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| Our first day - Smoothwater Lake |
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| Enjoying our last beers on our first night - Smoothwater Lake |
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| 1st campsite |
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| Rein getting friendly with the leeches |
As with every canoe trip, you come home and you always remember the highlights of the trip more than anything else. This year was probably the most challenging trip we had as a family so far. We explored the north west, less traveled region of Temagami. We now understand why it is less traveled. Our route was very portage heavy and mixed with 9 days of rain, it tested our limits many times - AND we were in two canoes for the first time. We ended up pulling out 2 days early at day 14. Tom and I discussed turning back on day 5, however, after Shawn and Julia showed up unexpectedly we decided to press on. We were so impressed with Rein and Silka - they did every portage without complaint and carried more than their share. They matured years in one. We had never seen so much rain - we had 4 days of non-stop, day and night precipitation. We spent many hours in the tent playing card games and reading. The funny thing is that the photos really don't reflect the rain we experienced or the amount of portaging we did - neither great times to be pulling out the camera. Going through the pics made us realize that there were so many spectacular moments that outshone the darker ones.
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| 2nd day of paddling - Smoothwater Lake |
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A buggy 2nd night - McCulloch Lake
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| Father and Son |
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| Day 3 - One of many portages... |
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| 3rd night - Eating dinner on Scarecrow Lake |
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| 3rd night - Rein chilling in the hammock |
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| Day 4 - The rain and the goofiness begins |
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| shinanagans.... |
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| Day 5 - Tent... |
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| abound... |
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| Day 6 - Shawn and Julia save the day and the trip! |
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| Day 7 - Julia shows her reverence to the small and fleeting patch of blue sky... |
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| Day 7 - Shawn and Julia's kijik at the end of the portage into Regan Lake |
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| Day 7 - Shawn and Julia and Rein and Silka go ahead while Tom and I finish our last carry-over |
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| Rein and Silka - a great paddling team |
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| Day 7 - Going over a small beaver dam |
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| Soldier Rock |
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| Day 7 - The portaging continues... |
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| Day 8 - Beautiful Solace Lake |
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| Some rest from the rain |
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| Day 8 - Gorp and swim break, Solace Lake |
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| Solace Lake - Northern view from a campsite we passed by |
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| Rein fishing |
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| Day 8 - Julia in the kijik, Solace Lake |
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| A treat from Shawn and Julia |
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| Tom's catch - Solace Lake Trout |
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| 2nd and last sunset of the trip |
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| Day 9 - Formal night, Blue Sucker Lake |
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| Shawn and Julia dressed for formal night - colour co-ordinated! |
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| Day 10 - Foggy morning, Blue Sucker Lake |
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| Day 10 - Starting another big day of portaging to Florence Lake |
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| Day 10 - Blueberry picking on a beautiful portage |
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| Day 10 - reloading after finishing a portage |
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| Silka, Shawn and Julia walking a creek bed |
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| Tom with the 2nd canoe |
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| Day 10 - We finally arrive at Florence Lake! |
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| Day 11 - Group shot before we part ways |
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| Name of old cabin on Florence Lake |
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| Day 11 - heading down the Lady Evelyn River |
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| Day 11 - Lady Evelyn River, Team Leslie and Rein |
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| Day 11 - Huge rock faces along the Lady Evelyn |
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| Day 11 - Rein fishing at our campsite on South Lady Evelyn River |
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| Day 11 - The kitchen |
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| Day 11 - Rein trying very hard not to dump... |
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| Day 11 - Canoe frisbee |
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| Day 12 - Continuing down the South Lady Evelyn - a beautiful section of swifts and class I |
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| Day 12 - Silka and I made it through but Tom and Rein had to drag |
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| Day 12 - Picking more blueberries at our site for the night |
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| Day 12 - I am holding Rein's fishing rod while he tries to untangle the line from the fallen tree. This is after the third time of saying to his sister "Hey, Silka, can you cast as swell as me?" and getting it entangled each time. |
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| Day 12 - Tom reads while the kids throw the frisbee |
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| Day 13 - Making pancakes |
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| Day 13 - Paddling up the North Lady Evelyn towards Gamble Lake |
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| Last night on trip - Gamble Lake. We originally were supposed to portage 4 km to Sunnywater Lake (acid lake with visibility to the bottom - 85 feet!) and then another 3 km back to Smoothwater Lake. The weather was the deciding factor and we decided to abort two days early. |
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| Day 14 - No ride came our way so Tom started the trek to our car. He walked 18 km before he got a lift by some blueberry pickers. |
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