Woodland Challenge crosses Temagami (Part II)

Day 4: August 8
Written from ishpatina: Ontario's highest peak (690m/2264ft)

I kept tossing and turning last night eager for the climb. Finally woke up just before 7 to the sun coming up and hitting my tent on the east side of the island. Fog covered most of the lake; a truly breath taking site. Our island alone in a sea of mist. Getting ready for the climb took FOREVER!! The chaos of the night before was evident while the clothesline showed the soaking wet clothes anxious to dry. I've never seen so many wet clothes and homeless socks. The lake looked spectaular as the sun burned the fog off.

Our island home.

The wind picked up and began to dry things while we had Bible study on the rock. Murdoch stood a few feet off shore and led us. Pretty cool. I caught a garter snake during the study and managed to hold onto it until the end without any of the kids noticing. We finally left our campsite around 11:30 and headed for the trail. It began in an area where a small forest fire had been, probably lit by a poorly planned campfire, crossed a beaver dam and a couple marshes. One of the marshes had walking sticks at one end for everyone to use as we scampered across logs only inches wide and barely above the water. We placed them on the other side and carried on the trail. The kids were exceptionally fast and the trees along the way HUGE. I kept pointing out the massive trees while Anelynda insistently pointed out every mushroom while trying to convince me 'saprobes' was a word for mushroom/fungi. Apparently it was the only thing she remembered from first year biology. Moose tracks were on the path right near the top and so was a sign saying not to climb the tower.... crappy. The view is alright, it's no Silver Peak. Our island sits all alone in the middle of Scarecrow Lake. We need a few voyaguers with some saws to go trim some trees around the edge. The vista is great but b/c we took so long leaving the site clouds rolled back in.... gah! Let us pick blueberries and swat blackflies like it's still May.

On top of Ishpatina!

We gathered a ton of firewood before paddling back to our island.

Canoe partner: Matthew Skinner
Distance Travelled: 2km of paddling
Put in time: -
Take out time: -
Dinner: Chicken pot why/Chicken pot cry/Chicken pot holy crap that's a lot of salt
Dessert: Tiger balls
Weather: started out gorgeous, solid cumulus clouds prevailed for most of the day

Day 5: August 9
Today is the tomorrow I worried about yesterday...

The book describes three options for exiting the Ishpatina region into the Sturgeon River. The first is via a 1.8km portage from Stull Lake which apparently goes through a swamp. Based on current high water level I thought this would be a bad idea as the swamp would be in full effect along with the bug population ruling this option out. The second was via a 3.5km ATV path exiting Hambone Lake. Ouch, pretty long. The third and most desirable was via Stull Creek which was 3km of liftovers and lining, especially in this high water... When purchasing our permits from the ranger's office Murdoch and I inquired regarding Stull Creek. A couple of rangers, obviously experienced, had done it the week before and it had taken them 2.5h and they had fully outfitted boats... uh oh. Not wanting to lose gear or someone to get hurt and because we didn't have painters on our boats we decided to do the insanely long portage down the ATV trail. Not wanting the kids to freak out I covertly rubbed out the 3.5km portage written in pencil off the map and we continued on the bus ride to the Montreal.

Because everyone likes to portage in this kind of weather...

Today I woke up to a disgusting mist. Clothes not taken off the line yesterday when they were somewhat dry were now soaked. Another breakfast of pancakes started the morning while packing up camp once again was a struggle. Finding where the food is in the barrels is crazy. I'm not too sure about this packing technique of breakfasts in one barrel, lunch in another and dinner in another. Murdoch just tells everyone what they're looking for is in Kea, regardless of what it is.

Master pancake cook.

There is a slippery rock near the water's edge that has claimed many, some multiple times. Anelynda taught the girls a new song while travelling to the mainland. We finally leave late and proceed through a swift to Woods Lake. While waiting up for a straggler Kim's water bottle fell overboard and sank! I really didn't think it would sink but I guess if a metal water bottle is completely full it's less dense than water. I just looked at it. There was no way I was going in for it. Anelynda willingly volunteered despite it feeling like 10degrees out. At the end of Woods Lake we passed into Little Scarecrow Creek which was beautiful but really shallow and full of nice rounded cobbles. We travelled down ducky style, possibly a little too close as I had to use my paddle as a brake and jam it into the rocks to slow us down. We then passed over an old logging bridge overwhich I managed to scrape an old nail pretty good but everyone else nicely glided over with a little instruction. Then onto Hambone. Here I pretended like I didn't know where we were, and initiated a gorp break, thinking I might be able to somehow justify going down Stull Creek. However after some gorp and scouting we landed and prepared for the beast of a portage.

Five hours later, after being passed by multiple trucks and trailers, we emerged at the mighty, or not so mighty Sturgeon River. It was not what I had expected, a very dark tea stained river, fed by fens in the north, surrounded by huge conifers and ferns. It really had a Jurassic Park feel to it. Anyways, if we hoped to find a campsite we had to get going. The moving water was tiny but a nice change from portaging! We emerged onto Paul Lake and we greeted it with the customary "Johnsonville Brats"to see how good the echo was. The echo turned out to be spectacular! The site and the lake, not so much. The kids quickly spread out and grabbed the first tent sites they could find and as per usual missed a total gem at the back of the site. It was deemed 'The Secret Garden' and was home to the leaders that night. Everyone was pretty disgusting after the portage and the guys and girls took turns paddling out to where it was deep enough to take dips. Murdoch and I went out when it was dark and were both scared, he kept thinking he was going to jump out of the boat and land on a dead head. The water was dark, really dark, and spooky.



