This was to be our last full day on the water as we had planned to make it to the outpost on Burntrock Lake. We were hoping to find good water levels. We took our time eating our blueberry pancakes and packing up camp. Our first order of business was to portage around the waterfall by our campsite and of course take a bunch of pictures.
The portage was 210 meters and then a short paddle across a pond to a 60 meter portage. A beaver had dammed to water and created the pond. These industrious critters raise the water level and generally make for easier canoe travel. However, there is the dam itself to contend with and we have names for the different types. A “speed bump” is a beaver dam that we can just paddle over. A “toll booth” dam requires us to get out, unload our gear, and lift the canoe over the beaver dam. We paid a small toll for this one.
Then came an interesting section of the river. The map showed an island in the middle with a passage on the right. We went that direction but it was totally blocked off by a ton of downed trees. We cut a few tree limbs just to gain access to the shore and then Ellen then got out to look around. This was definitely not the way. We paddled around to the left side of the island and found a narrow gap. Whew!
After another quick paddle, there was a short 75 meter portage around a narrow chute with some small falls and then unencumbered paddling for a long stretch until we arrived at our final portage of the trip.
This last portage of 250 meters was well marked and with a very nice trail. We ate a snack at the end and set up our fishing gear. We were headed out onto Burntrock Lake, the final body of water on this trip. The weather was great, calm, and sunny with some clouds. We fished for a while before entering the main body of the lake, but of course no bites. We started to think that there are no fish in Wabakimi or more likely, we just don’t know how to fish. We trolled our lines as we paddled the open water toward toward the outpost camp that Bruce from Wabakimi Outfitters told us we could use for the night. Fish or no fish, it was a beautiful day and great to be paddling in the middle of nowhere. At this point we had seen no one for five days.
We arrived at the outpost which consisted of two cabins, one shed, and an outhouse. We picked the larger cabin and found a way to turn on the gas stove and a single gas lantern. The solar electrical system had been turned off for the season, but that was OK by us. We were sleeping in beds tonight, plus we had an outhouse! By the front door there were three boards with a bunch of nails sticking out. This discouraged bears from entering the cabin that were looking for food. The cabin had bunk beds to sleep four, a small kitchen, and dining table.
It was sunny out so we set our wet gear out to dry and then paddled out to fish some more. This was supposed to be a great fishing lake. We both caught a couple of small pike near a rock but no walleye were to be found. We went back to the cabin and made pizza on the gas stove. Jeff collected some firewood along the shoreline and we had nice campfire for our last night in Wabakimi.
Journeys with Jeff and Ellen 