A Powerful 200km Solo Wilderness Trip - Wildlife, Fishing, Fall Colours, and the Chill of Autumn

the daily grind of life can seem trivial at times the same routine every week with few exceptions but out here in the wilderness their simple purpose meeting the most basic needs food water travel sleep you would think that such a simple existence makes for the most trivial routine of all but i find no greater sense of belonging and purpose in all my life than in this simple existence on the water [Music] hey [Music] get out of here all right okay i miss you have fun okay here we go i've got 200 kilometers ahead of me solo down the seldom traveled river got a pretty iffy forecast i think it's me a challenging route but i'm looking forward to it looking forward to the challenge [Music] first fish of the trip what we got barbless hooks fell right out this poor guy has some kind of disease look at that pink spot just a small pike let him go right away thanks dude there he goes there's either a wolf or a lynx in there just got the back end of it moved so silently just saw the end of it i'm guessing it was a lynx i just saw the butt of it walking back into the woods i think just beneath that dying cedar i think it was watching me and by the time i saw something moving i could only see the rear end of it but based on the size i'm thinking lengths oh man that's awesome i wish i'd seen more though they moved like a ghost didn't snap one branch it's gone there's no sign of it but i didn't hear a thing as it went away i'm had to hop out and see if i could find any sign of it it looks like there's some smushed moss but i don't know can't get anything out of that but it was just here [Applause] [Applause] i had high hopes for the wildlife on this trip and it's living up to expectations so far that's a beaver a family of otters i've never got that close to a flock of mergansers before uh arsenal links tons of waterfowl just a lot of wetlands here and that's usually money just need a bear and a moose now full moose is a definite hope for this trip oh yeah three eagles actually i don't know if i mentioned that so i'm through mckay lake now which was about 22 kilometers which is pretty much exactly what i need to accomplish every day in order to make it back on time but this is by far my most favorable day for conditions so i'm gonna push it the sun still has like a good two hours left in it so gonna keep going down the pick river now just finished the first short portage of the trip see if i can get a dinner fish here yep fish on what is it fighting like a brookie but brookies are out of season right now [Applause] oh it's just a very small pike there it goes the way it was rolling seemed uh trout like this last gasp of summer here it's maybe uh maybe hit 20 degrees celsius today brought back quite a few black flies here it's the second uh the second wave of black flies so i'm going to get the canoe and do some fishing keep moving they're not so bad on the water getting some follows to the boat but all small pike so that the black flies and the fading light are telling me to keep keep going still going to find somewhere to set up camp tonight it's terrible access here super muddy shallow so i'm just going out into the middle to get water for the night it's the only safe place to have a fire here there's nothing in the woods no rocks no stones or anything to make a base i'm using the mud i've got potato and bacon chowder on i i'll add the bacon after it's easier to dehydrate without it beside my fire some moose tracks it's a nice evening supposed to storm overnight so gotta make a good camp here tonight well that rehydrates i'm just looking for a good spot to set up the hammock really nice open area here that's what prompted me to stop and with the big rainstorm and potentially thunderstorm coming overnight i'd like to be tucked in a little bit so the potato chowder has rehydrated throw my bacon in there this is real bacon and some green onions oh turned into one of those days where i just didn't stop for lunch i just wanted to make good progress while i had good conditions so this is gonna be really good oh and i squished down six rolls to go with it i'm gonna have this at least one more time though i planned on eating it for three meals but i basically had to use half of it to have a good amount for tonight so i guess i'm down to two so i better catch some fish it is 8 55 it feels like it's midnight it's uh so dark at this time of year much darker than summer anyway today was like a vacation compared to what i think the rest of the trip is going to be like too so i'll show you what i mean i'll take a screenshot of the weather before my trips so typically on my trips in this area i don't get cell phone signal so i take a screenshot of the weather so i can see what's coming so today saturday was the nicest day 18 degrees and actually ended up being sunny but the next four days considerable rain and then the four days after that quite chilly getting into the negatives overnight and then you got precipitation and wind information below which is very useful but yeah i think it's gonna be tough tuna wraps for breakfast so here's what i'm working with for navigation i've got this very small scale map from the town of manitouage with a write-up on rapids and the root however these guides are out of date and um and lack a lot of detail but they're good as an overview there was this write up from our mackenzie on my ccr which i've also used for information bigt gong first nation did this route and cleared it in 2016. um chief missiano led that so i have their video they made a beautiful video of the trip which i'll link to it's fantastic i highly suggest you check it out be a lot better than my video and then i made my own series of maps based on whatever information i could glean from these the video and uh from satellite imagery and then i also keep that's the section map version but i have an overview map as well which