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May Week Long (PIC Heavy)


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Its taken a while to get this report together for a number of reasons, primarily the game of catch up required at work after shirking all responsibility for a while leading up to then the week of this trip. A number of years ago I decided that the provided 3 day weekend was insufficient to facilitate the type of trip I was looking for. Thus overtime all winter to accumulate days off; no holidays on a contract... <_<

 

Anyways the plan came together smoothly; the 2 man expeditionary unit would leave Wednesday morning, prior to the holiday weekend and scribe a loop deep into the bush north of superior. Saturday on the way back out we were due to meet the resupply party and enjoy a couple nights of a bit more laid back camping. The plan was voted so good an additional 4 campers jumped on board for the Saturday-Monday trip.

 

Day 1--In

 

South winds at 30-40kmph. Ya. Well there could have been a hurricane and it wasn’t stopping me. Trees were falling all over; saw at least 5 fall on the way to the first camp. The plan was to single carry the portages. This lasted the first one and numerous blowdowns and deep snow patches forced us to go through with packs and saws first to clear the way. We were the first people through here for the year and going was rough. 8 portages later and this is what we see.

 

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AV Setup

 

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Cooler beside the door

 

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Then the rain really started and kept up all night into the morning.

 

Day 2 saw us getting a late start waiting for torrential downpours to abate and another long day of tripping into another lake. In the rain/snow/sun we managed to hit some fish.

 

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Got to the destination and found all the campsites were basically flooded. The normal tent spots were a few inches deep in water so we had a pretty good slope to deal with. Woke up a couple times at the bottom of the tent. Got camp set up and went for a fish in the persistent winds. Found success in a small bay.

 

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View from the campsite

 

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The two man party was strong that night with classic rock on the crankup radio and whiskey and lakewater flowing.

 

Still at dawn we were up set to catch fish. The day turned HOT and bright, sunburns were handed out after lasts night's low of -3C.

 

Again a few fish were caught and they seemed to be of better size...

 

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Got back to camp around 1 for lunch and to check CBC for the weather. Rain turning to snow (2-4") pushed by 60+km winds tonight. Well, packed’er up and head back to the relatively warm confines of the cabin. (Hoping no one moved in).

 

Got some shots of the portage on the way out. It was flat and the walking was easy....after walking in during a rainstorm I definitely was eager to get out before the forecasted snow.

 

First off cheers to DuPont and their making of Kevlar.

 

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All different parts of the same hill…it just kept going up…steeply

 

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Managed to fish on the way out and was rewarded!!

 

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The release....

 

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Down to the bottom....

 

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Crossing the lake towards our ideal homebase we see 2 canoes on the shores.....turns out the boys got out early (after a minor detour) and claimed us a warmish spot for the weekend. The weather really deteriorated for the next day and through the night. Fishing was nearly impossible with the winds, we spent a lot of time looking at this.

 

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The wind was whipping right into the building so we had to fortify the structure.

 

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After many dead trees were cut and bucked up, strong drink was served and with no chance of hitting the water supplies dwindled.

 

Some point around midnight we were held up at stickpoint by this masked man demanding his nalgene be filled with vodka and lakewater.

 

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After a euchre tourney we retired to creaking beams and flapping roof tin. Overnight low got down around an estimated -10C with the windchill.

 

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The next day was passable and allowed us to get into some higher (elevation) lakes to catch a few fish. Interesting difference in colours versus the other specks we caught. The lakes are close together however this fish came from altitude...

 

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Out

 

Packed up and cleaned up early and left to building winds....by the time we hit the take out waves were crashing hard. A sign of things to come…We battled high winds again through a long paddle and the crossing of the last big lake. Got shuttled to the truck and headed for the shower.

 

It was an amazing trip to see some country. The weather-based change in plans forced us to cut back on fishing time but was worth it to be comfortable in the bad weather. On the plus side there were no bugs!

Edited by troutologist
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Amazing report and pics! All that hard work getting into those lakes looks like it paid off. Beauty specks. One day I'll try my hand at one of those trips.

 

Can't get a freezer more environmentally friendly than that :lol:

 

Cooler beside the door

 

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Thanks for sharing

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