Hey gang I'm back, did you miss me?

Trip was awesome, just amazing and I feel blessed, still flying high and can't stop smiling!

Made irregular in two and a half days even though I was tripling. Found a great site and set up shop. Muskies are certainly there but you have to put in some time. No big ones (my biggest was about 17lbs that shook off right at the shore while I was watching her-does that count :question) but several in the 9 and 10 lb class with tangling with several more - dang things jump in the air and get off or follow your bait right to the boat - fun stuff ) pike seemed to be in short supply where the muskies hung out but got on the 36 to 38 inch pike in a different region of the lake. No pike over 40 the entire trip which surprised me somewhat considering the lures I was using and the time I put in.

Weather was fabulous with only one nighttime rain event. Best paddling day was an all day overcast on and off agin drizzle but calm and quiet....so cool.

Bugs, bugs, bugs......that was what I had heard. KF told me to bring a head net and Claire at the park office talked about a "bumper crop" of skeets. I think my timing must have been right because the little buggers were conspicuous by their absence. I spent time in camp in a tank top and shorts quite often.

Wildlife......I am always looking, I am always expecting to see something and as a result I paddle quietly. The question is not "what did I see" but rather "what didn't I see"......eagles, osprey, otters, loons, moose are the usual suspects but add to the list a woodland caribou, a bear and most amazing was a lynx from about 10ft away. The only thing I didn't see that I would of liked to was a Pine Marten. Like I said, I definitely feel blessed.

Woodland caribou offered me an extraordinary trip. Things are a bit different than the Quetico. Campsites were few and far between and many lack the pleasantness that you will find in the Q. But the nice sites in WCP are there and I stayed at 3 which were very nice indeed. Navigation does offer some challenges but not so bad. I opted to go with map and compass and found that having a thwart mounted compass imperative on this trip as opposed to never using it in the Q. Finding the portage trails are not so bad if you take your time and pay attention to clues. Sometimes there is a blaze sometimes not. Sometimes a chainsaw cut up in the woods is a clue and sometimes a rock cairn marks the spot. I made a few sightseeing detours but nothing more than 10 minutes......not so hard to get around if you pay attention to where your at. One key piece of advice for anyone going in for a first time would be to have the park map in conjunction with a regular topo map. Several times I became "puzzled" and all it took was a glance at the park map to get the "big picture". Very helpful.

I did quite a bit of writing and I will put together a trip report on my blog with some pics eventually. Glad to have went and glad to be back.   up

MT

Sounds like you had a great trip! Which lakes did you enter/exit from? Will be interested to read your report

HighnDry wrote on Aug 22^nd, 2014 at 2:01am:


Geez, I guess I should of mentioned that......I went in at Leano and went to Irregular lake by way of Bunny, Mexican Hat, Wrist, Beamish and returned via Agean by going directly south into South Agean lake and then heading east apparently along a route that Claire stated hadn't been cleared into Paull and then into Upper Kilburn and around the horn into Kilburn and back to Leano. The run from South Agean to Paull was a nifty little route which looked little used. Only one portage was bad with blowdown and took about an hour to clear with my handy dandy silky saw. It was short (only 150 meters) and I was a bit concerned that the rest of the route might be a tough go but it went fine. Back on Paull I felt I was back into civilization again with the portages looking like they had quite a bit more use.

nctry_Ben wrote on Aug 22^nd, 2014 at 3:55pm:


Thanks Ben
Didn't you do a month long trip last year? Wow, that's a long time in a boat. After last years trip and this years venture I have found that 2 weeks seems to be the perfect amount of time. In the beginning I was relaxed and joyous about having quite a chunk of time in which to be flexible with. At the end I was like.....OK, that's probably enough, time to do some different things.