shows my position you can see i'm at the top i have a long way to go they give a quick description of what to expect as well this route is for canoeists looking for an adventure this trip will take you past many of the areas challenging rapids and magnificent waterfalls as you follow the route traveled by first nations and voyagers long ago this is the longest canoe route in the region offering a variety of scenery waiting to be photographed and then fishing says pike pickerel rainbow trout and sturgeon sturgeon is closed species though but they're here in the pic river and then wildlife many species of wildlife such as moose bear wolves rough grouse fever loons and other waterfowl can be seen along the routes [Applause] not to mention links and their arses and then i keep my maps in this waterproof map case this is by seal line and i'm just waiting out the rain for a little bit because it was supposed to stop soon so i'd rather not get soaked for the whole day if it means just waiting a little bit i'm not going to have any opportunities to dry out with the rest of the trip there's gonna be no sunshine adequate for that and uh drying your your clothes on a rack by the fire is it usually puts some ember holes in them so i'd rather not [Applause] the beauty of canoe tripping isn't the glory of a big fish or your heart pounding yards away from a moose nor is it the joy of sunshine or the peace of quiet the beauty is as simple as getting to find out what's around the next corner the rest happens or does not happen the fish may not bite and the animals may not come but rain or shine at the end of a canoe trip you always get the pleasure of rounding that corner and the thrill of exploration spent about an hour under the tarp and then the rain started to let up so it started packing up and then the sun just broke through and now it's like blue skies mostly i love watching my own wake as they come around the corner this canoe has a fair bit of weight i mean it's 75 pounds the canoe itself fiberglass i'm 200 pounds and my gear all lands probably 125 pounds so it's 400 pounds moving through the water here i'm like a manatee the trouble with paddling a river from its head waters is that usually upstream you get log jams and that at the first one of probably several this side up and over and i'll lift the other heavy end up neoprene socks feel good your feet are warm just had a big beaver swim under my canoe and it's always so startling when it happens i mean that's only happened to me two or three times in my life where it's gone right under it looks like the biggest fish you've ever seen at first and then then you clue in but they're quite rotund under there they're big tails especially it's snowing tamarack needles they're covering the uh the top of the water tamaracks behind me they're turning yellow they're a coniferous tree but they lose their needles each fall and they turn brilliant yellow beforehand and yeah their their needles are just raining down it's lovely stopping for lunch here moose tracks all along the banks everywhere be shocked if i don't see one on this trip coming up to a bony little mini rapid here probably should have scouted this first so good it looked so easy and then as i was approaching it i was like ah quite a few rocks in there it was all good it's crazy nothing in the river there's no sign of life whatsoever i haven't had a bite i've been fishing log jams and deeper pools around some of the curves haven't had a bite river is also extremely shallow right now though so that's probably why so there are massive thunder heads up there so the the forecast calling for the thunderstorms was not off [Music] i really can't believe this but uh i lost my net i've been going through some brush and like under log jams and stuff and at some point it must have ripped it off my pack i had it right here i just replaced the net and the truly ironic thing is that i overreacted when aaron lost it last time i was just having a bad day really and now i've gone and done it talk about humble pie wow i feel like an idiot but yeah that's that's karma i don't think i can justify going back oh man oh man what an idiot what an idiot i can't believe that oh it could be kilometers back there's just i have no idea the last time i had it because i haven't got a fish today i haven't needed it just going to cut the sticks off this down flush and then i can pull the canoe over it oh logjams uh [Music] for a while i wanted the right tool for scraping the bottom of the canoe most like a bail bucket just doesn't scrape and this is just a lotion bottle cut off at a bit of an angle and you can really scrape it like a spatula i'm not sure if low water is helping or hindering on these log jams i like these ones because it's so low i'm able to slide under i just have to clear some branches so i'll take it i think this one's number seven number eight cut a hole through there here's number nine grinding my progress to a halt this one's going to be trickier to get under too or around anyway the mud here is terrible too like boots sucking mud but i find the best way is to lift an inch let down left an inch and just keep shimming out if you try to just yank out and just you stop don't stop pulling it just doesn't give just suctions it's this type of mud like milkshake thick oh yes these log jams they can take like 10 20 minutes easily for just simple log jams like these these aren't even the big colossal log jams that force you to portage a real tangle in here made a pretty decent trail through here now it's time for the gear getting sprinkles on and off and there's thunder in the distance six o'clock now so i'd like to stop soon [Music] [Applause] there aren't many better feelings than when you are getting drenched and it's storming the rain is just light up but when you get a tarp up it's just such a feeling of comfort just a dry little space 20 square feet or whatever it is let's called my own little room and i'm safe