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May 31, 2009 - Waterclear Lake to Erables Lake - 5 portages totaling 4430 m
Awoke to a cold but sunny and calm day. It rained on and off during the night and also got very windy. Nevertheless,
it was nice in the morning. I made coffee and read my book as I watched two beavers playing in the water. We ate our
only fresh breakfast of eggs and sausages. As we were packing up, it began to snow... hard. We sat in the tent for
the next hour waiting out the snow storm. Finally it slowed, and we got out into a winter wonderland. There was
several inches of snow on everything. We had to dig for buried gear, and I hope that we did not lose anything. The
snow was sticky so I made a small snow man, but it fell over before I got a chance to give him a face. We paddled off
into the snow squalls which lasted on and off all day. Navigation on Club Lake was tricky as visibility was very poor.
At the east end of the lake we saw a moose grazing in the water at the creek entrance. She did not seem too concerned
as we paddled by, and just kept eating as we went around her at a distance of about 30 m. Portaging in the snow was
interesting. It is a strange feeling carrying a canoe when you could be skiing. We had lunch on the shore of Mink
Creek in the sunshine, but it started snowing again as we left. A couple more portages brought us to Erables Lake.
There was a nice campsite at the end of the portage so we elected to stay there. As we were setting up camp, a couple
young guys showed up in a canoe. We chatted with them and took some group pictures. They were camped on Erables and
were heading to Big Thunder Lake to do some exploring. The sun came out again so we made some hot tea and lounged in
the cool wind and warm sunshine trying to dry off. After a short nap we lit a fire and spent the rest of the evening
keeping warm around it.
Couple guys we met.
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