9-Day Wilderness Canoe Trip on the Mississagi

really beautiful spot that's the mississauga river behind me just looking down that corridor there i know i'm gonna come back here to do this i'm gonna paddle the mississaugi someday i already wanted to because i've driven past parts of it and it's it looks absolutely stunning to connect that with park lake that would be a really sweet trip yeah as long as i am breathing and physically able i'm going back there someday that's a promise to myself little did i know then i'd be coming back in four years newly engaged to the love of my life [Music] [Applause] a welcome eagle almost at camp for the night night number one the eagle just flies overhead right as we're coming into barney lake here just starting out our trip here on the mississauga river and we're looking for a campsite for night number one uh this one has been burnt and it's just not gonna work for us not just because of the debris but just nowhere to hang hammocks all the trees are down so i'm gonna carry on but our map doesn't really have any campsites marked for a little bit so hopefully we'll find one soon an impressive specimen [Laughter] hi so we found a place to set up camp here ended up being a bit of a hairy situation there's a wind we had a nice tailwind but it got way too intense barney lake here is quite long it's a lot of fetch the wind picked up the waves are building and almost going over the gunnels so we've had the improvised camp here which is not ideal but we'll make it work for the night yeah we need to stop cook up some dinner we got a sunset view we're out of the winds here so it worked out pretty well actually i'm just gonna set up i'm gonna do a little bit of clearing so we can get our hammocks up and john's gonna start dinner it's nice to be able to split up the chores especially on a day like today where we're getting pretty late set up so yeah i think we're gonna hang here somewhere we'll clear a little bit of the undergrowth and set up camp for the night incredible sunset really glad we're able to see that from camp here it's been a pretty long day for us we woke up very early had to shuttle aaron's truck to the other end of the route so we can get there and then drive back to my car so that was like nine hours of driving getting slightly lost and confused on the forestry roads yeah this is a nice reward to the end of the day again i didn't even know it was still in these pants oh i just found it same one same tooth so john did dinner tonight well i set up camp i got both our hammocks set up i still have to do my tarp but um yeah it was just really nice to be able to come have one of us set up camp and one of us do dinner and it just like cuts short time in half feels so nice it's been a really long day so i will be ready to hop in this hammock and get some shut eye is iceland part of europe oh what a random question i think so is scandinavia part of europe yeah so i would think iceland is yeah because it's its own it's a it just seems like it's kind of off there i never really considered it i just cut ear up yeah good talk and is new zealand part of the continent of australia or just small islands they're not part of continents i think it's all considered australasia yes yes new zealand fiji it'd be nice to start the portage as well it's nice and cool too yeah oh it'd be a good day to nail down a few randy got the instant coffee ready we're doing chili and garlic bread got the chili rehydrating and brought lots of garlic bread to eat this morning just to you know we didn't have to portage it far so carbide get it out of the barrel free up some space carb up yeah coffee and carbs breakfast of champions i just drooled that good one it's pretty good it is i should keep us going for a while quite a cool morning but nice for travel getting close to the end of summer here and we're hoping to put five portages behind us today so the cool weather is nice perfect day for it so we're on the first trail for today 430 meter over the height of land so it's supposed to gain some elevation swallow bug going we're leaving the spanish river watershed spanish lake and barney lake are kind of headwaters lakes for the spanish river and we're about to cross over into the mississauga river watershed on this trip we're doing a mix of single and double carries so for this uh first part this morning we're doing a double just because there's a bit of elevation and it's the first one our food barrels heavy so uh we're gonna double it but we're hoping to get some single carries in in the trip as well just shorten the amount of time we're on our feet and get back in the this is my old boat station here which has been replaced by is this kitty litter yeah that's the job people from peterborough harry sound barry toronto whitby lakefield peterborough kingston it looks so here's the start of 21 2021 we've had one two three four five parties only through here that have actually signed this anyway that's pretty shocking i thought this was like a low traveled route i would have expected a bit more than