7-Day Solo Wilderness Trip Searching for a Mysterious Lake in a Huge Storm

wow it's a dreamy fall day here in the scenic River Valley as beautiful as it is this river is also the first of several question marks between me and this mystery Lake that I've been wondering about for several years can't find any information about it online except for satellite imagery so I've created a map from that and thankfully I also have the benefit of a drone this was huge I just flew it and got some really valuable information as to the condition of these Trails it looks like this is going to be my route up from this little Pond that' be the first thing I try anyway it's going to take me potentially all day today and tomorrow to do both 3 km Portage plus this paddle and perhaps Trail maintenance as well but the reward looks pretty sweet [Applause] I was hoping to access the river here but it looks like it'd be a fair bit of work to get back up River at the end so I've had 10 km down river to my backup option it adds a bit of distance but it looked pretty Scenic and based on what I saw on satellite in the topo map it should be pretty smooth sailing I'm well on my way up this River very Scenic so far with f colors and I've got about 10 km on this River where I hope to camp tonight on that pond where it looks like a trail starts and then I'll Scout that out and start tomorrow morning hauling all this gear over there once I have a better sense of what the right direction is [Applause] so I hit a Swift with pretty good current not enough depth to the water to get some really hard paddle Strokes in so I'm just going to wait it probably be waiting more so just going to get in beautiful River got a few kilometers left there's some big piles of flawless white sand here complete with animal tracks but some moose tracks over here and oh interesting oh that could be bear could be a black bear and then something's been sliding down here like an otter Beaver muskrat so just about a kilometer to go and I'm passing by a creek mouth which is actually the outlet for the lake that I'm trying to get to but on satellite it looked like quite a mess looked like there was a lot of trees down in the in the river and yeah so I think it would just be much harder seems like a perfect way to get in but I don't think so there's also not much water in it by the looks of it yeah just out of curiosity I had to poke my nose in there's some blow down across the river right away and I just grounded out on bottom so back we go got to the entrance of that pond and it unfortunately is looking very dry which is going to make things a lot tougher it's about 400 m to the actual pond so I'm going to send up the Drone again and take advantage of that [Music] view [Music] so it looks like there's just enough water in this Creek for me to drag the canoe up it uh worst case all Portage over land and there's actually a track there from what looks like an ATV or something like that maybe an Argo an amphibious ATV that they use to get across the river cuz I don't know any other way of getting across but anyway um it's definitely possible to get in there so I'll get into the pond and go from there so here we go Arial footage can be deceiving everything looks pretty easy up there you're like oh I could do that sure hopefully it doesn't get too messy and you can see all these old dead heads here clearly they're not naturally dead logs they've been cut but they've been here for a long time this River used to be log driven so they would send logs down the river to get them to Market I think as recently as about 50 or 60 years ago so still lots of remnants here they look kind of spooky down there yeah it always looks easier on the Drone I'm on that ATV track now and yeah because the creek did not look very nice for dragging up at least not to start so I'm just going to Portage it's not too long close to half a kilometer yeah clearly tracks here and some wolf poop so I'm following those ATV tracks the grass is growing tall in between the tracks so obviously it's not used all the time but I think I saw a Trapper's cabin on one of the ponds ahead so I figur that's what these tracks are from all right that's not bad everything I do on the way and I got to do on the way out too which is a major consideration but that's not a big addition so I brought over the food Barrel just to lighten the load for the next two trips I'll get to that end of the pond and hopefully Camp there sked at the trail and start fresh tomorrow coming through with the canoe and this day has gotten longer than expected but that's kind of part for the course for exploratory Wilderness trips if the rest of the way is is clear as it looked like it might be on drone and then overall I would call that a win oh always feels great to be at the end of a Portage and I'm just on a tiny little pond so imagine how great it's going to feel to get to that Lake which looked incredible on the Drone pretty cool spot to spend the night and I've said it before I'll say it again these tracks continue here I'll never it'll never cease to amaze me where I find a cash boat and the trail continues there there's also a trap back here looks like more of a live trap getting late in the canoeing season days are getting much