Wilderness Camping
by
Bob Mayfield

Ah! Wilderness, there’s just not enough of it.

I remember the very first time that I talked Sally into going on a seven day wilderness trip into Algonquin Park. She was very timid about chancing such a trip, wondering what can you do for seven days in the woods.

The trip was a relatively easy one, a 10 hour drive to the Wendigo Lake access, then six easy portages (the longest being only 770 meters) to Clamshell Lake. The trip into camp takes only 6 to 7 hours.

Clamshell is a small lake that empties into Shoal Lake and then into Radiant Lake, a large lake that can get treacherous with winds. Most people pass over Clamshell because of it’s size, but it has surprisingly good fishing and a nice little rapid right beside the camp. We’ve caught Walleye, White fish, Bass, and even Catfish here. There’s only one short portage and a drag over to get into Radiant Lake which has Walleye and Lake Trout and a few interesting historic places to explore.

This trip was unique in several ways, one being that Sally had not been canoeing very long and was worried just how she would make out on a long trip. Another was that we also had our daughter Kim along, who had only a few hours in a canoe, and a friend of hers who had no hours in a canoe.

Algonquin also offers some of the finer amenities that appeal more to women on a camping trip, such as the proverbial out house at most campsites.

It took a little while to teach everyone the basic of canoeing, but soon we were gliding across the crystal clear lakes with ease.

Then came the portages, I knew that we had enough gear to last a month, and had planned on doing double carries.

I portaged the two canoes through and then went back and helped the others with their packs. It made for a tiring time for me, but it was the first time for everyone else and they were finding out the meaning of, pack light.

Things weren’t going to bad till the next to last portage when Sally twisted her ankle, really bad. Being the trouper that she is she wouldn’t quit, carrying what she could and helping in every way she could. When we got to camp Kim bandaged Sally’s foot, which by now was swollen and red.

Kim and her friend stayed up all night catching White fish and a 4 lb. Catfish from the camp site, The next day Sally caught the first Walleye and we had fresh fish cooked with potatoes and onions over an open camp fire.

This trip accomplished what I hoped for, instilling in my family the greatest joy on earth, wilderness canoeing and camping.

The next year I asked Sally if she and Kim would like to take a real wilderness trip with me and Jim, my wilderness canoeing partner for many years, a two week trip into the heart of Quetico Provincial Park.

Quetico, smaller in square miles than Algonquin, offers a far better wilderness experience than Algonquin, mainly because it is less traveled, has a lot more larger lakes, and larger fish. The fall back of this trip is the 1500 mile drive to get there from my home in Chatham, NJ.

Well, Sally and Kim said yes, they would go, so I immediately started planning a trip which Jim and I had taken a few times before. I knew it would be a hard trip, but I also knew that the rewards would be worth it.

Of course this was May of 1996, you remember, the year we got all that snow. Well, so did Canada. We actually had ice available for our drinks.

Here we go again on our annual trek,
Tempting fate, but who gives a heck,
We’ve made this trip now for near 7 years,
We are brave (crazy) men, we have no fears.

After our usual 25 hour drive to Antikokan, our jumping off point for Quetico, we found out that the ice was still on most of the lakes and we had to postpone our departure date. But when we arrived at our jumping off point the next day, we were all amazed that the ice was nearly all gone and we could start our trip.

Finally we arrive at a small town called Antikoken,
I know a little bar there where things are really smoken.

This trip starts out by paddling up the French River, usually not too hard of a feat, but this year with the late ice out, the water was really high, about 6 feet higher than normal, and it was really running fast and hard.

The first day starts on the French River, where we will paddle upstream,
It’s a beautiful trip, although sometimes it will make you scream.

I decided to take Kim in my canoe, a brand new We-no-nah Spirit 2, Kevlar, 43lbs, 17’ canoe that handles like a dream, especially in tight turns, which the French River is famous for.

Sally was Jim’s bow paddler. They were in a We-no-nah Odyssey, Kevlar, 45lbs, 18’6” canoe that is great for straight lake paddling, but a real tank on river turns. The force of the current was so strong that is was almost impossible for Sally to muscle the canoe around the river turns. I felt sorry for her, watching her put her all into paddling that tank against such strong currents, but all in all, things weren’t going to bad till we reached our first foot bridge that we had to pass under, at least we passed under it in previous years. This year the water was so high we had to portage around the bridge.