that aaron and john this campsite here on sulphur lake way too early for that though next portage is right over there that's number two for the day bye [Applause] end of summer and there are tons of mushrooms out these ones must be just spewing spores out because around them it looks all dusty gray day but a nice nice little lake surprise lake we've got a 900 and something meter port so we've decided to single carry it i've got the pack and most of the extras and then john's got the food barrel and the canoe it'll feel real nice not to have to come back and grab another load sweet just walking back to help erin with the rest of the load she threw the pack down there that's weird maybe she dropped something aaron something terrible happened about 200 probably within 200 meters at the end of that port that we just single carried i realized i no longer have the net in my hands i started with it but at some point i dropped it so instead of finishing us out his mammals may as well leave my stuff start walking back find the net but might be very at the beginning so maybe we could have singled after or doubled after all oh well i'm gonna have a snack all right i think she said forgotten that okay that's what i like to see probably i don't know two-thirds of the way back that i we'd walked i found it at least it's not all the way at the lake so i got to go for a nice little hike i think john's probably wondering where i am um i'm gonna try and get back there as soon as possible but i'm just happy i found it the map's in there too so pretty important and what else oh i've already lost a net so i don't want to repeat that john might take back the ring he gave me already what happened i dropped it and then i found it so much for a single carry am i taking this net dropping better than previous substantially you're really loosening up hon yeah i mean also probably the fact that i recovered the net yeah and my main camera didn't break this day that's true all righty finishing up the longest part of the trip feels good that's the longest one right i think so i think it was that's what you told me yeah yeah we got two short ones now two 90s left yeah i could see the sign across the under yeah such a little pointless paddle it is all right feels good though even with having to double back step out here ground's spongy we're on like a floating bog mat i feel it don't go through there's some really nice pitcher plants here they're shaped so that they gather water and then they've got little spines so uh bugs and stuff go inside to get the water and then the spines are shaped so that the bugs can't get back up and then they get to eat them for their nutrients here's a really pretty one they're very cool we're on this tiny little unnamed lake uh just wandering over to our final portage of the day it's beautiful nice little landing a little slick it's perfect no rocks nope so i'm taking the canoe a little bit more on this trip just because i can um my rather tough stuff one is like 65 pounds which i can pour it but it's almost pleasant this one i think is 40 some maybe 45 and it's quite easy for me to throw my shoulders and yeah i just quite like carrying it from time to time so let's see if i can get the camera that i dropped that this is a good squat i just dropped the camera as i was trying to take it out to uh record now i've got down see if i can get back up excuse me for a moment i'm back here we go there's my john john thank you just stopped at this campsite to make some lunch camp any anywhere at this point and the rain will probably start in a couple of hours so probably should stop sooner than later but yeah we need some lunch it's a hot pepper that we got from cassia's garden my sister nice guess we'll see how much we thank you after we eat it are you gonna eat a chunk of it yes for sport okay just for funsies some seeds in there i'm gonna try it i don't know what a thrill you get asked often how we keep things fresh throughout a trip unless it's extremely hot a lot of things will last an eight day trip fine like tortillas actually last quite well and cheese cheese the oil will separate but i've rarely had it mold on a trip maybe once ever so it doesn't look pretty but it still tastes like good cheese and that's worth a lot later in the trip how you doing great yeah not too bad it's pretty hot but it's like oh that's hot burrito mix cheese oh yeah you're a trooper that was fun which green onion do you want all of it that's good that's good that's good that's good thank you all right roll it up you gonna put some hot pepper in there oh yeah i think i'm good i think i'm going to leave the seeds out of mine the pepper part is really good actually tastes very fresh very fresh thanks cassia look at that excuse my sniffles [Laughter] good excellent i just lost it just had a first bite lost it while i was pulling out of the rod holder but felt pretty small redemption show you in the water [Applause] there goes perfect so on our trail into our site something appears to have happened some feathers there but then if