shorter that Sun's going to go down fast and I'm on this small pond which I normally kind of avoid camping on especially drawing water from but thankfully the water here is beautifully clear just got Camp Tores done as I'm losing the sun big p of cheese and potato parois fried onion and while I wait for that to cool down some wolf juice cheers to a solid first day as I was coming into this Pond today I was thinking what other hobby out there is there where you would spend 2 days straight of physical labor just to get to do the thing you want to do get to this Lake but then I I was just realizing that this is this is as much a part of the enjoyment as actually getting to the lake the the exploration the adventure and just finding question marks using my body it's great fun it's my Wilderness addiction it's certainly my biggest addiction although on that note my more material addiction is chips and in particular nacho chips so I have I have no self-control with chips so I brought this to test myself and see if I could make it the full week if I'm out here for a week without eating them normally at home if I if chips are in the house I can't think about anything else like I just have to eat them big bag two bags whatever they just have to be in me so this is my little sub challenge even though I could eat it now shave 84 gam off my pack not crush them all and just enjoy them and not delay gratification it's not the point so we'll see if I make it Scotch tends to bring on the munchies a little bit so and if you're wondering about the mustache I didn't lose a bet Aaron and I are getting married in about 6 weeks and she's joked that she wants to see what I'm hiding under the beard all this time cuz I haven't clean shaving in all the time we've been together I haven't clean shaving in I don't know six seven years so I finally surprised her and did it one day but kept the mustache for dramatic effect the beard will be back don't worry hard to imagine this little water body supporting much Aquatic Life but I have seen some surface breaches could just be insects or something like that but got to give it a a try oh yeah getting hit oh yeah definitely got hit by a fish didn't get to look at it though I think it's a trout oh no it's a tiny tiny Pike okay that makes more sense I was going to say if there a trout in here that's just crazy yeah just a little Pike thank you morning chilly start to day two and I'm weighing my options here really it boils down to two do I take the long safe route look safe that's 3 km of portaging which means 3 km there with the first load 3 km back and 3 km with the second load canoe and food Barrel or try and cut through these ponds I can't see any way to getting directly to The Ponds aside from a bushwack really tough call I think I'm going to scout this on foot first see what a bushwalk would be like and go from there so that's the 3 km trail that way and they roughly 800 me trail to the pond this way great Trails can't can't believe it so that fork in the trail wasn't what I thought it started taking me Southeast so I turned around going back and I'll take the other Fork that's the value of scouting a trail before you Portage it saves a lot of frustration as a navigation Aid I use Aven of maps and I put too maps on here which are free again these are the tracks I digitized at home so that helps a lot plus I I uh cashed some offline satellite images on Google Maps it's a useful reference to these are almost certainly old forestry roads you can see the old clear cuts on the Drone and satellite and you can see that the regen is coming in it's different color and Heights but now they're ATV trails and it's amazing the network of ATV trails through Old Forest roads you can really get some interesting places so the pond isn't far down that way but the wood Woods are a little thick certainly doable could be bushwacked but it's more so the bushwack at the other end that is just a total question mark and could be really ugly looks kind of musk gaggy at the North End so I think I'm going to take the 3 km [Music] Trail [Music] back to Camp got stick stove going hot on for tea and a big hearty breakfast I'm feeling good about this 3 km it'll be long but it's really clear excellent condition looks dry even so couple hours 2 or 3 hours I'll be there [Music] Sun's just busting through warm up this chilly morning and breakfast is served has Browns black bean mix tomatoes cheese so I'm leaving a bit of gear here to shave some weight my white water gear including helmet paddle and dry suit and some spent batteries and a folding bow saw that I brought for trail maintenance that's I'm I don't think I'm going to need and I'm setting up the trail cam here in case a bear or anything comes sniffing at least I'll get some answers out of it no food in there of course all packed up and I'm loaded up for the first Run net with some oddz and ends camera bag and Main pack with everything I can get packed inside of there and I'll be back for these [Applause] [Applause] guys so I took the first load about half a kilometer and I'm going to take the canoe well past this for the second load and then I'll continue leap frogging the gear as opposed to doing it all in one shot there are at least a few advantages for