when i'm dry and it's just such a good feeling so i actually brought a gas can on this trip i i can't remember the last time i did that just knowing how cold and wet it looked like it was gonna be i decided it was worth it i don't like them this abundant fuel in the boreal forest i'm not saying i wouldn't use them anywhere but around here there's just so much fuel and tinder so it's not my preference but uh i really am happy i did this just the next four days are probably going to be gross and then quite cold after that so this will be really nice it'll be a nice comfort cooking curry oh don't you love how it stains containers that it's in just that flavorful and rice and i can't wait oh yeah cut some white wine as well also scotch feels good feeling really good here oh it smells good i love curry so much beautiful spot here this is my kind of city campsite actually just a little space hacked out in the bush beside the water nice moss and spruce forest behind me love it [Applause] oh yeah never raining cats and dogs now couldn't be happier that i'm under the tarp [Music] chili and garlic bread on the menu this morning getting a good early start i need to put in a big day i think i only made 19 kilometers yesterday because of 10 log jams so today i gotta regain some ground my boots are still full of mud clean them out a little it's making the boots smaller because it's so full of mud starting today with a log jam number 11. just a small one actually stopped here yesterday because i didn't want to start another one which was a great decision in the end given how it started to pour but i shoved the logs around a little and they held and that's a little passage for me not nice [Music] beautiful fall colors again this morning just making a whole paddle wonderful and beautiful and the dogwood and alder along the shores along with the tall grasses are a big part of it actually they seem like junk shrubs but they're quite beautiful right now coming up to the first significant rapids big rock rapids that old trip report from the town of manitouace says the portage was 40 meters the write up on my ccr said 400. i'm hoping i don't have to use the portage at all i'd much rather wade um and ideally run it we'll see getting close so there is a portage good news if i need it i'm just going to walk it take gps tracks for my map for the future and scout the rapids while i'm at it hmm there's a very narrow channel there against the big rock but looks like it has a decent amount of volume i'll have to get a closer look though this is a pretty stunning morning stroll so it's a pretty tight run but looks clean as well so as long as i can keep her straight should be fine [Applause] i should stop running rivers in low water so i can either line this or do it the fun way here we go oh yeah oh yeah that's a barrel of laughs oh that was fun okay see if we can turn the fishing lock around gets my heart racing though i'm not too proud to say that i'm throwing a confidence lure for me it's just this uh northland flasher jig with a live target paddle tail which is quite beat up usually it looks a lot nicer but nothing not a nibble like if there were pike here for sure i would be getting hit at least by them nothing there are three major waterfalls ahead which are really like a big point of this trip the waterfalls so maybe they're below them i hope i need three meals if i stay full nine days i need at least three meals from fish the long shallow swift ahead but it looks like it's got enough water for me [Applause] lovely no better way to make up time than over easy swifts make incredible distances in no time oh yeah lots of stuff rivers lined with tamarack here and some of them haven't changed at all some of them are almost fully changed and it's creating a beautiful spectrum i'm on the first of five lakes before all the waterfalls saggy waton lake it's quite beautiful nice rock there with green and yellow and then marsh all around i am starting to get cold now surprisingly dry in here just stopping for a snack some chocolate and some cheese and crackers and help warm me up just from stopping there for like 10 minutes i'm now shivering so i'm just gonna have to paddle hard to warm back up i don't want to wet any of my dry clothes i'll just there's no drying them out after this look it's going to be rainy and cold the rest of the way so anything that gets wet is going to be wet the rest of the trip it's gonna feel so good to get in the sleeping bag tonight there are lots of dead heads poking up in these lakes and along the river this river used to be log driven so they would send they cut the logs and then it would send them down the river [Applause] and there were lots of remnants fish on finally probably just a pike oh nope looked like a walleye when it splashed there [Music] yep oh man be a nice eater walleye but i'm not gonna stop and cook one up right now if he gets off that's fine thanks buddy i just ate and i don't i don't have the willpower to clean and cook it right now i'm just tired a little worn down all i really want is to make camp so the more progress i make the sooner i can do that i caught that fish when i was ready to make camp that would be fantastic oh yeah stopped raining and it is flat calm right now gorgeous this lake looks amazing that was a bit ugly it usually is with me there's a nice tongue here and then i'm gonna have to eddie out and weigh the rest oh no too much speed eddie up my butt bony it's just like non-stop obstacles and i don't i don't have the skill level to turn on a dime in rapids this is how i learn though to get there eventually i'm gonna go cut off that log it makes that section a lot harder than it ought to be there i win family of otters playing ahead they must be feeding on something because they're all going crazy over something in that one spot they look like an octopus yep that guy's eating something cool let's go see what it is i don't see anything just weeds and some clam