you join me over here there's a full massacre i've never seen anything like it it's almost like someone cleaned the bird here but why would you go in this bushy little spot to do that yeah there are some old relics here this log with some nails and an old canoe back here just left here to die [Applause] that's in a spot yeah we've got our tarps up right away with the threat of rain looming should be a pretty good storm tonight and tomorrow night as well we think maybe even the following it should be set up before it has arrived that's for sure yeah it's always a treat right all right just half pitch in the tarp for now so i can have a nice view until the rain comes give you a little look at the map it's the adventure map from chrismar the mississauga river so we started near the spanish shoots access point there's actually a little way that you can get down here by road with a short trail came down here portage into barney lake yesterday and ended up doing a bush camp around here and then through here these portages into mississauga lake on this point in the upcoming days we'll be heading down here through these lakes into the mississauga river through some more lakes some rapids perhaps i'm not sure if we'll be able to run any of them upper bark lake and then into middle bark lake and then through the mississauga river proper there's more to this map on the other side but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it [Applause] passed out for a few hours and it's dark now i just checked the uh the weather on the zolio again and it looks like it's going to rain very hard overnight not sure about the thunder and lightning but should get a pretty good dumping and then hopefully it clears up for tomorrow not rained steadily overnight but nothing nothing crazy just having some wraps with mustard and salami and cheese to get going quickly and make a little progress before we have to set up hopefully make camp early early enough today by five to again beat the rain be set up and all cozy before it hits it's a gray dreary day feeling good feeling well rested looking forward to getting back in the canoe [Applause] okay draw lightly [Applause] oh my bad it's stunning we're into upper green lake now taking a little rest on this beach and there's a lot of history that's going down here somewhere back in here there used to be a ranger cabin leading up to a fire tower lookout we were gonna hike up it but it would be a it looks like it'd be total bushwhack and the bush is completely soaked from the rain not to mention that the hill the top of the hill is fogged in so i don't think we'd be able to see anything but pretty cool to imagine that life tom thompson renowned painter and group of seven member he almost drowned here according to our map i think his canoe swamped and he almost drowned and there's a fly-in lodge fishing lodge there that we passed earlier which used to be a northwest company trading post fur trade so again just something interesting to imagine all in this lake a lot a lot of interesting activity and uh gray owl archie fellaini world famous character he uh he spent some time in this area so yeah very interesting spot another floating bog matt one more portage and then we'll probably we'll be looking for an extreme campsite on shangwish lake ahead if we find when we're lake then we'll stop for the day so aaron just went up to her waist in mud something she permitted me to film it she said you might as well film it now this has happened feel it don't go through so yeah that was just mud no floating bog mat here yeah i lost the mat let's get you out of here fun we had one leftover sausage from we had sausages the other night so we decided to save it and cook it up and add it to our pasta i'm very excited they're cheesy jalapeno jalapeno jalapeno jalapeno jalapeno jalapeno jalapeno you said it funny i don't know i don't even know what you said we'll see you hungry jalapeno jalapeno they're cheesy jalapeno sausages that are gonna go into our pasta and make us very happy you're just laughing i'll face out of here it's a perfect lunch on a cloudy day got coffee and plenty of sausage bits just what i needed after a swamp dunk we were planning to stop here on shangwish lake but just checked the weather on the zolio and it looks like it shouldn't rain until later tonight and then tomorrow morning especially looks rainy so we should probably put in the time while we have good weather through by wall lakes now into limit lake where we'll be content to set up camp for the day see my rail's doing that again yeah what is that shaking here yeah i don't need to pull them out if you don't have to we've just set up camp here we've got a lovely site on this awesome point we've got our water filtering station canoe dock bar sawmill gunner tarps drying just because they packed them up wet today so there's john's tent here's his room don't mind the mess bit of a slob i'm venting as well it got very muggy yeah it is bucky and then a little bit separated so through the corridor and here's my room also have a