me for doing it that way first it's physically easier it's nice to give my body especially shoulders a little break every 15 minutes or so when I go back with no load to get the previous load two mentally I find it a lot more pleasant to break up a huge job into several smaller jobs third no load is left attended for long periods so if a bear happened to come by I'm sure lots of animals use these Trails it wouldn't have a long opportunity to sniff around at my food Barrel let's say and lastly if I was to sprain my ankle or something like that I'd never be too far away from either part of my gear so this has all of my shelter that has all of my food and with this approach I'm never too far from either one making good progress here and it's hard to believe what a good trail this this is you could drive a car through much of it but these old Forester roads that are built on Sand they hold up very well through time as opposed to something with rich soil which really grows in quickly looking at it from the drone on the first flight yesterday my signal wasn't great for the controller to the Drone so I couldn't see it that clearly and it looked like a boardwalk or an old rail line sometimes those will be found in the bush and random places but no it's just a really well-defined track in the last couple hundred meters here and the trail Forks on satellite I couldn't see anything in this section so I'm just going to try left it looks a bit more well-worn almost there can see the lake wow wasn't expec than that little Shack with a proper boat launch and dock wow someone has made themselves very homey here okay the canoe is about a kilometer pack and hopefully this this juice will be worth the squeeze oh wow oh man that's a good feeling looks just like I hoped can't wait to paddle up there first I need a little Fuel and I'm dying to dig into those chips right now I'm not giving in yet got a chocolate bar As a treat and some trail mix that'll do for now so now that I'm into the lake it's time for a new map and look at this impressive thing oh keeps going oh it keeps going oh my goodness when will it end there so deepest point 312 ft around the middle very deep looks like there are a couple of Trappers cabins here on this old map which was surveyed in June 11 to 12 1962 by investigators Godard Gibson and cartographer Hall so I've come in around here I'm looking out to this island has a small Lake on it the out flow of the lake is there primary inflow is here and it's about 12 km from top to bottom got lots to see oo this lake is cold but that's exactly what I wanted for my feet those dogs are barking Lake looks amazing and I can't wait to explore it but I just have to look for camp today going to start out by heading to the island and get my line wet see what's in [Applause] [Applause] here this lake is even more beautiful than I thought and the Wilderness addict in me just got a huge hit can't wait to find a campsite if I find a beauty I'm going to be just [Applause] hyped I'm on the north side of the island and I was really hoping to Camp here but it's pretty bushy and bouldery the view would have been outstanding though look at that but there there's a little beach over there on the East Shore and that might have a pretty similar view let me check it out nice spot but not really seeing anywhere for a hammock it's pretty thick [Applause] [Applause] the view for Camp 2 not too too shabby have a nice view of sunset the clouds don't obscure it nice Flat Rock for cooking on sort of a natural path into the woods here and after I cleared these dead trees out nice little hamping spot in the Cedar Grove ah much needed got some pad tie did a backpacking meal cuz energy levels are low it's going to be delicious [Music] might we are I [Music] peaceful in to a great day and I am so ready for bed can't wait to wake up and explore this Lake tomorrow what a scene this morning unbelievable Lake can't wait to get on my way just had breakfast tea and I'll pack up and get out there leaving camp it was decent but I'm hoping to find something better to spend the next two or three nights and ideally something Central to the lake it's supposed to be overcast today potential for rain in the coming days so I'm hoping to set up in a really good spot first fish on from this Lake and what do we have Pike not a bad fish thank you so the north half of this Lake burnt maybe 20 years ago if I recall correctly you can even see it on S side late and I'm coming into that section [Applause] now there's a huge Beaver Lodge here in this little Cove and he's stashed some branches for future munching a little Pantry that's a big one [Applause] [Applause] it's cool to look at places on satellite and when I fly the Drone I get a look at them that's great too it gives a bit more detail but there's just nothing like seeing it on on the ground or on the water at ground level all inspiring what a place around the middle of the lake so the deepest point over 300 ft is right out there and the Trapper cabin marked on that old bethat study from over 60 years ago is supposed to be over there as well though I can't see anything from here I'll try and inspect it on the way back go around the lake on the other side when I come back this is one of the most