a i don't know this basket i have on is maybe two pounds two and change there must have been eight or nine at least that size around it they school smallmouth if you lip a bass support that belly another pretty small one marble soap comes right out thank you so two days ago i came up from this unnamed lake up lady evelyn into good fish today i'm just skipping across the angler and then down to sugar [Applause] [Applause] coming into the main body of angler lake another gem hey angler is a beautiful canadian shield lake rocky shores pine clad islands it's very tempting to camp here but if i camped on every lake i liked on my trips they do 40 day trips so on to sugar oh good trails to the reserve two trails for the whole truck haven't heard you had to clear hardly a thing [Music] [Applause] there's six or seven campsites on this lake and i'm looking for a good one down to my last two nights here and that's one of them but the access is like up a steep rock looks like at the high water line it might be easier but that's not gonna do i can hear and see a little bit of waterfall back there in the woods come check it out not the grandest of waterfalls on this trip not even the top ten but charming charm is actually have all the campsites have locked i haven't loved any of them come to the other end of the lake and i'm going back to the far end of the lake i don't know two or three kilometers to look at one i haven't looked at yet can't believe it but i am not smitten by any of the campsites on sugar lake so i'm going to the next portage which is 12.50 or so so it's a fairly long one but it's nice and cloudy so it's not brutally hot and then i can set up a base camp for the next two nights there to round out the trip and save myself a setup and take down hmm [Applause] [Applause] i was gonna wait till i got to camp but it's getting a little late for that and i just felt disgusting this is the last day i'm wearing this shirt that's for sure small fish on small walleye or a small bass and you can yeah small walleye very small about engine eight inches long it's pretty small as you catch what i thought would be one of my earliest days of the whole trip ended up being a later one it's close to 8 o'clock just setting up here clearing some blow down and uh this is a special special campsite to me this is where i first spent a week alone in the back country just here on the site this whole time doing day trips from here so it's pretty awesome to be back in this spot ending my tomogame trip here only one souvenir for erin not bad just what the doctor ordered big bucket of penne cheese rehydrated veggies using up some of this 548-day cheese specific which is on borrowed time it's very oily but it doesn't smell too weird yet i don't think no it's all right got some of those good calories in there welcome welcome to the pot the melting pot just a little like gnawing like a nose gnawing on something there are sounds like that all over and i've heard it elsewhere but i can't figure it out what it is i've like i've traced it down to certain spots oops almost just stepped on that nice toad it's not him making the noise but i feel like i've looked right at the noise and i can't see anything not a big deal just curious shut up [Music] ah another great night in the amuk and a beautiful morning slept like a baby i was actually pretty exhausted yesterday for breaking this morning i've got powdered milk a variety of dehydrated fruits from our friend burn raspberries blueberries peaches also some apples that aaron did and then burn also sent us this locked up bag of granola it's like nice grains and seeds really nice breakfast i'm going to rehydrate these fruits right in the milk i'm looking forward to this it's gonna be good lots of almonds in there nuts seeds oats this be a good breakfast if you're trying to get going the fruit does take some time to rehydrate but i would just do that when i wake up pack up and then eat this granola is delicious this this will be repeated it's a great way to get going in the morning and the zolio i'd say i've used it on quite a number of trips now and i would say it has impacted and improved this one the most knowing when that huge rainstorm is coming knowing my timeline for getting around the waterfalls which would have been perilous on wet rocks and just knowing wind forecasts as well yeah it's been a game game changer this year and checking with aaron is wonderful i miss her but just being able to send her a message at night helps leaving my base camp behind there back in that island and today the only real plan is to bushwhack into a back lake that has rainbow trout see if i can get one that's it oh oh it's not far to get in here it's marked as 140 meters on jeff's map but it was uh it ended up being quite a grind i've come in here before the last time i camped on this island came in here for a day trip not with a canoe just with my fishing rod caught a nice rainbow trout beautiful water here it's like aquamarine perfectly blue and bluish green hmm today is not my day my camera was on the tripod i was leaning over it tilted dunked in the water i grabbed it after it had only been in for about a second but now i've got to let that dry out and hope that it works but i can't turn it on for probably a good week or i'll potentially ruin it permanently that's done for the trip to add insult to injury there's a pretty good looking trail there i'm at the other end of the lake small lake but i couldn't see this from the other side and some cashed boats probably from the lodge which might explain the fishing here had no action whatsoever but that's all right i'll use that trail on the way out and i am hopeful that this is going to come back i've taken out the memory card and battery i have dunked this camera in the water before for a few seconds similar to the way it fell overboard this time and this was a shorter shorter dunking and the other one came back to life so i have faith so i paddled back early afternoon and spent the day around camp made a friend on the way this butterfly is trying to hit the sos button oh mazzolio because he figures i need it we gotta get some help for this guy he's completely incompetent then i cooled off in the lake um then i got a chance to reconnect with aaron aaron's toothbrush still in my pack all i had to do today was go catch a fish and then eat it if i got one so it's amazing how much i messed up this day the easiest day of the trip but there's no point in worrying about things you can't control it's a complete waste of energy and emotion so i put that energy into trying to improve things and happen to have a big bag of rice so i've got the camera in there i'm not sure if rice really works heard mixed feedback on that and then i keep a couple of silica gel packs in my tackle trays just to keep water out and and prevent rust so i'm throwing them in there too just leaving this open for the day so it can breathe and then tonight i'm going to seal it up hopefully that silica gel will help to pull moisture out despite the heat on this trip which has been oppressive for me for my standards close to 30 every day and not much wind and despite the fishing which has probably been one of the worst fishing trips of my life no fault of to mog me it's just i think this heat wave and myself if anything but it's still been an incredible trip a fantastic campsites probably i'm pretty certain the biggest rainfall i've ever camped in wildlife that moose in particular and then the waterfalls along the river those were the highlight for me and on another level this was a really special trip just to come back to tomogame where i really cut my teeth as a backcountry paddler and then to take on this route which now i consider to be a pretty easy route only five years ago when i spent a week here alone that this trip would have been outside my comfort zone and outside my abilities so that's kind of cool to finish up the trip tomorrow and get back to the car i've only got about a 15 kilometer paddle left and one short portage but it's all south to north and mazzolio tells me that there is going to be a northerly headwind tomorrow so i'm going to wake up really early and get a head start on the headwind and hopefully just enjoy the morning calm and final day of the trip to close off i just want to say thanks thanks as always for the company thanks for bringing me into your home and thanks for letting me share what i love the most cheers [Music] so [Music] so what are we holding on to sam that there's some good in this world mr frodo and it's worth fighting for [Music] you

Channel: Lost Lakes

Views: 109,440

Rating: 4.8963909 out of 5

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

Id: _cfxux3a6Jc

Length: 103min 55sec (6235 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 21 2021