The second bridge Jim and Sally were able to pass under, but my canoe has a higher bow and stern stem so Kim and I had to portage around. In our haste to catch up to those who did not wait for us, we passed our fork in the river where we were suppose to turn, and thus spent a couple of hours fighting a tremendous current that kept getting stronger and stronger. Finally realizing our mistake we took a short break before turning back.

If we are lucky it will be sunny, but keep your rain gear handy
And remember, a true voyager always has a bottle of blackberry brandy.

After a lot easier paddle downstream we finally found our turn and got on the right path. Soon we were at our first of 6 portages. Knowing that we were behind schedule and wanting to make it to Baptism Lake to our first camp site, we decided to push on as fast as we could.

Most of these portages are tough, and not being use to the kind of canoeing we had just gone through, I knew that Sally and Kim were very tired. I quickly hustled through the first portage with the canoe and rushed back to grab a pack. After dropping off the pack at the end of the portage I returned to help Kim and Sally. They were both struggling hard and giving it their all, not willing to say I quit, but facing the challenge.

At the next to last portage into Baptism, we were all so tired that we said enough, we can’t go on, and besides, it would be dark before we would reach the next portage, so we decided to set up camp. I was sick from dehydration and couldn’t eat that night. I knew Sally and Kim were really tired, so we all hit the tent early.

The next day rose with a chill in the air, but everyone was rested and ready to hit the trail. We made it into Baptism and started fishing. This is a great lake for Northern Pike and we had planned a two day layover on this lake, and we needed it.

We’ll find a nice island to set up camp,
We don’t care if it’s sunny, raining or damp.
First we hang up the flag, then we spread out our junk,
Then as usual, we commence to get drunk.

We decided to make a nice camp fire to warm ourselves by, and since it was raining a little, we were having trouble getting our fire going. Sally brought out this tiny fan she had carried with her. It only ways about 2oz and runs on 2 AA batteries. Well let me tell you, that little fan sure puts out a good amount of air, and it works great for fanning a camp fire to get it going. Needless to say, Jim had a great time the whole trip talking about Sally bringing along a fan on a camping trip, but it sure made starting a camp fire easy and has become a part of our gear ever since.

After our short buy enjoyable stay on Baptism Lake we were faced with one of the biggest challenges of the trip. A portage of 2 1/2 miles, which of course with a double carry amounts to 7 1/2 miles of pure hell. But it leads to a lake that not too many people go into due to this portage, a lake that every cast produces a Lake Trout, a lake with a camp site with a nice sandy beach.

Soon we’ll hit the portage trail,
The ones in Quetico we know so well,
Just throw on your pack and we’ll get started at last
Gee, I sure hope I don’t break my ___.

This portage trail has everything a mountain climber could ask for, rocky, steep, up and down, blow downs, and swamp. It’s no portage for the weak at heart, but we made it in 6 hours, which wasn’t bad considering that most of the trail was under water, and the rest was very slippery. Jim and I usually take 4.5 hours to do the portage ourselves, but the extra gear and conditions warranted the extra time. Jim and I learned a long time ago that the best way to handle a long portage is to break it down in shorter legs, thus giving you rest of sorts on your return trip to pick up more gear.

When we complete this 7 ½ mile portage and get to the other side,
Kim and Sally will moan, and say that I lied,
But really, who can remember what a portage trail is like,
I could of sworn it was just a little hike.

Sally and Kim made it through this portage with no problem, and fact, I think they really enjoyed the challenge.

Soon we’ll be fishing the Cache, so there’s no reason to pout,
Because if we’re lucky, for dinner we’ll have Lake Trout.

We were disappointed after paddling across to our campsite to find it under water, but we soon reached a little island where we set up camp for the night.

That night my air mattress sprung a leak, so not wanting to freeze my butt off on the cold ground or disturb anyone by moving into their tent, I decided to start up the camp fire and sleep beside it. I got a really nice fire going that was putting out a nice heat, but when I awoke in the morning, my wool hat had frost on it.

We had planned on spending 3 days on Cache Lake and then doing another 7 mile portage out the other side to McKensie Lake. But no one really wanted to face the McKensie portage, which makes the last 7 ½ miler look easy, so we decided to take the Cache River to Kawnipi Lake. Jim and I had done part of this river a few years ago but took a portage to another lake about half way down the river so we were excited about this new route.

We had the current with us and it was moving fast, but we had a lot of small portages that were slowing us down and one unexpected swim. Like a fool, I let Jim talk me into running a rapid in his Odyssey, I didn’t really feel too secure about it, but I decided what the heck, go for it. Well we went for it, and let me tell you, that water was cold. Lucky we spilled over just as we got started and were right at the shore line and able to get out quick and recover all our gear except for one water bottle and a hat.