gorgeous view see see that's what we're looking at tonight it looks like the storm will roll in tomorrow morning so should both have a good view yeah really nice again just tarp drying and then if we go this way through this corridor here's our kitchen and view that's home for tonight excellent site our favorite so far by far yeah the three we've had which isn't saying a lot no um the only thing is it's crawling with ants but we're off the ground in the hammocks so that's all right yeah it's beautiful my toe you okay yes birch park here these spruce needles will do the trick dead and dry things are still a little damp but not bad on the sun actually just broke through and it's hot now so i think we're in for some more i felt oh no you okay i think these knee vents will probably come into fashion soon oh my thigh vents no no no but they're for all right see if these will come into fashion because i'm not trying that's what fashion is about sun's just going down but it's flat calm so gotta do a little fishing incredible night here perfect not a bite surprisingly casting some weedless paddle tails oh yeah you got you got two bites but they were on and off oh my that's part of the problem i guess it's my first time fishing use your hair okay moments later fish on can you pass the net oh thanks oh what do we got walleye or pike obviously oh it's oh it's walleye hey decent walleye actually decent decent oh yeah that would be a nice eater i was wondering i wonder where the walleye were dusk hook pops out oh battery about to die let's see can you hang on for one sec here buddy while my battery hangs on there you go not a bad walleye thank you it would have been nice for eating but it's dark looks like we're going to get wet today probably be showers but for now it's good so doing some powdered milk it's rehydrated now and then putting some dehydrated fruit inside of it and we'll cook up some instant oats and then throw that in really enhance the plainness of instant oats i boiled it in the other pot the aluminum pot because it's a faster boil it was a good critical path well done critical path analysis one of the best things i've ever learned in school lay out all the jobs you have to do in order to get to the finish line in the order that minimizes the overall time i live my life in critical path constantly thinking about it it's a blessing and a curse yeah not me i just hit the ground running we're good balance that's for you thank you we're on the water leaving limit lake heading for the first portage we just have three 60 meter portages today so that should be very easy and then lots of paddling we should be able to cover a fair amount of distance and the weather we might get some sun today between showers and potentially thunderstorms so we're looking forward to today so unfortunately we're down to one rod on this trip aaron's reel has given out and a good reel will have like a little anti-reverse switch here to stop the reel from going backward you can see it can go both ways here so this can't hold line it'll just come out like this right no matter what the drag is set to i don't know how to fix it if it can be fixed so we're just gonna have to share my combo aaron's gonna do some more of the casting at rapids and such and i'll do more of the trolling there's a beautiful island campsite here on kettle lake which is probably my favorite so far maybe it's the bias of finally having some blue sky but got lots of big pine really nice lake pretty wicked headwind today and we'll probably have headwinds for the rest of the trip by the looks of it we've been pretty lucky and uh haven't got too much rain that was forecast but there's definitely some thunderstorms and it's so humid i think that we're probably gonna get them and these clouds kind of look like it too but um as long as we're not on the water i always like having a good thunderstorm so looking forward to it and just thankful to not be in the rain all day no this beats the port yeah we've got a number of rapids coming up and we're not sure if we'll be able to run most of them or any of them so just committing to getting our boots wet so we can weigh them got a big four here you can see the start in front of me and if you come with me this way that's the ending nice and easy so the wind is getting pretty crazy out there so we were looking for a campsite and thankfully found one i think tomorrow we'll have a tailwind so there's no point in battling through this might as well hunker down get ready for a potential thunderstorm just watch the clouds go go by we've got a really nice sight here every night we've been getting a better and better campsite i'm tucked in here which has a nice blockade of trees against this wind canoe aaron's tarp beautiful red pine how you doing hi just getting set up yeah it's going to be a nice little rest kind of a half day fire pit over here we rushed through lunch because it just got dark and had that feeling like it was about to rain but i just checked the zolio and it doesn't look like it's going to rain until probably