July 16, 2021 - An Island Retreat
- Keith Weagle
- Sep 8, 2021
- 15 min read
Updated: Sep 20, 2021
Day 1
We have been watching the weather forecast closely for this weekend. After all the rain last trip we really weren't feeling like doing another in the rain. Luckily the forecast kept improving the closer we got to the weekend. As of today, it is only calling for rain Sunday, and it is not supposed to be heavy until later in the afternoon. That's ok though, because this time we will be prepared. I purchased a new Helly Hansen 'Loke' Rain Jacket earlier this week and put it to the test a couple days ago during some thunder showers and it seemed to hold up very well.
Today we are once again heading onto the keji backcountry. Island site 32 on Peskowesk Lake to be exact. It is one of the few sites we have not stayed at yet. We will be doing two nights there this time instead of changing sites each day like we normally do. I really do enjoy travelling to a different site every day, but last trip took a lot out of me, so I just want to be able to relax this time and sit around and enjoy camp life for the weekend. Site 32 has a nice beach as well so that will be a bonus.
We weren't able to start packing until Friday morning, so we were a bit late getting on the road. We hit the highway by 12pm, and arrived at Jakes Landing, our departure point, shortly after 1pm. Our original plan was to depart from Eel Weir, which would save us about a half hour of paddling and from having to cross a windy Keji Lake. These plans were dashed when we got word the bridge at Grafton Brook suffered some damage from all the rain a few days ago. There will be no access to Eel Weir, and hence much of the southern areas of the park unless one wants to travel across Keji Lake.
That's ok with me. The lake does tend to get rough most days but I feel like I have done enough paddling in rough waters to feel comfortable with it now. Two or three years ago, I don't think I would have had any interest in paddling across Keji Lake. In fact, our last trip was the first time I have ever done it. It was a bit windy, but nothing we couldn't handle.
It doesn't take long to get the canoe loaded up and we are on our way from Jakes Landing at 1:30pm. The wind has definitely picked up today. The forecast was calling for gusts to 25km/h, but I think it is blowing much more than that. Sure enough, by the time we paddle out of the sheltered water of the Mersey River from Jakes Landing into Keji Lake, we find out just how much it is blowing. It is a pretty stiff breeze, with gusts closer to 40km/h if I had to guess, and they are blowing straight across the lake into our face. Head winds are actually better to paddle in than cross winds, but I swear it never fails, no matter what direction we are paddling on a lake, it is always into the wind.
The winds are strong and the lake is choppy, but it does not have the rolling waves like you would normally expect. Instead it is as though a giant is just shaking the lake back and forth, creating ripples and waves in all directions crashing into each other. To be honest, I prefer this sort if turbulence to the long rolling waves you normally get on a windy day. You have to pay a bit closer attention to how you cut through them, but they are much less likely to roll up over the sides of the canoe if you don't hit them just right. Although, there are a few that make it over the gunnels, but not enough to require any bailing.
It takes two hours and fifteen minutes to reach the other side of the lake and our first portage, the big hardwood carry. We pull the canoe out of the water and load it up on the wheels. I almost considered not bringing them this trip since we only have two portages to make, but I thought maybe I better. I sort of wanted to try carrying it with my new canoe pack, a Eureka 75l Storm Shield. I have been wanting a canoe pack for a long time but just never got one. After the soaking we had last trip I thought now may be a good time. They provide several advantages for canoe tripping that a regular pack is just not suited for. The biggest being they are one hundred percent water proof, and will actually float in the event of flipping the canoe. They are light weight and have a pretty large capacity. They are basically just a dry bag with straps on them. That leads me to some of the disadvantages, they have no internal frame, so you have to take much more care with how you pack it to avoid something hard jabbing in your back. They also don't have as good a suspension system as a traditional pack. That is not a deal breaker since most portages are fairly short, so you are never carrying the pack for a really long time.
I may not be carrying the canoe this time, but I am still carrying the pack. First impressions with it loaded up are good. It feels comfortable enough, but the weight savings are probably the most noticeable, at about half the weight of my regular 75l packs. Just those few pounds make a difference.
I opted for the 75l version thinking it would be plenty big enough for any tripping I do, but I did manage to fill it to capacity on this trip. The plan was to try the 75l and see how it is before buying a second bag for Melanie. I think the second bag is going to be the 115L version. At least that will give us a little more versatility in how we pack our gear.
It takes an hour to cross the 2300m Big Hardwood Carry and load up on the other side. Despite all the wind in Keji Lake, there is not a breath of wind on the portage. At over 30 degrees is it a tough old haul across. As soon as we reach the other side though, the wind is able to make its presence known again as it is blowing off Mountain Lake right in our faces as we load up. Did I mention how much more I like the canoe pack for loading in the canoe? Being a bit wider and shorter it fits great in the boat. This particular Eureka bag has lots if grab handles on it as well making it very easy to pull in and out of the boat. The grab handle placement is what actually sold me on this bag compared to others I looked at.