beautiful paddles I've had in a while and to have this whole lake to myself on a nice fall day is just too good my only concern is is hammocking opportunities the trees are very small still from the regen and it's going to be slim [Applause] pickings [Applause] there's a little Grove of Evergreens across the lake I'm going to cross and check it out see if I can feel a viable camp [Applause] oh please let there be somewhere for the hammock here spot is perfect the views are unbelievable wind is kicking up as forecasted so it' be nice to have a base camp set up fingers [Applause] crossed so not only is this spot going to work for me but it is a dream come true in this old Cedar Grove that got spared by the fire I'll show you around first and foremost The View is just incredible great landing for the canoe good water access again the Cedar Grove so this is really interesting that there's a cut here this is a spot I hoped to explore because there's a little creek running up here I can see that on the topo map and that takes you to a very interesting back Lake and it actually looks like there might be a trail cuz I'm seeing some cut things and there's a a Martin box over there so the Trapper obviously runs through here and if it does start to rain I bet this is going to flush beautifully it's already got some water running through it and I've got some great options for the hammock I couldn't be happier tons of beautiful Cedar stick fuel too all right tarp set up just in case it starts raining got it pitch low toward the exposure in case the wind starts driving rain in and nice and high in here so I can cook got lots of stick fuel I'm giddy just love this [Applause] spot I was going to get my water from the lake figured I'd give this little mountain stream a try still got to filter it though it's beautiful yes what a dream oh I'm so happy I'm here for two nights maybe three so much to do taking a little break here with my book and immediately my Wilderness addiction is kicking in aka Wonder lust and that little Trail I saw potentially leading to that mountain lake that's the first thing I want to do I'm on the stunning Lake just made a great Camp here and that's not enough I got to see the next one oh it's a sickness and Farley Mo already spoke to that in this book it's called people of the deer and in the book Farley as a young man is going to nonot to try and gain a better understanding of some Inuit Inland Inuit who are very disconnected from the rest of the world at this time post World War II that's Hudson Bay so it's subarctic it's extremely remote and in it he says it is I suppose a sort of disease the Arctic fever has no effect on the body but lives only in the mind filling its victim with consuming urge to wander again and forever through those Mighty spaces where the Caribou herds flow like living rivers over the role of the tundra very windy this afternoon so it's perfect time to be off the lake I'm going to do this little hike appears to be a trail here from the trap line that's a pine Martin box right there so I'm it stands to reason that it is a Trapper Trail it's only 300 M or so into the woods to get there so even if it's a bush quack and should be able to lay eyes on this Lake look at this just can't believe it this is the Wilderness addiction feeling this good has to be addictive so I'm making easy progress here on this trap line and I'll be in the lake soon that's what I'm looking for it's right behind these Hills it should be stunning and a little map tip here if you're wondering what way water flows in this case it's pretty obvious because this little thing is obviously going to flow into the big lake but fingers of contour lines if you imagine them as fingers they always Point Upstream so that's Upstream that means this is Downstream flows this way just about there and they've even got a flatback canoe wow what a slice of Heavens someone has curved out here probably have it all to themselves the majority of the time and it's a little gem oh man water levels are held up by this Beaver Dam here that's the view I wanted to see what a lake I might spend one of the days portaging in here there's a canoe there but I don't know I'm not good at using other people's stuff without asking anyway and it wouldn't be that hard to bring the canoe up here at all so yeah we'll see just happy to get a look at it one thing's for sure if someone left a canoe here there's good fish in here there's another Lake maybe another 400 m that way and maybe that's the honey hole but in any case I bet there fish to be hid in here and I bet they're trout only took me a few minutes to commit to doing this told you it's an addiction all right see what's in there got myself a snag that's the big hill or Mountain that I was looking at yesterday so it's pretty cool to be here on this little Lake beside it coming in here may seem like another addiction fishing addiction fishing is actually just icing on the cake now I don't even need to fish and it's ironic because it was why I got into Backcountry camping I did one Backcountry trip with friends had the best fishing I had ever experienced and I was hooked immediately so that became my drive to get further north more off the beaten path and eventually I got enough fishing