three or maybe five 50 50 chance but hopefully thunderstorm we would love that we're all set here ready for whatever comes got this terrific book my thanks to trent collins from labrador really enjoying this we're in it now so we were anticipating this storm and we stopped early because this was on its way and we had a big headwind we had some livestream hunker down and i'm really happy we did because it's a big storm it's awesome though there's been some really good thunder i would not have wanted to be out in this that was a good one you could hear the thunder coming for probably half an hour closer and closer and then it really started and that's when the rain came and it got dark too it was dark now it's brightening up i've got a bit of a sore throat so i'm going to boil some cedar tea it has a lot of vitamin c in it it might not help me now that i'm already sick but it it's a good drink and it feels good and with any luck it might clear me up a little bit just as we thought we were in the clear these huge dark clouds moved in we were pretty sure we were going to get rain but kept the fire going we're under here now gave us something too so be it yeah that rain probably lasted half an hour seemed like it would pass through some big flat stones on top of the grate to act as a little roof and this fire is still really good threw a couple logs on there too [Applause] one of the best sunsets i've seen this year yeah that wind is just dying [Applause] i don't really believe in fate i tend to favor logic and facts over a belief or a feeling but on that trip to bark lake four years earlier something strange happened i was paddling around the point and i heard a woman's voice ahead i was single at the time so i continued around the point with a bit of excitement i may have even pictured my soul mate being on the other side with only her canoe for companionship there in the middle of nowhere i turned the corner and glanced around trying to be subtle there was no one there i studied that shoreline perplexed nothing no one so weird as i was coming around the corner from the lakosa river around to little trout lake i swear i heard a woman's voice but there's no one here i still distinctly remember that moment i heard a woman's voice and it sends a shiver down my spine to think about it today perhaps it was aaron's voice calling me from another dimension in space-time maybe it was a songbird or just the music of moving water whatever it was or wasn't whether i completely imagined it or made it all up all that matters is that in this great big universe i found her got a beauty day today should have lots of paddling with no portages so should be quite a nice one for seeing things we haven't actually traveled terribly far each day so [Applause] so last night we camped there come down now we're at a juncture we can either do some portaging down here through presage bay which is says it can be muddy in low water that doesn't sound appealing or just take the river all the way around the long way we're gonna take the scenic route no portages nice paddling why not it's been really nice camping here eh got quite a nice spot for lunch here and we're making curry and rice and coffee instant coffee got a piece of naan bread to go with it just using the burner to get it done quickly and these are kind of our dehydrated staples pasta sauce curry veggie curry veggie burrito mix which is actually now just veggie chili i found the chili works really well in burritos and it's one less thing to make and dehydrate at home instant rice pineapple dehydrated pineapple we love spinach tomato mushroom just a nice medley you can add it to penne or various things and it really livens it up and onion and then here's the curry for today so we're mixing a little bit of hot chocolate with our coffee just because we can because we didn't pop sugar oh yeah that too mostly that yeah it makes a nice uh i like it yeah in order to tim so why not and then that's powdered milk when i was here a few years ago i puddled down this channel just a little ways instead of curiosity and then went back the way i came and i said someday i'm coming back here that's a promise to myself and now i'm back here engaged the women in my dreams camping for a living amazing how life works out sometimes another prime looking spot without a bite nice and flowing currants and eddy nice weed beds over here and nothing that's all right we're excited to continue here oh a little follow from a six inch bass controlled the whole channel finally got a bite at the end just a little pike you know it's a tough fishing trip when you net a 20-inch pike getting a little bit of a shower here hoping it's going to pass the shower passed pretty quickly right as we reach the angle where the river turns abruptly and then we got three swifts in a rapid that should be runnable [Applause] i think uh on the right side but draw bring us into the middle a little okay yeah this should be straightforward yo [Applause] so two nights ago um i was kept up with just a cough that was developing