db wrote on Oct 24^th, 2013 at 10:21pm:

LOL!

I still remember starting out wilderness canoeing as a twenty-something in Algonquin. My buddy and I had come back from a trip with one of those "Never again" portages, very pleased with ourselves about how tough we were. I think the portage was about 200 m long with a 3 m rock slab uphill section at the start, something that nowadays we would all blast through without blinking.

Like db, I've kept coming back. Seems after a few months, the memory of the previous year's challenging section fades, and planning for the next year's trip usually involves something that's even longer, boggier, and buggier than the previous year. And when I make it through that trip ("Last year wasn't too bad, but this one - Never again!") the cycle starts over.

Have others had the same experience?

Fundamentally, ST, I agree with you.  But I have to say that at this point in my paddling career I don’t go looking for adversity … I know it will find me.  This past year’s trip into WCPP was a case in point.  My wife and tripping partner has made it abundantly clear that travel days shall not be more than 6 hours and include no more than 5 portages in a given day.  So I planned a route that adhered to that as much as I could.  But if you want to go from Carroll Lake to the Haggart River, for example, then there is going to be a string of 8 or 9 ports, albeit short ones and no way around it and no place to stop. 

Then too, you can never tell; what looks like a hop, skip and a jump on the map can turn out to be the portage from hell.  Our first two travel days were among the most grueling I’ve ever done – 8 to 9 hours under a blazing sun of absolute thigh deep bog slogging through marshland and, oh while we’re at it, lets throw in a few beaver dams just in case we’re feeling bored.  I’m definitely not looking for that sort of thing but I also have to say that we loved it; loved working together and dealing with it.  But other than two days of that, our other travel days were pretty much according to plan – 5, 6 hours and no more than 5 portages – and we like that too, thanks very much! 

When I was younger: longer, tougher, more challenging was what I was all about.  But my baby has educated me about taking the time to smell the roses (or the swamp gas as the case may be) and what baby wants, baby gets! 

Kerry, ditto here. There's enough challenges without looking for them. Read about Samuel Hearn and he wasn't successful till he agreed to let his Indian guides bring their women along. The biggest compliment to someone out in the barrens is telling them they look like they're getting fat.

Having some gals along and easing the pace a bit can make for an enjoyable trip. Keep'm warm and happy. Stay within yourself so you keep doing all the little things right.

jimmar wrote:  Almost every time!

I do not remember ever saying "never again" although I have had my share of miserable moments paddling against wind, doing hot and hard portages, sitting out a snowy cold day, swimming my swamped kayak to shore.  I am usually dragging my feet about going back to civilization and hope I get a chance to make a 3-4 week trip sometime soon before I get too old to do it. 

I have never had a "never again" moment but can visualize them quite clearly. For me they don't entail hardship or bugs or long days.

For me it would be doing something dangerous or stupid. Like battling big waves because I need to get out on time or feel peer pressure to perform beyond my comfort level.

The other situation I could foresee would be going with the wrong person or group. IMO that could ruin a trip far quicker than almost anything else. So far I have been very fortunate in that regard as well and have only had positive results.

TomT wrote on Oct 31^st, 2013 at 10:58pm:


When soloing, I think the trick for me was learning to ease  the pace enough that I could keep exploring every day, and not have to spend a day sitting in camp cause I needed to recover after a hard day.

Spartan2 wrote on Nov 1^st, 2013 at 12:38pm:
sorry about the rest of the trip (paddling with a neck spasm. ouch!) but that photo really is special  up

I still love October trips, despite having been hit with some wet and cold weeks. The silence and the solitude are simply beyond compare. It is like an "Last human in the world" experience, the trails and campsites are there, but there is not a footprint to be found.

My "never again" moment was on my trip in April of 2012, when I woke to 18" of snow and a viscous wind out of the north. Nearly flipped on Argo in the waves, the portage to Crooked took close to three hours. Standing in the snow on the north shore of crooked, the wind in the trees, waves in the bay, something brushed my cheek and I swatted it away- it was a little junco, it came back, landed on my arm and hopped across my shoulders and huddled for a minute or two against my neck before fluttering off in the wind.

Never above freezing that whole day, 10 degrees that night on Wagosh (a night I had planned on being home).

My tent in the morning.

We always take late fall, October trips.  Two years ago we went out Knife, thru Ottertrack and back thru Hanson to the South Arm and out thru Birch.  We had a sunny evening and then cold and a couple of inches of snow.  We were heading out for our last canoe day back and crossed the short portage to Sucker where we were greeting with three foot waves and gale force winds.  We decided to head around to Prairie Portage and try to follow the protected shoreline the route back.  It took twice our normal time and I broke a paddle fighting the wind and waves.  I thought never again, but enclosed is a picture from this years trip.  Always enjoy the solitude and serenity of being the last ones in and out of canoe country.

I had made the vow of no more fall trips but a few years later schedules were such that we set up another fall trip in WCPP. It would be a week long base camp on Irvine Lake before the portages had been cut by the park. Five paddlers, two canoes, a small kayak and ample gear to stay warm and dry were flown in with an Otter floatplane. We settled into a site I had prepared a few months earlier. It was sheltered on all sides except a nice southern exposure. Instead of the expected warming rays of the sun all that came in was a cold wind all week long with each day getting darker and colder until we were again experiencing temps just above the freezing point. We had come prepared though and kept adding tarps to our system. When the last wall was added mid-week and we had our improvised wall tent built we had no view but could stay comfortable. One partner commented that he now knew why I was so explicit on what tarps each person should bring. We have not given in again but the lure of the fall woods will surely entice us again sometime.

A weather radio isn't a bad piece of gear to have late in the season. A day's fair warning of bad weather coming and you can make some adjustments to your trip plans.

db wrote on Nov 4^th, 2013 at 7:26am:

My eliminate? 

I was serious. I just couldn't throw away the good with the bad. I will freely admit however if it's nasty and I'm still smiling knowing how miserable I could be for a mistake like element/eliminate, I do grin a bit more. I never go looking for challenges I don't have a little experience with on vacation though.

I use to experiment on the first trip when I did two a year but these days I only get the one. Weather and Ma Nature are always the biggest variables currently. Ain't nothen better than lucky.

Quote:


For our September trips, we've started taking a small transistor radio, used only in the evening around supper time to learn the forecast for the next day. CBC (Atikokan), WTIP (Gunflint Lake) and NPR (Ely) are three local stations we've been able to pick up depending upon where in the park we are. (Unfortunately, the CBC Atikokan station switches to a feed from Winnipeg after ?5? PM, so it's not that useful for a local forecast)

I haven't decided if I like knowing what the weather will be...or if it is just as well to be blissfully ignorant.   

My wife got me a watch that tracks barometric pressure, has weather predictions, tracks elevation and has a compass.  It's quite handy for use in canoe country along with common weather tips like watching clouds and wind direction; face the wind and turn right 45 degrees and the low pressure is to your right to determine whether the weather system is coming or going.  East wind, rain is likely, north wind cold, south warm.  Also watch the cirrus clouds and for halos around the sun or moon.  It good to have a basic understanding of weather to help you plan your day or prepare hunker down.

starwatcher