shells i guess it was the clam shells i was thinking it might be a fish that they were thrashing about with fish on just a pike feisty oh it's gonna be more bump and scrape that's nothing serious so another tiny pike perfect all right under the forestry road we go not sure if this is a usable road but it'd be a nice place to start the route if it was okay oh yeah oh yeah that was the most enjoyable stuff yet that's for sure that was a blast that's what you want just nice standing waves nothing intimidating just pure fun i have to wade this next bit tangling there we go [Applause] [Applause] okay getting this some a little bit better rapids a couple of swans [Applause] perfect just scouted this one it looks straight forward as long as i hit right in the middle on either side of it or rocks that could tip me [Applause] so [Applause] it's crazy i can't get a hit at any of the rapids but trolling in the lake sections just another small pike but still it's another small pike cute you can hear the rain it's about to get hurt well buscon lake is stunning it was clearly burnt 15 maybe 20 years ago the regeneration is beautiful and it's just a rocky lake unique wild [Applause] oh it's pouring [Applause] heavy drops they almost sting [Applause] at least it's not hail or snow actually snow would be nice well it's a small pike now [Applause] oh a sleeping bag it's gonna feel so good dry clothes it's hard the fish seem to like the weather [Applause] now they're all small pike though [Applause] this one could be kept it's just big enough but i really don't feel like it [Applause] conditions a couple of sandhill trains startled me with her big croak loud birds uh oh oh it feels good just got my merino base layer on and a fleece jacket place sweater hopefully it doesn't rain again before i set up the the tarp i'm gonna make camp here it's about a burn but it looks like it's 15 or 20 years old at least some of the jack pine are getting big big enough to hang off of so i'm gonna take it [Music] there's endless wiring firewood here to have a nice bonfire warm up that's gonna be really nice from all the old burnt wood even after all that rain super dry [Applause] worked out beautifully just as i got the ridge line up i could hear the rain coming across the water ran back grabbed my kit staked it out a couple things and now i'm i'm dry uh rain isn't too bad right now but it seems like it's gonna be on and off so feels really good to be under here really glad to have the burner and i'm gonna make a good dinner right now i earned it today [Applause] feeling really good it was kind of a miserable day but it was too pretty to to not love it it's so so scenic not in like a rocky mountains kind of way in a more subtle way i really appreciate it would you like some wine john yes john i would love that that's so gracious of you thank you oh john well done oh you're quite welcome john [Applause] huh cheesy penne with mushrooms [Music] i'm not gonna have a bonfire tonight the rain is just starting to let up but it's dark now and i'd rather just get to bed hopefully one in the morning just gonna do a little reading and hit the high no bonfire tonight but this book makes me feel a lot better it's about paddling in the kayak around the arctic and they have freezing temperatures and polar bears and i have above freezing temperatures and only black bears so feels good it's very entertaining it's a good book so far bacon and potato chowder for breakfast rolls hmm that's good there's been warm on a cold morning it's been raining on and off still so no bonfire favorite campsite so far good water access was really nice almost at the end of wabuscon lake it's been a beautiful one and then i've got a portage into kawape lake and then there's either two portages one of which is almost two kilometers so obviously i don't want to touch that they go around cow petty rapids which is about a two and a half kilometer stretch of rapids so even if i have to weigh them it'll still be faster than taking an overgrown portage for the blow down i'm sure it was last cleared i think in 2016 by chief machado and victor gong so i don't really want to take that and have to clear it alone sure is a small pike what else could it be yep [Applause] there's an old dam here at the end of wubuzcon lake not sure if it was for forestry they don't really make them like this anymore or you can just walk right onto them they're usually gated up and everything and this one's somewhat decrepit so so tempting to run this there are a couple ledges down there but it would be quite a ride the water is racing through there so the downside of a solo canoe is that the yoke needs to go right in front of the seat so it has to be removed anytime you want to portage this removable yoke is just secured with a bolt and this screw-on piece nut big nut there's a good trail around the dam but the 75-pound canoe makes everything a little difficult on second thought not runnable the ledges are bigger than they look from the other direction no bites here but it's all pretty fast moving current and a lot of buried logs that leave like a foot of water over top so i try a little farther down and i'm sorry about the water on the lens but there's just no way to stop it right now it's misting and the mist gets everywhere into everything the sound of a long stretch of rapids behind you is fairly intimidating i'm getting my rescue link sos button and keeping it handy from stern that i would on the rapids at least hopefully this is fun i don't think it should be too scary like the water levels shouldn't be anything crazy [Music] oh pretty tight squeeze there [Applause] that's fun so [Music] [Music] checking my gps position here i'm hoping i'm through looks like it oh man that was like being on a treadmill for i don't know two or three hours but instead of a flat platform it's bouldery slippery rocks and moving water it was pretty tiring actually i'm almost sweating i'm at the portage around high