and it was waking me up throughout the night and then last night i decided to make some cedar tea because it was kind of getting worse throughout the day and i slept great last night i think a little bit of a tickle my throat as i was going to bed but didn't wake me up at all and then today it's feeling a lot better so i made some more just to continue to fight off whatever bug i may have had but it appears like the tea worked really well this is supposed to be a remedy yeah i've heard it is you know you never know those things it's it's hard to say but yeah it worked but it worked really well with me like died immediately after drinking it just my throat felt soothed and yeah the cough completely died and didn't keep me up at all last night so i'm thrilled and it's a tasty tea yeah it's good and now you can have scotch again and it doesn't hurt your throat yeah two nights ago i took a sip and it burned and tonight i tried it and it felt maybe it was a scotch that cured you maybe so we've got an awesome campsite tonight here's our fire area it's all nice and organized and then not too far i've got this awesome spot here me and john drew pinecones see who got the nice spot uh so i'm in here and then through here is where john's hanging he's a little bit more protected but his view is not as good so we've got a view of the stars up here yeah they're gonna go in without the tarps tonight yeah it's supposed to rain that's a plan so that's camp and then i'll take you back and you can see our view out this way too it's stunning fish on finally well i think not done yet oh pipe small pike all right sorry a little pike all right thank you so beautiful morning cool it was nine overnight nine degrees celsius and misty this morning and tonight's supposed to be six and then the following night four degrees above freezing so it's gonna be chilly but it makes you appreciate a hot drink in the morning in the fire so it's kind of nice after a hot summer yeah big bucket of penne gotta start it today there's some salami thrown in veggies parmesan that's a tasty penny that's restaurant quality so we camped uh there last night and now we're going we've gone up and now we're going down and there could be ten portages around rapids through this section if we can't run any of them we'll see what we can do with all these obstacles today we're just getting to the first portage sounds like some rapids probably not running well with the low water so we'll pack up and pour it around um this is portage one of possibly 10 today yeah be a decent amount of trotting but i think that should be mostly it for the trip so and they're for the most part pretty short this little rapid wasn't on our map but uh it looks runnable i think we can take the river left on the right side right now right down and basically stick to that river left so we'll want to hug these rocks here these exposed ones more or less try and keep us nice and slow so we can make that pivot yep good job perfect perfectly executed great job port number two today [Applause] portage number three okay you see the two rocks where we're headed yeah draw draw draw draw yeah cross yep good cross cross good now cross draw yep no sorry stay on the cross draw yep hard hard hard good good job that's so much more fun than portage that is we're at split rock rapids which our map said should be runnable and it's easy as pie and really a beautiful spot let's give a cast here what a scene what a beautiful carved out spot we're hopeful about the fishing with the rapids coming today but still nothing and all these these outlets some nice pools nothing yeah if you can grab it that'd be great we're coming up to hellgate rapids which is more of a waterfall we know we can't run it and it's a 680 meter portage so we'll we'll single carry we'll pack up for a nice efficient single carry around it and then hopefully just three more ports after that before we enter the maze sounds cool there's john with the canoe and me over here it's our longest portage of the day it's 680 i think meters so we're singling it which is always nice but it is heavy don't know if that's a young snake or just a mate and males and females are a lot different size i think it's a young one because there was a second with her as well maybe she has two maybe men courting her she's a big girl okay sorry we gotta get in your way excuse us please are you creepily defensive there you go there you go we're on autopilot get ready to draw a heart here to pull us around this rock and uh yeah right of the rock and then hard left we were on autopilot unpack the gear the portage and then realized it was a pretty easy run draw hard hard hard left there and then there's nothing to it the end of a long day you make stupid no you said you called non-decisions you just stopped thinking yep and there's our gear ready for pickup good job me too so this should be our last port of the day which makes us pretty happy we've had quite a few today it's for something so we're gonna do a single but yeah we're ready ready to be done ports for the day