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Jun 1, 2009 - Erables Lake to Birchcliffe Lake - 9 portages totalling 3790 m

I awoke around 06:30 and did the usual coffee/read-book routine. As I was sitting I heard a loud crashing noise in the distance. The crashing continued until it sounded very close. I awoke Katharina to warn her that I believed a bear was near, and sure enough a bear appeared, and then scampered away into the woods again once it noticed me. We ate breakfast (making more noise than usual), and then started off on the longest day around 09:00. Shortly after starting, it started raining, a rain that would last all day. Today was the day of portages, nine of them in total. It was also a day of meandering streams through the swamps, with many beaver dams, fallen logs, and other interesting obstacles. The first two portages went quickly, then there was a long stretch of very dense paddling down a creek barely wide enough for the canoe. The third portage was not marked correctly on the map so we battled along for quite a while thinking that we had somehow missed it. Finally we found it and carried across. All the portages were short, none of them were over 700m. All were low maintenance, and had many downed trees to navigate. We ate a hurried lunch on the shore of Tillie Lake. It was pouring rain, and hordes of mosquitos tried to bite us through the rain clothes. We paddled on through a series of small lakes connected via short portages. We hit the watershed at Raven Creek so now got to ride the current down more narrow twisty creeks full of beaver dams. We were getting tired and miserable as the day wore on. It was a hard day, and being out for eight hours in a downpour meant we were soaked through. Finally we reached Birchcliffe creek and a short paddle against the current brought us to Birchliffe Lake. On the far side stood an old ranger cabin which we have rented for the next two nights. It was a great relief that we are not camping tonight because everything is soaking wet. We quickly got a fire going in the wood stove and began to dry off. Cooked a leisurely meal of mac and cheese over the same stove, relaxed, and went to bed.

Rainy day.


Bushwacking in a canoe.






Ahhh... shelter!


Ahhh... warmth!




Ahhh... beds!


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