time that that addiction just went away and now it's I bring it I I could leave my fishing rod at home and I'd be fine I'd much rather I'd have a much harder time leaving my camera at home I love that aspect of it now what a spot those Hills back there are from the main Lake that I'm on and then yeah the view here is just spectacular for Sean it's a troat TR no oh kidding me there's definitely a trout and brook trout are out of season so I don't actually want it to be brook trout lake trout I'm just at the end of the season just starting to rain so I'm going to have to get back troll all my way back though so that fish that I lost I couldn't see it cuz the water's really dark here and it was small and rolling like crazy but I just had one fall out to the boat and it was a brook trout so I'm calling it um yeah por TRS out of season plus rain is threatening it's gotten pretty chilly and very windy so time to get back for a nice warm dinner [Applause] it's noncon tonight and I think I'm prepared to say that this is a top 10 campsite ever Ambiance is off the charts with this Babbling Brook nice fresh water source too and a huge freshwater lake right there with an incredible view great water access lovely spot for the hammock under this these very old Cedars I don't know it could be top 10 it's always a lot of recency bias to that claim though not trying to sound like a false stereotype but I've got a cozy blanket a good book and a mugg of te combined with this view after a day like that this is simply exquisite [Applause] day four got a couple of breakfast burritos to peel me for a while I'm going to take a good paddle around this Lake which looks nice and calm today can't wait this is heaven Dead Calm got this whole lake to myself to explore still have the northern third of the lake that I haven't seen um somewhere around there and yeah plenty left including the inlet at the top primary inflow and a bay ah is small Pike there's a beaver in front of me and a loon calling over there ah like I said the fish are just icing on the cake there in the water nice well I never want this day to end in this paddle but I'm at the North End of the lake where the creek Flows In going to check that out and then I'll eventually work my way way back slowly slowly as [Music] possible [Music] very shallow here at the mouth of the stream tons of tracks here mostly wolf moose but yeah lots of canine tracks [Applause] nice little paddle on the creek and back to the lake you can see the high water mark there it's about 2 and 1/2 ft higher than than right now but it's late in the season I've seen most of this Lake now and I'm even happier with my Camp because there hasn't been much else except for this beach which should be a good spot for a tent you can see old charred remains of the forest fire from yeah it's probably been 20 years but there wouldn't have been good haming here so yeah super happy with my spot glad I have another night or two there thank you Sun's finally busted through as I approach Camp it's just across the lake and there's a tree behind me that looks cartoonish it's got almost nothing all the way up and then a really dense growth at the top which is called the witch's broom going to slowly work my way across the lake and conclude this amazing padle have a great day [Applause] getting some water for dinner and I've gotten most of my water from the stream because it's just so convenient right beside where I cook and it's funny because there's at least one family of beavers defecating into that small Lake above which runs down here it's filtered somewhat but still there's the potential for parasites namely jaria which has the nickname beaver fever although that's kind of unfair to put all the blame on beavers but if there was a human family up there that lived up there and use that as like their septic system I would never drink this water it's funny how that works and whether the water comes from the stream or the lake doesn't really matter cuz it's getting boiled or filtered either way while I wait for my water to boil on the fire it's time for the other fire Water Wolf juice Scotch I've been talking about my pseudo Addictions on this trip and I really don't mean to make light of that word cuz it's dead serious and this is a prime example of it bze substance abuse in general and some people don't like that I bring booze on my trips and show it which I think is a little unfair I think I'm pretty good about it like I'm having a SG or two per night or three if if any the last two nights I had zero even at home I have uh I only drink on Friday and Saturday unless there's a special occasion just to avoid getting into bad habits because the rational side of me says that it's a waste of time money energy calories and I've been trying to lose some belly fat that I gained during when I got injured earlier this year so you think I would have extra incentive and the government says that it's carcinogenic so what a puzzling thing to do to be drinking this and and packing it in hauling it out here I guess it speaks to the chemical reward system in the mind that's the root of addiction also the irrationality of humans we do a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense and ultimately I think we're just