It has been such a wild summer, I am almost begging for a couple months of normal, especially after the last couple weeks spent denying the end of summer. In the chamber, I already have to catch up on a trip to the Canadian rock hall of fame, part 2 of the dinosaur museum, an awesome cottage music festival, a concert in the big city, and a bunch of stuff I won't recall til I look back through summer pictures. That will have to wait as there is camping to do.

In this edition, I was invited on a back woods canoe/portage trip and had to sort through over 100 pics to condense the tale into 1 post. Here goes!!

It took almost 4 hours of driving to get to this point of the voyage but not much to photograph on that leg. 8 of us arrived at the access point with huge packs, 3 bear barrels full of food, and the challenge of getting out to the camping spot before it started raining.

We were making good time coordinating 8 people with gear to pack up the canoes and hit the lake.



This trip first happened 25 years ago with these guys and I was a last minute call up for my first time. People have come and gone over the years but the main core of the group always makes it every year. How did I sneak in? One fellow was tired of all of the guitars and campside jamming done and I was subbed in because I was sure to bring a guitar and play along.




This is what the end of an 8km, 3 hour paddling and portage trip looks like. Gear all accounted for, dry and being set up before any rain fell.




With tents and the kitchen set up, it was cool so we put on some layers and set to lighting the fire. It would make for good entertainment, cooking, and fire to light the musical excursions that evening.




The night was chilled by a smooth cool breeze out of the north which brought a sprinkle of rain overnight. The next morning was brisk as well with early September feeling all kinds of autumn. A crisp and foggy morning was very pleasant to wake up to and the loons paddled past like we were not even there.

Before too long, the sun broke and bathed the shoreline in late afternoon sun. Only a day or so in, we still had a few days to enjoy the turning of the weather. The lake was like a mirror and camp dinner was sizzling on the fire behind me.




Clouds receded completely and shone through the trees right until it crested the evening horizon. Should be nice tomorrow!




We could find no hollow logs for the customary chimney so we fabricated one out of split wood, bound with steel wire and stuffed with dead softwood twigs and needles. It went up like a roman candle and a package of magic flame turned it into fireworks. One sign you have had a little too much is when you are taking pictures of the camp fire BTW.




The next couple days were as close to perfect as I can imagine. Whether there was not a cloud in the sky or a nice thin covering, kicking back and breathing the clean air as I gazed across Little Trout Lake is about as good as it gets. I have a video of this vantage with audio of the breeze blowing past and a couple loons calling out to their echoes. I should post it on @3speak for the immersive experience.

With views like this completely surrounding us, you can probably understand why I took over 100 pictures. The swimming was refreshing though not cold, and the sun was warming but not oppressive. The rocks mark a campsite just across the narrow and we were asked from across that delta to give the guitars a rest for a couple hours of afternoon solitude.




Even the look straight skyward from the campfire shot worked out alright. Treetops photobombing the high thin clouds in the late afternoon. I like to collect these pictures from the various camp fires at different camp sites throughout the years. Maybe on a long day in the winter I will compare them to keep me warm waiting for summer to return.




The only stroke of bad luck on the whole trip was that one of the crew fell ill with what turned out to be kidney stones on the last night. He was barely able to walk and was doubled over in pain otherwise, 8 km and 3 lakes into the bush. With the help of our friends towing, I managed to paddle us out of there and we all shared the carrying of the extra gear. Wasn't so bad and I heard our patient snoring across each of the lakes between the portages which meant he was at least a little comfortable.




The clouds thickened as we went and mercifully shielded us from the sun on what would have otherwise been a hot and burny 4-hour paddle. The wind even died down on our last leg and we packed up before any rain. Crisis averted.




The last shot I have from the trip is on our stop at a roadhouse with plenty of draft beer on tap. The trip was fantastic, food was wonderful for a canoe trip and the bourbon & wine were plentiful. Still, a nice fresh pint and a burger on the way home really hit the spot.

Thanks for sharing this epic back woods camping trip of pure Canadiana.

Do you Canoe and Camp?