falls and they sound amazing i can't wait to see them beautiful scene there too the colors as usual it's gonna be a dandy looks like quite a balls that is an amazing waterfall one of the best i've seen anywhere oh i can see some waters down in the pool i wonder if they're as amazed as i am got to get my gear across so i can see here at the bottom though can't wait i read that when this river was log driven they had a watchman's shack here so i guess it was a tower where they could see down the river a bit and look for log jams which they would have to then go break up and i was told there were relics left behind i don't know if this is one nor do i know what it is but uh could be pretty cool to imagine not all that long ago some guys in the big tower looking for log cams yeah quite a career some more relics of something [Music] do [Music] beautiful rock it's hard to leave i'm just lingering not a nibble the only place that i've caught them is in the lake so i haven't caught barely a thing hardly had a bite in the river even below rapids and falls it's just too shallow i guess it's time to move on i want to make a little more progress today and then i'll set up camp spent a good probably three hours portaging around filming and enjoying these falls so i got a good dose of it very hard to leave though that falls was worth the price of admission to this point fantastic man that's good got a souvenir sadly i cannot bring it i'm just gonna toss it up on shore looking for a campsite that ideally has a nice cedar canopy something like that but also with good water access not like a muddy steep bank and the two have been mutually exclusive so far yet one but not both together and i really want a nice rocky outcrop to have a bonfire on because it's dangerous to have a fire right in the woods without a stone pit set up you can burn down into the roots and start a forest fire that way so onwards found a place where the bank isn't too it's firm enough just put a log down to let me unload off of clearing here and then there's a nice cedar grove in there to camping i'll take this birch park i gotta find a way to have a fire i really want one smells so good the spot's working out great having a small fire there it's basically mud underneath it lots of water filtering tarps up and just a really nice cedar grove bit of spruce and lots of moss very peaceful kd tonight extra creamy some ketchup and the last of the wine rations good night not raining not misting i never choose white wine over red except when i'm camping and it's kind of cold because cold red wine is gross my oma doesn't really drink and one time she got us a bottle of wine when we came over and she had put the red wine in the fridge to chill bless her bless her heart i think i'll be asleep pretty fast tonight today wasn't the longest day by distance but it was it was a full body workout tomorrow more waterfall action should be good [Music] hmm i slept in a little and got a very late start to the day it's almost 10 a.m i'm just getting on the water so gonna have to hustle on the plus side there's some blue sky like i haven't seen it since they maybe part of day two day five now on satellite i had marked the log jam here i could see the logs but there's actually clear passage through that helps and i'm already at middle falls i just camped a little upstream of it i can hear it now i think it's two parts two different falls here's the upper half of middle falls it's a small one the bottom half is larger trail is not good here i've lost it essentially picked up the trail again cleared it it's a good way to warm up in the morning interesting tracks here looks maybe canine i think it must be wolf probably cool so your pocket's a blue sky that's still raining ever as shallow as ever that's the white otter river coming in aaron and i paddled that last year oh my goodness this huge school of fish i don't know what they are i'm gonna cast it's a massive school i thought it was like a patch of seaweed or something you're heading downstream you follow them a little discreetly wow it went from feeling warm with some blue sky and spotting a school of trout to that school going downstream i have no idea where and a hard downpour now temperature drop like 10 degrees i feel like lots of tracks in the sand still waiting on my moose i think it'll come just spotted another school okay cast is placed probably going to swim right by it when they're on the move like this sometimes they're they're hard to stop to get their attention right there it's a good 20 of them and i casted right past their faces no interest another school coming up and i'm pretty sure they're suckers that must be what they are makes good sense suckers are everywhere tons of them here i cast it past them and i can see them and nope no interest at all of course i i don't think anyone catches suckers on on lures except maybe a jig oh i can see a lamprey on one of them that's nasty yeah they're suckers dang such a point to that clay mountain there almost looks like an egyptian pyramid wow so [Applause] my wife i'm calling it a day here i'm pretty soaked and the temperature is falling and supposed to get pretty chilly tonight tarp doesn't quite fit between those trees but it's just gonna have to work it's not quite wide enough hacked out a little trail to get into the bush but then down here i've got a nice beach where i can hopefully have a bonfire tonight but i highly doubt it because it's been raining all day just as i was getting comfortable here got my wool sweater on roof over my head scotch and dinner on i went to go filter some water realize i left one of the tubing pieces at my last camp i distinctly remember hanging over a branch as i was disassembling the filtration and thinking you idiot don't forget this i'm putting this here for one second do not leave this here i left it there obviously so from here on out it's either drink water straight which from what i've heard from people who have