Temagami River

I know I haven't updated this in a while... here it is

During 4th session I co-lead a trip down the Temagami River with Jeremiah. It was awesome! The first day we paddled over 27km in 6 hour, a stellar performance by the best camper paddlers of the summer. Oh, we scored some huge tail wind and sailed for 4km of that 27 (it only took about 20 min).

Here is Jeremiah and Nick while we were sailing. Jerry is steering while Nick holds the canoe paddle with a rope tied to the top holding the sail up.

The sail in all it's glory with Mitchell, Isaac, Jacob and Andrew (from left to right).



Here is Tim and Andrew hitting some rapids on day one.


Tim and I coming down the river.

We saw this pinned Camp Kandalore boat and tried to get it out for an hour but no dice. I really wanted a free boat but the water filling it was way too heavy.

Some nice clouds on day two. Finding a campsite after this was brutal. We actually had to camp on the same site as the girls. So humiliating. But to make up for it we woke up early and left before eating to get a jump on them. This scored us an awesome campsite early the next day. It was in the middle of the river on one of two islands with some small class one rapids going around the islands. The kids practiced whitewater on the three courses all day. So relaxing.... (see them practicing below)

Early morning on Thistle Lake.

A couple family portraits.

On the third day the girls passed us as we sat on our island campsite. After looking at the map we decided that there weren't many campsites left and that the next day we'd be fighting for the same one. So, a plan was hatched which we then saw to fruition the next morning. We rose at 5:30 and passed the girls on the opposite side of the river than they were camped while they were still sleeping. We scored the awesome campsite at the waterfall that we wanted and seeing the look on their faces when they came around the corner and saw us all set up was priceless.

The waterfall site.

Morning mist

Back to Obabika

Last week I helped to lead an LIT (Leaders In Training) trip to Temagami. It was pretty slack and was definitely the slowest moving trip I have ever been on. Halfway through the second day we passed by the place where I stay the first night when I go with kids. The LIT's though took turns leading the trip and so the pace they set was the pace we went. Since the trip straddled the long weekend campsites were at a premium.

This is a nice sunset on Lake Temagami.

There were alot of nice smallmouth bass at our first campsite. They were jumping everywhere. I got this one after it jumped over an LIT's lure. He put in all the work and I capitalized.

The next day on Lake Obabika I was way behind the pack after gathering firewood and saw this huge crowd of seagulls part way down the lake. I took a detour to go through them and noticed as I came closer that not only were there a ton of seagulls but that they infact were following a flock of at least 100 loons ( I am not exaggerating) that were diving together moving down the lake. We soon found ourselves in the middle of the chaos and there were loons everywhere. It was a really cool experience.


Just north of Obabika Lake lies the Wakimika river. It was here when I was 15 that I almost caught the biggest pike ever. So since we were only a bout 4 k south of that I got a couple of the LIT's who liked fishing together for an expedition the next morning. A 5:33 departure scored us a couple hours of paddling and for me two of the smallest pike I had ever seen. The other two guys got skunked. A bit of a let down but if I hadn't gone I would've been kicking myself all year.

Here is a sunrise picture on the Wakimika River.

Here is the group having a devotional on our island campsite.

This is my tiny tent that I used for the first time on the trip. Having it on bare rock was fine for sleeping but what I didn't factor in was the wind that would blow it away in the middle of the night.

Here are some of the kids working on making a fire which was followed by an awesome meal of pasta.

Family portrait!

Temagami sunsets

This guy fished way more than I did but didn't catch anything until we were taking out at the ramp where he hooked this nice smallmouth. I'm glad he finally got something.

Revisiting Heaven

Ok, I just got back yesterday from a 4 day trip up near sudbury and it was AWESOME. Check out some of the pics. They say it all.

Caught a nice 3 lbs smallmouth at the end of the portage after throwing in a frog and seeing it get eaten within seconds. Score!

This isn't me in the boat but I thought it looked really cool. This picture defines Muskoka.

My tent at sunrise. Too hot to put the fly on and to not have the windows open.

Sunset panoramic

Damselfly?

Roughing it as I lifeguard from my hammock.

Sunrise on McConnel Bay.

Woke up and listened to some tunes before the chaos of the day began.

I was trying to capture how blue the water was, I think this and the next few pictures show it off pretty well. It was like paddling in kool-aid.

This is me underwater, the camera was above the water but since there were no ripples it looks awesome!

This is the shadow of my canoe on the bottom of the lake and me looking overboard.

We saw a bald eagle (my second of the summer) and I managed to get a picture of it after scrambling for my camera in the canoe for a minute. Hence the grainy picture... oh well, I was just happy I have proof.

We got this entire beach to ourselves after like 8 hours of paddling. So worth it though!

The classic family portrait.

Paradise Lagoon

Silvester Lake, the contrasting colours here are phenomenal.

Birch forest on the way up to wolf lake lookout.

Wolf lake lookout early one morning before I woke the kids up. ahhhh.....

Wolf lake sunset. click on this one. the size here doesn't do it justice.