we're slaves to the chemicals in our in our body but anyway I think all things uh in moderation right so here's to irrational indulgences in moderation finished dinner and I'm just a little bit hungry still they're calling to me so I'm going to use the old brush the teeth trick once you brush your teeth you don't want to have to brush them again I'm going to watch the sun go down can't see the Sun but I can see it on the Hills which is maybe even better for [Applause] tea in a nice hearty Ranchero soup this morning and I was expecting today to be kind of Stormy and thunderstorms but in satcom forecast it looks like might just be overcast now so could be a good fishing day again head not onto the lake and I'm going to spend the next night here this is too good why would I leave got plenty of stick fuel dry under the tarp in case it does rain the cooking station gravity filter and the best view you can ask for another calm day too can't believe that luck so the only part of the lake I haven't seen now is the Southwest Shore I'm going to just work my way down to those old trap cabins marked on this map see if there's anything left and yeah go from there beautiful paddling day Absolute Glass I can't get enough of this View and when I see the forest fire regen I think about the beard of woods that was on this land at one time shaven clean by fire with only the odd mustache of Cedar and Spruce left to survive but eventually the stubble returns and eventually it'll be a full beard again someday really hits home for some reason the side of those cabins is just about 100 met ahead of me I don't see anything thing and it looks like it was it was part of the burns so the meow got burnt to the ground so I haven't seen anything from the water I'm going check it out on land no sign of it should have been very close to here okay whoa first speit of anything just an old can with bit of wire huh so far it seems like if there was something here it was incinerated and since been covered up by the Earth can't find a thing aside from that can clue number two just another old can underwhelming clue I want something juicy nice erratic found a rough trail could just be a Beaver Trail to This Little Pond kind of cool there's a small Lake back that way too no luck seems like that one's been reclaimed by the forest if I had gotten here and there was this a cabin standing there would have been like okay cool a cabin but because I couldn't find it the wander lust is activated so I was wandering all around there for a while not to be another mountain ash really nice one another pike pike took the hook in a bad way so I just dispatched it with a club and it's out of its misery and I'm having Pike for lunch perfect easing size too so I have this bungee attached to the rear thwart and I can just latch it onto something on Shore when I want to get out of the canoe for a moment or something like that can also be used as a Stringer to keep the fish cool in the water and keep the Pike and it slime out of the boat I never put a live fish on a Stringer though I just find that cruel I just dispatched it with a club just keep a nice Beaver chewed stick in the boat and I'm using single barbless hooks which feels a lot better in terms of catch and release is still I don't know it's a tough one but anyway it makes a small piercing in the fish as opposed to having to rip something out much more pleasant if you hook yourself as well or your dog or someone else but sometimes I still manage to take it in a bad way and that's a keeper Pike are a great eating fish just got to watch out for the Y bones I just use the vi filt method it's quite simple take off the back strap first so then you can see the Y bones once the back is off you're able to see those wi bones you can cut just on the outside of them and the back strap is a nice piece of meat one fillet those white lines there those are the Y bones so cut on the outside of them nice big filet got a fire ready to light here before I started fing just got to light the fuse oil batter and the fish can't wait for nice crispy pieces I like to chunk it up to maximize the batter surface area and don't skimp on the oil the batter or the heat woohoo look at that put on for tea after to wash it down oh yeah this is good living very filling satisfying meal wind really picked up while I was doing that let turned this into like a blowtorch my setcom weather forecast is pretty odd today it's got zero MLS overcast and then chance of rain at 9 at 11 it says 56 Ms of rain only 177% chance but that's 2 in so there must be some really isolated severe storms around and it could either hit or be nothing I've actually been hoping for some rain at this site CU I want to see how the stream responds to it you can see the high water mark is like 3 ft above in the with a fresh it in Spring this would be raging pretty good in people of the deer Farley Moet is camped at the base of a river at ice out in the Arctic where the flood is immense there's feet many feet of snow and he describes it as like cataclysmic when the river breaks into the bay where it's frozen on the lake still that's something I've always wanted to see but it's a pretty hard thing to time and get to the mouth of a frozen River so yeah I hope it [Applause] storms [Applause] just got a message from Aaron on the sacom she told the Jays made the playoffs if you hadn't noticed I'm a fan and sports is another one of my pseudo addictions not sure if it's a healthy one if it adds or subtracts from my life hard to say sometimes cuz I'm a die hard Leafs fan hockey fan so that's been tough anyway for now my team is in and all is well so cheers until next week when I'm fuming think this will barely show on camera about there's tons of lightning right now if it comes this way it should be good this is the scene in the horror movie where the black bear is creeping up behind me it can only be seen in the flashes of light I can hear the rain coming and feel just a little too wow lightning is constant now Thunder is getting closer [Applause] they are coming wow this little Toad's taking shelter under the tarp it's going to be okay Budd uh-oh all right it's starting to get intense the wind's getting crazy got everything as pinned down here as I can just driving the tarp down in the [Applause] wind make sure my sleep system stays dry got everything pinned down heavy rocks but suddenly once the storm hits it never feels like enough wicked storm last night finally got a sunrise on this Lake now putting away big bucket of granola you got an 8 km paddle into a headwind on this big lake and then a 3 km portage so I need some fuel just about packed up and it's really been one of my favorite sites ever the view the stream private Brook Trout Lake there if it was in season just behind the river the stream didn't rise much hardly at all surprising [Applause] I'm on my way and about to go around a little point where I'll be fully exposed to this wind it's going to be a long 8 km but the upside is I'll be looking forward to the 3 km Portage by the end of this finally back to the south end of the lake that was a tedious paddle and as expected I am excited to do this long Portage to get off the water one last look what a spectacular Lake totally worth it [Music] [Music] oh man this feels good I'm back on the river I started on on day one just put in a a big day after that headwind paddle and the 3 km Portage I was still feeling pretty good and had some daylight left so I grabbed with my cash gear and continued to cross the pond did the half km Portage back to the river and now I'm looking for a nice spot to spend the last night of the trip past a bunch of beautiful white sand beaches on my way up River so be looking for one of those [Applause] really happy I kept going instead of camping at the first campsite again found a sweet spot set up the hammock up there and some spruces awesome view of sunset perfect [Music] got some cheddar and broccoli noodles for dinner much needed energy levels crashed so I'll keep this short I've got some mint tea that's about it that's my night oh it's nice to be on the river still intact it's by far the longest I've ever not eaten chips that were in my possession previous record was probably about 12 to 24 hours so far wasn't high but I'm satisfied tomorrow all mine [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] loveely we start to day seven wonderful paddle on the river this morning to round out this trip it's in seasonably warm as well early October few days in the forecast it said freezing temperatures and rain so lucked out and I was reading people of deer last night MOA is such a good writer and there was another quote that stood out to me about Wanderlust he was on an extremely remote canoe trip in Northern Canada in what is now n of it trying to learn about the people of the deer and he was with one of the innu who was their guide and he wrote here was a vast unnamed and unmapped Lake that no white man had ever looked upon before this Lake whose western shore lay below the line of the Horizon was an irresistible magnet to our Restless curiosity where it should have shown upon the maps there was nothing but blank white paper the desire to sketch in a crude black outline on that version expansive Maps was I suppose the essence of the desire which makes most men yearn to push Beyond known limits whether In the Flesh or in the mind look at that Vivid rainbow to close out the trip and it's pointing at the lake I was on with which in these fall colors truly is a pot of gold wow it's pretty much a double now ah go home at peace for about a week or two and then the wand L kicks in again [Music] [Music] it's hard end to canoe triple this time of year so scenic fall colors geese flying overhead and in October you never know how many canoe trips are left before freeze up so soaking this [Music] up so I finally get to feed my chip addiction literally feed it and I've come down to the highway now where I got cell phone signal back and that is another addiction a huge one that I'm without on the trips but it's actually really liberating and I kind of hate when I pick up cell phone signal on a trip though it's rare and there's one thing that I check first when I get back to Signal it's a thing that allows me to do this for a [Music] living [Music]

Channel: Lost Lakes

Views: 226,709

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

Id: SKrlq83wHds

Length: 80min 43sec (4843 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 23 2023