Canoe partner: Jordan Lewis?
Distance Travelled: 14km?
Put in time: 10:30
Take out time: 8:00
Dinner: Black bean burritos made by the guys
Dessert: ?
Weather: started out as drizzle and cloud cover, ended clear

Woodland Challenge crosses Temagami (Part I)

I didn't leave Tim Horton's on a whim, with no direction. I left with a mission, to go back to OPC and work at Woodland Challenge; a program I didn't get to do as a kid but was determined to own when I was able to one day staff it. I had talked to Murdoch part way through June and confirmed early July I was in for Woodland 2009. The staff line up sounded excellent and the route for the 10 day trip I would lead was totally left up to me. The choice was an easy one, a dream trip that I had planned three years ago crossing the far western regions of Temagami. The trip would prove to be everything I thought it could be and more.

Day 1: August 5
*taken from my trip journal (which only lasted until day 4)
Alright, we made it. After getting on the bus at 8 or 8:30 we finally arrived at the Montreal river around 4:30pm!!! That was after an approx. 50km detour past the bridge crossing the Montreal. The weather was ominous clouds but rain held off until after dinner and then it was only a sprinkly despite looking scary. At one point I was scrambling with the instructions of my new tent trying to figure out how to set it up before all my stuff got soaked. Step number 1: Be sure to practice setting up tent before taking it into the field. - gah The 14ish km paddle took until 7:30 and we were moving quite fast with the wing gently at our back for most of it. Lots of wildlife on the Montreal; herons, Bald Eagle (unconfirmed), loons, Megansers and ducks. We picked up firewood along the way and arrived to the beach site. Not exactly as imagined but still vast and with neighbours to the south. Smoothwater Lake is bigger than I had imagined. The hill around are HIGH with steep sides. Ishpatina is near. The group was tired and the leaders a bit edgey due to lack of sleep (Rob and Anelynda - 3 hours, Murdoch -0!). To bed and a sleep in is in order.

Canoe Partner: Kimberly Kawaja
Distance Travelled: 14km
Put in time: 16:30h (Montreal River)
Take out time: 19:30h (Smoothwater Lake)
Dinner: Chicken Fajitas
Dessert: Sleep
Weather: Scary clouds, slight drizzle

Day 2: August 6
written at 10:00h
Holy crap, I actually woke up to sun on my tent. A rare event in the summer of 2009. A plane landed nearby and pulled up to our neighbours beach. Not sure but I think they got a food drop or possibly more people. The beach here is HUGE and I tried to set my tent up off in the forest but as it was just on the edge I still have sand in it. The sand is everywhere. I know better than to stay on a beach... This lake (Smoothwater) is beautiful! The water is super clear and the view across the lake, spectacular. Pancakes for breakfast... I hate making pancakes. The new MSR gravity filter has already saved a lot of pumping!

Campsite complete with banquet table and thrones. The kids were still scared of me at this point.

Today ended with a really long breakfast and then a move down the beach to the portage to Marina where a campsite awaited with banquet table, benches and two thrones made of cedar. Around 4 we finally we finally had camp set up and set off for Sunnywater Lake. A downpour greeted us as we began to cross Marina and everyone got soaded. 100m into the first portage and 5/7 of the campers decided to go back and Anelynda pulled the short straw meaning she had to go back with them. Murdoch and I carried on with Emma and Jordan who really wanted to go as well. After a 700m, 1000m (with a crazy canyon/drop), and 300m portage we made it to Sunnywater. The lake was exactly as described; crystal clear and gorgeous blue! Just watching your paddle cut through it was amazing. We brought a couple masks and could watch people wim forever. The bottom was sandy and the rocks looked like Chiniguchi. We could watch a white one drop in the water for over 20 seconds. We spent 2 hours there and headed back through downpours to the campsite where Anelynda was trying to keep the rising anarchy at bay. The lack of a fire seemed to be the stumbling block between the group and eating. We arrived at 9 and everyone was hungry. Dinner in the dark..... but hey, at least there wasn't sand everywhere.

Yes, it was THIS blue.

Canoe partner: Natalie Love
Distance Travelled: 4km of portaging
Put in time: -
Take out time: -
Dinner: Veggie stirfry ( Kim cut up enough veggies for an army, thanks!)
Dessert: Due to countless requests **cough**Natalie**cough** Lucky Charm Krispies
Weather: started out gorgeous, turned into a few big down pours and cloudy. Cleared up at night.

My paddle reflection.

Day 3: August 7
An absolute grinder. Our first encounter with portages and all our gear. Smoothwater Lake was a mirror as we paddled across this morning. The first 815m portage was killer. No one wanted to help and we as leaders took way more than our fair share. The next 1200m went a bit smoother thanks to Murdoch's 'what to carry list', that was except for the last algonquin pack he forgot to put on. Oh, and having the sweeper in the middle of the pack didn't help either. We then had a pita, meat and cheese lunch followed by a couple portages we could lunch box and then a couple short ( less than 160m) ones. We finally entered Scarecrow creek at 6:30 for the estimated 2.5h paddle.... eek! We made it out at 8:10, just as the sun was setting behind the ridge. The group in front of us had taken the campsite at the base of the hike to the summit so Addie and I booked it to the island site and LUCKILY no one was there. Dinner was again made in the dark (brutal) but the kids were pretty good. One tent was pitched on a massive boulder. You can always count on the kids to take the worst spots. Had a great time with Murdoch and Anelynda after the kids went to sleep. We can see the tower from our island. I'm really excited for tomorrow.

Scarecrow Creek!

Canoe partner: Addie Stewart (amazing in the bow on Scarecrow Creek)
Distance travelled: N/A, have to look up
Put in time: 10:00h
Take out time: 21:00h
Dinner: Pesto Pasta with sundried tomoatoes, yum
Dessert: Smores
Weather: sun and cloud, cool. cleared in the evening.