had giardia it's not worth the risk i have filtration tablets i always have them as a backup for water but they upset my stomach make it feel like acidy um or boiling but i have limited fuel so i'll probably have to use the tablets but it's all right hopefully i can have more fires after this and i can boil water without using fuel today was the last day to have a significant amount of rain forecasted and after this it's supposed to get colder but lower chance of rain so i would take that for sure i don't think i've ever had a trip where i've been wet for four days straight aside from sleeping obviously and i would love some dry weather i don't even care how cold it was it could be freezing the rest of the time if it stayed dry i'd be happy anyway it's all good another good day and i got manitou falls just around the corner to look forward to tomorrow it's painful to be foiled by your own stupidity out here though the only cure for such self-loathing is scotch my self-esteem it's been a rough year for gear on my trip at joe i lost my gopro in hot uh in quite a co my main camera broke and aaron lost the net this strap i lost the net and now and now my water filter which isn't that cheap actually um the upside is that i had to replace the filter i've been back flushing it pretty much every time i use it to to make it usable oh clutch you know what this means okay it's okay i feel good on a cold and wet trip it's quite nice reading about people who are much colder and much wetter so i've got my water set for the day i boiled the leader poured it into here let it cool and poured it into the bladder for the filter i'll take that along with me on the portage it's not much just a liter is not much to carry boiled another pot poured it in here so i've got two liters of water i made the last of the potato and bacon chowder and made an extra soupy just for extra liquid in there got some green onion to add and in terms of meals like i think i said earlier i'm i was counting on three meals from fish on this trip and i haven't had one yet so yesterday i started reducing my portion sizes which is fine because the meals are actually quite large the way i portion them so like three curry meals becomes four now and they're still perfectly satisfying so i think that'll be fine i've also got my last roll and this be a good hearty meal to get me through till dinner basically i'm not gonna stop it's gonna be a late start again today probably won't leave till 10 after boiling water and all that getting warm getting my clothes a little dry so i'll just have a snack and stop for a big dinner packed really nice and warm hearty meals for this trip and that was really nice really glad i did that because i'm alone on this trip i don't really have to do a great job of dishes and this is effective anyway i just boil them sanitizes them well nothing colder in the morning and cold wet socks so this feels really nice to warm them up first i'm about 20 yards away from the top of manitou falls and it's just coming in the earshot now it's funny some falls you can hear from kilometers away i'm just here in this one now there's the top of the falls ah i'm glad i left this for this morning i'm really excited now let's do a little port warm up enjoy the falls the rock here is just as spectacular as the falls beautiful patterns in it so it's quite chilly this morning just saw the first few flurries of the year it's october 1st today and my hands are very cold already i'm hoping some hard paddling is going to warm them up excellent portage here oh had going on i saw him right at the boat hit really soft i thought i was just bump bottom set the hook too late sun's busting through that feels so good oh oh no right yeah it's just a fight it's a very pale colored one i'm just gonna try and let him get off he's just big enough that you could eat them in them but i have to get going i just don't have time if you hold a pike like this you gotta really curl your fingers around so you don't touch the fleshy gills thanks buddy the water is increasingly stained and harder for lures to be seen in the water so i'm using this really loud in-line spinner clangs around and it pulsates in the water and the fish can feel that so if they can't see it they can feel it another pike smaller this time very pale again if you grab the line like this you're a lot more likely to lose the fish if i'm grabbing the line that means i don't care to lose it just going to shake them here thank you and leaving them in the water like that is better for them too just checked the time and it's quarter past 12 and i've put a kilometer behind me today i need to cover at least 25 today and ideally 33 so i can do the 100k in the remaining three days it's gonna be very hard now [Music] come the flurries again i wouldn't mind some snow on this trip got my wish first snow of the year it's all gonna melt as soon as it hits the ground i'm sure it's still pretty that was quite fun i thought everything down of manitou falls was flat water there's a little moving water helps break up the monotony it's nice that's good a little fun poor beaver was working so hard to pull that stick across the river tried to slow down and give him space but that's okay it floats he'll be back for it just got some nice clean water to boil for drinking head of this little stream the water in the river is like iced coffee at this point it doesn't taste great either this'll be nice got camp set up in the bush up there and i i'm too tired to make anything i'm just going to have some more cheese and crackers and call it a day it's actually not a great campsite but that's to be expected on this river especially in the bottom half steep mud i tried to get into several spots before this one and they were so thick with dogwood that i gave up this one had a beaver trail already cut through it so that helped me get up here and then i hacked out of sight back in there okay okay time for the thickest wool sock i brought