We depart Portage E and start our journey across Mountain Lake at 5pm. I don't think the wind has picked up any more than it was, but it is defiantly acting different in this lake. Now we are seeing some of those big rollers I was talking about earlier. At least this is only a short crossing, and by the time we make it half way across, the wind and wave activity subsides. We arrive at portage F in about forty minutes, and are across the 620m and on our way in Peskowesk Lake in no time.
It is 6pm now, and our destination is in sight. It is only a short paddle from here to site 32. I expected this last leg to be even rougher than the last lake, but the wind seems to have calmed down a bit and it is a pretty gentle paddle to our private island beach site.
We arrived at camp a little later than I would have hoped, but we still have plenty of time set set up camp and make supper before dark. It is giving a chance of rain this evening or tonight, so first order of business is to set up the hammocks and tarps. Only, we have a slight problem with the main tarp. I forgot to pack the ridgeline and paracord tie outs for it. Normally I keep it all together in the tarp bag, but since everything was wet when we got home last trip we had the tarp and lines drying out in the shop. When I packed them up this morning, I completely forgot about putting the paracord back in, and of course, neither if us packed any extra like we normally would. It is not the end if the world though. Luckily where we need to set the tarp up has trees close by, so we don't need a lot of cordage anyway. I take the two ratchet straps that we use to secure the wheels to the canoe on the portage and that secures two corners. Melanie brought extra tree straps for her hammock, and those end up working perfect to secure the other two corners. Crisis averted! We have a tarp and protection from the coming rain.
By now the sun is beginning to set, and this campsite is positioned perfectly for an evening sunset. We are treated to a bit of red sky as we watch some dark clouds roll in from the west. I suspect those are the rain showers we will see later on.
It is nearly 9pm before we get supper on the fire. Ribeye of course is on the menu tonight, along with some more of those delicious Idahoan instant mashed potatoes we discovered last trip. I cant believe I have gone this long without knowing about these. They are so easy, fast and delicious to boot!
By the time supper is cooked the wind has completely died down, and the mosquitos have found us. Despite having a good size fire smoking nearby, they are eager to complete their mining operation, and waste no time drilling from one location to another on our bodies. With all the commotion we decide to turn in. It is still very warm as I lay in my hammock writing this, but the wind seems to have changed direction from this afternoon, and has now picked up again, providing a very nice cooling breeze. I suspect it wont take long for the wind to rock me to sleep tonight.
Day 2
The cool gentle breeze did not last all that long before it picks up into a strong gale. Not long after, the rain begins to fall. I had pitched the tarp on my hammock quite high so I would be able to look out onto the lake, but with the wind driving rain now, I feel a few splashes on my face through the screen of my hammock. It is worrying enough that I get out of bed and lower down one side of the tarp. Not long after returning to my cocoon the rain stops, and the wind dies out completely. Two or three more times through-out the night the wind blows strong and brings a quick shower with it before returning to calm. I stay dry for the rest of the night this time though.
The next time I open my eyes it is to the chatter of a squirrel, which I am sure is sitting on the picnic table enjoying some chocolate peanut butter M&M's. Even though I feel like I could sleep for another two hours it is enough to get me up and check things out. The squirrel is just in a tree nearby, posing no danger to my nut supply. It is 7:30am now so I figure I may as well stay up. There is a path through the woods and a short walk to the other side of the island where I am able to get a few good photos of the rising sun.
There is not a breath of air on the lake this morning. Perfectly calm and as flat as a mirror. First thing on todays agenda, relax. We are not packing up to move today and don't have any reason to rush. We do have to get firewood this morning at some point, but the firewood drop off is not very far from us, just on the shore of the lake opposite the back side of our island.
Melanie and I head out in the canoe. The hope is that Bear and Ana will stay at the campsite as there is not enough room for all if us and the firewood. It looks at first like we will get away with it until Ana decides she will swim out and follow us. We know she is a good swimmer, but really have no idea how long she can go. We are a good two hundred feet from shore now, and hope she will decide it is too far to go and turn around. She doesn't turn around so we decide we better go back. She follows us back to shore and we try again. Every time we paddle out, she figures she will just swim next to us.
We play this game off and on as we make our way around the other side of the island. Her and Bear have more or less followed us around the whole shore at this point, with her electing to swim half of it. Bear will not swim. I know he can do it, but he has never liked the water.