it's been a lot of in and out of the canoe [Applause] amazing spot to camp tonight aaron is starting up some scalloped potatoes and we're gonna have popcorn after that because that's just what we feel like oh you got away minus two legs not great is it a little burnt we tried to do it in the stainless steel pot first and burnt on the bottom let's try covering it with pepper trying to cover up that ashtray flavor no not good i mean doable until you call it an ashtray problem helps a bit it does more now for the popcorn very quick snack out here a little oil in the pot kernels some vinegar powder yeah we just had a salt craving today so this is all we need i'm looking forward to good sleep tonight yep goodbye our backs are feeling it so yeah i'm gonna help in the in the drummer just got in the hammock feels really great it was a relatively long day lots of in and out of the canoe with all the portages so it feels good to have my feet up and i'm gonna go without the tarp tonight because we have the zolio which gives us the weather and it's a zero percent chance of precipitation so i'm gonna trust it a little bit i have the tarp underneath ready set up in a hurry if needed but sleeping out without the tarp can be really nice you just get a lot more view and we've got such a great view here so i'm looking forward to that and um yeah i'm i'm poop so i'm gonna do a little reading and get to bed early tonight safe from the bugs in there safe from the bugs which is nice we haven't had many of this trip but there's and and even what's here is pretty minimal but still it feels nice to get in and i don't have to worry about them i'm probably going to head to bed soon good night we'll see you guys in the morning john will probably see you later tonight it's a night owl chili one this morning just stayed warm enough just talking to the camera supposed to be six it was definitely no warmer than that fire feels good market tea will go down really nice right now the loon calling up somewhere in the distance lots of little animals doing things this morning and this foggy sunrise slow ambiance off the charts we're on our way kind of a late start it's probably close to 10 but it was just such a nice morning we had to enjoy it and love this campsite here on that sandy bank and we're heading for the maze aaron had a dream that we catch a big walleye today so we'll see she also had a dream about snakes so it's a very rough looking canada goose right there it wasn't perturbed by us just looks dirty and just a ratchet goose just a vagabond doesn't care doesn't care about us good for you man looks like he slept in the mud he probably did [Music] this is probably the best paddle of the trip just a huge wetland really nice not windy today just a little cool breeze warm sun it's really perfect yeah a little bit of current to help us we finally reached the maze and immediately come to a decision we're not really sure what the main channel is so we're just gonna stand up and try and see it i'm sure we'll hit some dead ends oops you real i'm over see you real first [Music] we're well through the maze now it was not difficult because there was always a riffle on the surface of the water indicating the main channel so it was easy to get through and now we're at the abanet river fishing this confluence of course hoping to turn our luck around we'll probably poke our way up the abanette river a little bit and that's actually outside the park so i could fly the drone again i would love to get a aerial perspective of the maze in this whole area so hope we can do that just stopped on this little beach for some lunch and we're just gonna make some craft dinner on the burner there's some moose tracks here they don't look too fresh but they're still distinct no fish [Music] [Applause] [Music] fish on here trolling deep enough now that the abernet river has come in it's deep enough to be able to troll on the map it says to lift over here on the rocks i guess but it looks like if we pull a tight little maneuver we can just get through so i think we'll try that nice and slow hug this rock raw yeah fishing's starting to pick up now that the water has some depth but it's another pretty small pike [Applause] hanging on by thread there we go thanks buddy we gotta go all right count us down i'm scared one [Laughter] i was gonna go but then you didn't okay one okay we're going okay are you going this way just three two one three two one it's actually quite nice it's like a treadmill in the current yes i want my pdf [Applause] oh [Applause] another beautiful camp tonight just to have the river splits and we'll decide which way we go tomorrow nice stone staircase a bit of an elevated view got stuff sprawled out kind of drying out and it's not supposed to rain tonight or tomorrow night but it gets really dewy and we won't have morning sun tomorrow to dry out so we got tarps up erin's doing what she does best over here and she's in this cozy little spot really nice spot here my second favorite campsite of the trip last night being the favorite i think