it's gonna feel amazing oh yes supposed to be minus three tonight so everything has to be bone dry that comes in the in the sleeping bag with me otherwise it will really chill me with a low of -3 i think it's unlikely that all the water i just got would freeze but just in case it gets down to -5 or something i'm going to pour some into my pot so that even if this is a block of ice i can easily heat it it's a relief to be done for the day and be saddled up in the hammock about an hour maybe two hours ago while i was searching for a campsite i got really badly chilled i had to put all my clothes on it wasn't the time for filming and then i had to paddle hard just to warm back up the the cold feet and legs were killing me my upper body's working but my lower body is just dead and it's so cold so i'm gonna have to work on that tomorrow if i if it's not going to rain then i can dress better and use more of my clothes but the other scary part of of using all my clothes there to get warm was if i dumped i would have very little to wear and that's not good so it's just a challenging time to camp pizza for breakfast no rain dry feet should be a good day did some rough calculations on my map and i think i did about 30 clicks yesterday so if i can do that again today and tomorrow then i'll be back home by tomorrow night sleet today i was pretty tempted to postpone this trip by a week because of the forecast you never know if you postpone a canoe trip you might never get it back next week might be worse and then before you know it we're into winter i have neoprene pants on today they're helping quite a lot with my legs and my dry shoes are nice my feet are still cold but they're not painfully cold like they were yesterday part of the joy of the backcountry is that we finally get a chance to disconnect not just from the digital world but from our jobs our families our friends and our day-to-day burdens it all vanishes and you step through a gateway into your own personal narnia where it's just you your gear the lake and the trees some people call it escapism are we running from reality out here running from our troubles is the burden of our life so much to bear that the only reprieve is to disconnect from everything and everyone we know i don't believe that's the case it's more like medicine for a cluttered mind and a heavy heart when you return from the wilderness you're fresher more in tune and seeing clearly you come back to the cacophony of society more ready to conduct your own life's orchestra you didn't run away you just gave yourself a chance to heal there he is finally been going down river just waiting for one quite a rock oh hey yes finally i've been waiting to be completely honest the paddling downstream of manitou falls has been monotonous and all i've been waiting for every corner around is a moose or a bear something and that was the dream fully racked great engagement looking right at me that was such a thrill he was starting to worry me as he came out into the river he was walking directly toward me he was obviously aware of me and i don't know he's 100 yards away but i don't really i don't have much of an escape here i was starting to think if he was if he kept coming i was going to try and zip down this side while he was kind of on his way over pretty sure i could go faster fast enough to get by him but that didn't have to i just sat there looked at him and and he took off into the bush perfect that makes my day big time what a beautiful animal and the way he goes through the dogwood which is hard like this is a tangle with that big rack you could see him struggle a little bit but he's so powerful he just bulldozes thank you my friend thank you so much oh good day yes i haven't been this happy since the quatico erratic filming is very challenging on a trip like this in general and with the cold conditions you get things fogging up you always get the mist on the lens you gotta clean it off if it's spinning i have to put my hat over the camera quite often if it's spitting just so water doesn't get on the lens and i'll have to clean it and if it starts pouring rain then i have to put it away in a dry bag this camera is weather sealed so it can withstand the splash or some spinning but you can't you can't take being submerged or heavy rain so it really adds to the challenge of filming when the conditions are like this when it's on and off rain too like it's frustrating but i'm i'm always keeping up with it in the hopes that there's going to be that moment so i have it on the tripod here and i'm waiting for that moment and it finally came it's just very rewarding feels really good hiked out another trail building off a beaver trail up to summer to camp for the night made a nice spot here and coincidentally right where i intended on camping talk about the circle of life earlier i'm filming one today sleeping over one's grave i'm not going to take these home i have nothing i would do with them just be more stuff but just felt like they needed a cleaning very cool that's a bit better oh i have to cut my firewood down here to the beach there's nothing but dogwood [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] tonight has been the most relaxing night by far and much needed i stopped around five as opposed to every other night where i've stopped i think it's six or later and had just enough time to set up camp and eat before dark all my toes were bright red when i took off my socks i put on new ones and and warmed them up and then there was about two hours of pain while blood came back into them but they're feeling good now i am too oh bundled up here it's supposed to be -3 again tonight according to my week old forecast but i'm sure i'll be good and warm i was last night wow i was just prepping my fire and then noticed a dark shape over there it's not just one dark shape but two awesome good morning well this is magical and all but i'm gonna start breakfast oh i'm loving the moose right