Down the Cache River, which will be new to Jim and I,
It looks pretty easy, but then I’ve been known to lie.
Only a few small rapids and soon we will be on Kawnipi Lake,
Now we can take it easy, the rest of the trip is a piece of cake.

We found a really nice camp site that night on the river and scenery was great. There were several larger water falls and the river was spectacular.

Now if we don’t miss-calculate and go over the falls,
Jim thinks he can run them, but I say he has no -----,
Soon we should be camping at a place called Have-A-Smoke,
We can sit around the fire, drink and tell jokes

The next day we made it into Kawnipi Lake, and after an 8 mile paddle and a 19 rod portage we arrived at Shelly Lake and Snake Falls. We had planned on camping on a little island next to Have-a-smoke portage, but were disappointment when we found that our intended camp site had burnt. It was on an island that had taken a lightening strike the year before.

This is a beautiful section of the park, with several waterfalls and plenty of wildlife. We spent part of the next day just exploring the waterfalls and taking pictures.

We’ll wind our way through nature and pass beautiful cascading water,
This is a beautiful area, where you might get to see a sea otter,
We’ll head up to Chatterton Falls, which has some fantastic views.
Then we’ll find a place to camp and get back to the booze.

By now Sally and Kim really knew how to handle a tandem canoe, and they really held up their end on the portages and camp duties, and although this trip was turning out to be a lot rougher than it should have been, I knew that they were still enjoying it and would remember it always.

Up through Russell and into Sturgeon to Blueberry Island we’ll go,
We’ll all get drunk, drunk as a skunk, and set the woods aglow.

After a two day layover we headed across the huge Russell Lake. As we rounded a point into Sturgeon Lake, the winds were blowing straight at us, and it’s a big lake that can get pretty rough. It was white capping, but not too bad and I was sure we could cross it with out too much difficulty.

Just about that time, Kim hooked one of the biggest Northern I’ve ever seen in these lakes. She got it up to the canoe, but I couldn’t get my hands around the fish, it was too big. It broke the line after a long hard fight, and off it went.

Down the Deux Rivers through the Twin Lakes, Dore Lake, and Pine Portage Bay too,
We’ll soon be on the Pickerel where we hope to sail our canoe.

We decided not to push it to hard today and stopped at a nice little island on Twin Lakes for lunch. This left us with just a 5 mile paddle and 3 portages, a 142 rod, a 97 rod, and a 128 rod, till we reached the Pickerel.

We arrived early that evening at Pickerel Lake, our last campsite. Jim and I have sailed this 16 mile long lake in a Mad River Explorer, but as fate would have it, the winds were coming from the wrong direction so we had the long paddle into the wind.

The Pickerel is a mighty lake, and the waves can really rise,
Pray we don’t swamp out here or you’ll be looking in the fish’s eyes.

It was a long and hard paddle but we made it back to our starting point, a fantastic 14 day round robin through some of the prettiest wilderness around.

I estimate that the distance we traveled was approximately 16.75 miles of portages and 85 miles of canoeing, not counting the numerous miles we paddled while fishing the lakes.

With a Westerly wind and a little luck we’ll soon be back where we started,
We’ll miss the times, all the good times, in the wondrous land we just parted.

It was late when we arrived back at our take out point, so we headed straight for a motel to get a good night sleep before starting the long drive home. We were all tired, it had been a long day, and I was wondering just how Sally and Kim felt about wilderness tripping now. Should I mention another trip to them, what would their answer be, had this trip maybe been a little too rough. Maybe I should wait a few months before saying anything, give them time to heal and forget about the hard times, hopefully remembering only the good ones.

The next morning we were up early and on the road. “Quick”, Sally said, “give me the maps, I have an idea for next years trip”.

She’s gone mad, I can’t stop her, she wants to go to Campmore all the time. She spends countless hours on the Internet searching out new camping recipes. She has some of the best camping gear you can buy, she even figured we could save money and add some fun to next years trip by camping near a lake on the way to and from Quetico instead of staying in a motel.

And to think Sally could never understand why Jim and I always started planning our next trip as soon as we got back from our last trip. You just can’t help yourself, it gets into your blood and you have so much fun planning out new trips, going over the maps, figuring out distances, planning meals, and the countless number of other details.

Ah! Wilderness, there’s just not enough of it!!