i don't know there have been some good ones yeah started out not great with campsites but there have been a lot of good ones i think our first one wasn't good and then after that i think we were pretty happy yeah and the first one still worked out pretty well yeah it worked out fine this one's quite nice it feels very remote and yeah you know the campsites haven't been marked at all since the lake section ended on the river it's all been unmarked so it's interesting was things were well marked in the lakes but it's a bit more remote on the river section which is nice yeah yeah it's a nice one had a lot of nice ones it's hard to pick a favorite so the one left where will it be oh nice to wake up to a fire this morning here and got it going and it was the coldest night since last spring for sure it was supposed to be four or five overnight it was it must have been close to freezing for breakfast this morning we've got curry and rice this is a really good curry mix that john made and dehydrated it's got my favorite part is big chunks of potatoes and uh yeah should fuel as well for the day on the right foot on our way now we're at this fork and we either come down here where there's supposed to be a lift over which we might be able to run like we did yesterday or we go this way through bulger's folly which sounds like a tolkien name are we going to check out the leftover here and then okay there's a huge hornet's nest hanging right there that's one of the biggest ones i've ever seen hold it right in the tongue there and then rocky at the end yeah can't run it off the lift over or take both of smallie sure let's do it then the bulger's poly has a little swift here too but you can easily run this one this isn't on the map and we don't really have any details on this stretch of the river so hopefully it doesn't turn into something but stir it starts out fine so we'll take it pretty much down the middle this is just anyways fish on here oh it's cold an otter just scrambled down the bank i thought i saw something there earlier with us another small pike on come on thank you uh [Applause] we're making bannock here i pre-mixed the flour lard baking powder and a little bit of salt which is in that bag and then you just add in water and mix to an earlobe texture it's a little wet right now so i'm gonna have john pouring some extra on the plate yeah please all of it uh yeah we'll use it up okay all right let's divvy up the bannock a nice pot of chili [Music] i'm looking forward to the bannock mm-hmm greatly i'm just gonna have a nibble yeah quality control got to make sure it's man fresh biscuits just so good that's good so simple using some lard in there really makes them nice and flaky some people use butter we will use lard i'm a lard gal sample little chilly sliders i'll give you guys a quick tour of camp we've got this lovely island site horizon island it is but it's a point is what i meant to say john and i get to hang real close together in here which is awesome and then if we go this way you get to see the view so here we've got this awesome elevated view of the lake so here's camp for final night got lucky with another good one end of the trip it's a really nice one probably our best trip together in terms of pace just keeping it a nice reasonable pace without having back-to-back grueling days and uh i'd say we worked really well together like at camp i think we're getting a system together down better than ever you can have one so well established as a soloist but then with another person similar to white water paddling like it's so much different doing it alone versus with something someone so yeah [Laughter] incredible yes all right so it's our final morning and we're up and packed up early because it's my birthday and my family's in pakistan and so we've got a long drive home and i want to try and meet them um so we're gonna get up and on the road we've got a beautiful sunrise and we have some nature valley for breakfast birthday breakfast this is sarah's birthday cashew thank you alrighty we're gonna get some snacks on the way home yeah we are celebrate properly you better get a rush in these oh yeah it's been a good one when i first stared longingly down the mississaugi four years ago i pictured myself coming back alone i was used to solitude and i expected it even embraced it i didn't think i'd have a tripping partner to bring along and only in my wildest dreams did i imagine that i'd find a partner who would be as excited as i was for a trip like this through rain or shine stinking hot or freezing cold be it fresh bannock or granola bar breakfast bog mats or mud through thick and thin i've found a partner in every sense of the word whether we lay our heads down at night in our hammock or in our bed i know i've got a true partner to take on whatever awaits around the next curve in the river [Music] you

Channel: Lost Lakes

Views: 214,950

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

Id: OpHtJhsXUmk

Length: 73min 59sec (4439 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 29 2021