now big fan um yeah i almost didn't notice them too i'm assuming they were coming up the side of the river judging by all the tracks along the banks i'm assuming that's how they like to travel it's faster than slamming through the bush i guess and you could tell they they wanted to continue but they were wary so they cut in land and i'm sure it'll go around me and then go back to the shoreline about 15 minutes has passed since the two ladies took off and now i'm hearing a male grunting down there i don't know if he's been following them probably meeting season so so so moose hey hey hey get out of here he's right there a bull moose in the rut is dangerous he's right there i'm going to try and get in the canoe i think but there he goes there he goes get get i heard his bumping go on still just over there right where i camped last night oh heart pounding he crossed the river like 15 20 minutes ago and i yeah i didn't even think he might come right to me i was thinking he was trying to avoid me just get out of dodge okay and cap the bear spray i didn't want to have to use it but if he came at me like that's all you can do a morning just [Music] still got about an eighth of this route left about 25 kilometers but it really feels like it's already complete after this morning what more could i ask for our world's biggest challenge right now is that we don't understand our relationship with nature if we don't learn to speak the language of nature learn to love it and to respect it it's scary to think what that could mean not so much for humanity but for every other victim that lies in our wake of destruction the caribou the trout the butterflies the birds and the bees if not for ourselves we have to do better for them we are not alone here you are not alone our species is part of a cosmic phenomenon known as earth you can either contribute to its protection or its destruction but eventually you return to it what soil will we leave behind in the home stretch here about six kilometers left i just got signaled back a weak signal for the first time i'll trip texted aaron that i'd be home a day early i told her i might be nine days this is day eight she was all excited i'm excited i can't wait to see her i miss her i'm gonna let you guys in on a little secret the only thing that is cuter than how excited john gets when he sees me at the end of a trip that's how excited he gets when he sees a bag of doritos every single time he acts like i read his mind and it's adorable so i've a mom i'd pick him up from the pick he's been gone for eight days um i have doritos for him and a cold beer so really looking forward to seeing him hoping he had a great trip and excited to see his cute little grin when he when we catch up and he sees his treats there she is half an hour early sweetheart [Laughter] my welcoming committee [Applause] you're so early how do you know hi honey oh my goodness are you kidding oh you're the best person in the world oh you make me so happy [Music] i finished that trip a couple of weeks ago and i hope you enjoyed it as you can i'm sure tell from the video nature means a hell of a lot to me it probably means a lot to you too if you're watching this and i just want to say one thing nature is incredibly powerful but it cannot protect itself from us as a species we have become too powerful and too numerous the rate at which we consume burn and create waste is not sustainable with the number of people on earth today we need to change our lifestyles and most of us know this already and i am saying that i am very much a part of the problem of earth right now i'm not pointing the finger at you i'm speaking to us as a species trying to make the change alone is very difficult you see the people around you not making changes and you feel disadvantaged you feel angry but we can't make these changes as individuals we have to make them as a society and this is why we have governments and this is really the only point i want to get across here governments are the most important part to solving this problem but governments at least in a democracy can only move so far ahead of public opinion before they lose popularity and then lose power so they're always balancing that right we have to be supportive of green initiatives we have to give the government support to make these changes and to vote for them show that our vote counts on how they view this issue there's a rather important election coming up in the united states in a couple of weeks even though i have a passionate opinion on this subject i'm not even going to go there nature protecting nature is a non-partisan issue this is the earth that we live on this is our planet that is not political but any government that doesn't understand the state of the natural world right now cannot possibly act in the best interest of its citizens i'll stop there if you want to have any discussion with me on this in the comments i welcome that let's just have a discussion and not bicker we need to learn to respect each other's opinions and yeah thank you again for listening i've been this happy since the quatico are erotic take two i haven't been this happy since the quadco erratic it's getting chilly i'm making chili that was not on purpose at all it's the scotch talking slow down man you even have dinner yet someone hasn't been brushing look at this plaque you should really see a hygienist don't you worry little boy we got chili garlic bread i'm not a boy i'm a man can you guys do something for my shot you're just standing move a little please i love you man oh i lost a couple things i don't believe it annette i lost the net no you it was the most humbling moment of all time [Music] happens to the best of us you

Channel: Lost Lakes

Views: 254,801

Keywords: backcountry, angling, ontario, fishing, canoe, camping, lake, angler, canada, wilderness, BAO, bushcraft

Id: KA-BFnqBTAw

Length: 120min 0sec (7200 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 23 2020