Sunday September 17th

Laurie and I were up at 7:00 for our departure day. It was cloudy and about mid 55f (13 c). No dew at all. Slowly others staggered out of their tents. I boiled some water for much needed joe! Laurie and I enjoyed our hot drinks sitting on a log on our beach.

Shortly after, I heated up some pre-cooked bacon for sweet bacon sandwiches. I seen others having oatmeal, but that did not appeal to me at all this morning. I brought a loaf of bread. Using a barrel, I can get away with out getting the bread smushed. Well, not much anyways. By 9:00am we were taking down the tent and packing our gear away. We all agreed to be on the water by 10:00am, to leave us time to get back to Opeongo for our 2:30 taxi ride back.

"Joan, is that a bear?"

I was starting to feel like crap now (stayed up too late the night before). Sal was giving Markus some pointers on fishing and I think gave him some tackle to use as well. The girls are sitting by the smoldering fire talking. By 9:30 the solo dudes, Dave H and Sal decide to head off first to get a head start. The wind was whipping up pretty good and white caps are starting to form.

At this point I mentioned to Laurie about the bears. She said "what!" She was happy that she did not find out until now. She would have been listening extra carefully at night in the tent and probably keep me awake all night. The thunder box that night would for sure not be a solo trip for her! Markus and Joan say their goodbyes to the boys and we watch them leave across the bay.

Sal and Dave depart.

Stainless was ready to go and Guncho was getting a late start at packing up. By 10:00 as planned, we were ready to leave. I was sad to leave. I wanted to stay another day with Markus and Joan. I had such a great time and it was ending so quickly. With a sad farewell we were off to paddle across the windy bay.

Stainless, Markus, Joan and Laurie

I looked behind a few times towards the campsite to see Markus and Joan watching our departure. The wind was not bad but Laurie has never had a tail wind yet on the trips she has had with me. We more-or-less had a side wind, until we went thru the narrows to Little Crow.

As we go across Big Crow ..

We stopped at the mouth of the river for a water break. I was hurting real bad now. I was thinking of going thru my pack for some aspirin. Laurie was laughing at me.

Stainless and Guncho lead the way thru the river this time. The same heron as before (I think) was snapping up some fish as we glided by.

At the entrance of the river joining Little Crow and Proulx ..

We passed the portage to Redrock and were glade to know we only had another 15 minute or so to paddle to Proulx. No moose again to be seen. Must be Stainless! Racoon saw moose here, but not us. About 100 meters across we all start to hear what I thought was someone calling us from shore. We all looked back to see a cow and bull. The cow was calling often. They were in the water, close to shore. Since we had time Stainless said, "lets’ go back and see them." We got only about 75 meters and they walked into the forest. Cow first, the bull followed. We sat still in our canoes and listened to more of her calling. We could hear branches break as they made some distance from us. Sweet! We got to see some moose. I tried to take some pictures, but to far to get decent shots with my camera. The moose are so dark, if they did not make any noise, we would have passed right on by. The bull was probably mad at her for yacking so much….heh, heh.

We rounded the last corner to be in view of the portage. The wind was head-on for our final leg. In the last bay on the west side we could see Sal. He was trolling as he made his way to the portage. Dave H was nowhere in sight.

By 1:00pm we were at the landing. It was nice to stretch my legs after 3 hours in the canoe.

On Proulx Lake Landing

I was also looking forward to getting some aspirin! I decided to wait until I had our gear on Opeongo landing. Then we could eat and relax before the 2:30 taxi.

I put the barrel on Laurie. She was delighted it was lighter. Stainless took off as I headed up the trail. Sal passed me with his canoe. He had no luck fishing today. I had to stop about 1/3 the way up, to adjust the balance of my canoe. I hate when you have to push the front of the canoe up. This is hard on the arms. I strapped 2 life jackets to the front seat by mistake causing the front to dive down. Once adjusted, I was on my way. When I got to the last corner to Opeongo, the wind grabbed the canoe and made me use 2 hands and more muscle to control it. The wind was stronger here! Laurie was a few minutes behind me. Guncho was soon to follow. Guncho decided to paddle the pond instead of walking around it. He said it was better then walking but does take longer. Dave H was an hour before us. He was sitting in a canoe seat, relaxing while talking to Swedish Pimple. Swed had his boat, motor and his gear all sitting off to the side ready to load on the taxi. It was a bummer he could not have stayed with us longer. He is such a friendly guy, full of Algonquin info.

On Opeongo landing waiting for our taxi

Here's Swedish Pimple and his gear. Too bad he had motor problems.

Dave, Guncho and Stainless

"Laurie, what’s for lunch?"

I had to pump some water. I walked up the shore to get away from the foaming water that was pushed toward the landing. Laurie and I had some lunch (I got my pills) and I moved the canoe on its side to block the wind.

My canoe wind break .. and Laurie taking up my spot

End of Part 6 - Mike and Laurie Burns