TomT wrote on Dec 29^th, 2017 at 2:52pm:


TomT -

We were taking a lunch break back at camp.  Otherwise, canoes would have been back in bushes & tied.

Well, that’s my story, anyhow, and I’m sticking to it!

Jimbo 

solotripper wrote on Jan 1^st, 2018 at 2:09pm:


ST -

You're spoiling my New Year's big surprise!

You know, whenever I see that beach or even just look at a picture of it, vivid recollections of one of my best days ever in Quetico come flooding back to me.

More than a dozen years ago I was deep in study for a professional re-certification exam.  It was late September and Indian-summer-like and I had some vacation time left to play with.  On the spur of the moment, I decided to treat myself to a "study & play" late season solo trip to one of my favorite areas in Quetico: Cirrus Lake.  So, off I went.

I practically had the park to myself at the 5 Star campsite not far from the corridor to the northern tier of the lake.  OK, so one afternoon I DID see a First Nation guide in a motorboat sweep past my camp.  It is one of the few times I've ever seen a powerboat in use in the park.  While that bugged me at first, I watched carefully where he took his clients to jig for lake trout.  Anyway, after half an hour he was gone, not to be seen again.  I don't recall seeing anyone else at all during that trip.  I don't recall bugs or rain, either, just sunshine, temps in upper 60's, gentle breezes, a few birds, and the resonant deep bellowing of moose in the misty pre-dawn hours.

So one beautiful morning, an hour or so after my moose serenade, I start feeling a little guilty regarding the "study" goals of this particular trip.  In other words, I hadn't done crap and the eight very thick study guides I had hauled out there with me had served as little more than "ballast" for my canoe.  Bottom line: I needed a plan for this day so I could feel productive and get something accomplished.  The plan I came up with was, as follows:

#1.  Load canoe with heavy pole & #1 lake trout lure as well as with towel, bathing suit and the danged study materials. 
#2.   Point Souris River craft towards yonder beach, on the far side of the bay across from camp.
#3.   Drop white Hellbender lure in water as soon upon reaching the 30 foot depth level (OK, so I tossed my depth finder in the canoe, too).
#4.   Allow gentle breezes to blow me across said bay as I troll merrily along.
#5.   Catch nice lake trout.
#6.   Fillet catch on the rocks down from yonder beach.
#7.   Hang fillets in wet canvas bag back in the deep shade of the trees beyond beach.
#8.   Pull out the danged study materials and lay on bay to catch some rays while I improved my mind.
#9.  Chill out & learn something.
#10. Head back to camp & fry fillets (with potatoes & onions) over the first rate camp fire pit while I enjoy a gorgeous setting sun.

That was my plan.

How did it turn out?  Well, let's just say the big laker (orange flesh on the inside) gobbled the white Hellbender within a minute of shoving off from camp. After a ten minute battle - all the while drifting towards my beach - the prize was mine.

Never have I had a day that played out "according to plan" quite like that one did.  I have vivid recollection of sunshine, cool afternoon breezes, and the mesmerizing soundtrack of that seemingly endless procession of wavelets lapping onto that beach.  I laid around, read, and, when I got too warm, I swam.  I basked in sunshine and watched ravens and the occasional eagle waft across the sky.  Oh, and I also devoted some mental energy to the preparation and eventual consumption of my cooperative and recently-deceased lake trout buddy.  Perhaps it was the anticipation that got me through so many chapters that day?

Anyhow, it was a helluva day and, whenever I see that beach, well... I tend to re-live it.  I'm sure most of us have similar memories of places in the park that for one reason or another became "special" to us.  That beach just happens to be one of MY places.

By the way, upon returning to civilization I passed that exam with flying colors.  It was an altogether GOOD day and a GREAT memory.

Jimbo   

is today's (1/5) POD 5G?

today's POD

If that's the moon from the first week of Sept. 2017 it was spectacular after the storms left.  It became a very clear high pressure situation and at night this moon was casting immense shadows.  It lit everything up in "silver" as Sigurd Olson wrote about.