Once on the other side of the island we have to cut across the lake to the wood drop. It looks like Ana has found something else to occupy her mind so we make a break for it. At this point Bear is watching us from shore and Ana is out of his site around a point. As we make our way across Bear begins to let off the most pathetic cry I have even heard him make. He thinks we are leaving him. About four hundred feet out Ana decides she wants to come again and starts swimming. At this point we have no choice but to go back. Melanie gets off on shore to stay with the dogs and I will get the wood myself.
It only takes about ten minutes to get to the wood drop. There is not a whole lot here but plenty more than I can carry in my canoe. I load up about sixty pieces and make my way back. It is still a very calm morning. It is so peaceful out here.
I make it back to camp not long after Melanie finds her way through the woods. She ended up having to do some bushwhacking across the island to get back to camp. Both dogs are exhausted from the mornings events.
With that chore out of way, we get the fire going for breakfast. This morning we brought bacon, eggs, cheese and English muffins. Will are making breakfast sandwiches today.
By noon we have a gentle breeze blowing though the campsite. It is very welcome as the temperature in the shade is a balmy 28 degrees. I check the water temperature about thirty feet off shore and it is reading about the same. We will spend the rest of the afternoon in and out of the lake and just lounging around until it is time to make supper.
We are trying something a little different for supper this time. We are making a vegetable beef stew in the Dutch oven. We found the recipe in one of our camp cooking books and tried it out at home over the winter. It turned out really good, so we will see how it fairs in the field. Stew beef, potatoes, carrots, mushroom, onion and a few other special ingredients round out the recipe. Total simmering time of about an hour and let me tell you, I don't think there is anything we could have done to make it taste any better. This will definitely be on the menu again in the future. It is one of those dishes that is hard to size for just two people but we manage to finish it off without much fuss.
It is a perfectly calm evening, and so we decide to head out on the lake for a short paddle. This time we bring the dogs with us. Well, we bring Ana with us anyway. Bear is stubborn about going in the canoe sometimes and he was having none if it tonight. So we left without him. Of course we are not too far out before we hear his husky cries. He has never been a very vocal dog but he has made his feelings very well known to us today! It is beautiful on the lake and we would like to stay out longer but we cant leave him on shore crying, so we head back in. We give him another opportunity to join us but he refuses. That's enough paddling for tonight I guess.
It is after 9pm now and we plan to spend the rest of the evening sitting on the beach around the fire, but the mosquitos are back and they brought reinforcements. I normally bring my thermocell on every trip, and usually never end up using it because they are not that bad. Of course, I didn't bring it this time and they are out in force. Even the smoke from the fire is not deterring them tonight. And with no breeze, all we can do is bundle in clothes. Two minutes of sweating and still swatting away the first wave, and we have both had enough. For the second night in a row they have won, and driven us into the protection of our hammocks well before we would like to turn in for the evening. As I lounge in my hammock it sounds as though I am laying over an active bee hive. The sound of tiny buzzing mosquitos is all that can be heard outside my hammock. The half moon is bright in the sky tonight, lighting up the lake with ease. The air is still hot and muggy. Hopefully we will see some if those winds we had last night.
Day 3
The night is calm. Not a breath of wind and the temperatures stay in the mid twenties. It is beautiful weather, but still uncomfortably hot, even for sleeping in a hammock. The trend continues until morning when I awake to blue skies and sunshine. It seems the rain we were supposed to get today is late arriving. This is definitely the nicest morning we have had of any of our Keji trips this year.
With the calm water and blue skies we decide it would be best to get packed up early and be on our way. I know the rain has not arrived yet, but it is definitely coming at some point. By 10:30am we depart our beach vacation site and make our way back. Again, It is just a short paddle to the first portage, the same one we took on our way in.
At this point, we have not seen another soul the whole weekend, which is very unusual, even in this part of the park. Normally you will see at least a few canoes paddle by as they head to sites farther up the lake. We suspect the road closure to Eel Weir forced most, if not all of the campers on this part of the park to change their plans. It is not until we are just about packed up for the trek across our first portage that we run into other campers. It just so happens they are on their way to the site we just left. We wish them well and start across the portage. It has been nice not running into other people on the lakes or portages, but it is good to know some people are still taking the route across Keji Lake to get to this area.
Back across Mountain Lake and across the Big Hardwood Carry to Keji Lake and the sun is still beating down with full force and not a breath of wind. It is a stark contrast to what we paddled in just two days ago to get to our site. I am not sure I have ever paddled in any part of Keji Lake without the wind blowing. It is eerily calm. About a third of the way across the clouds start to roll in. The cover from the sun is welcome, but it is still hot without a breeze.
By the time we make it to the half way mark we begin to see a lot more activity on the lake. I can count at least six other canoes just in easy viewing distance. This part of the park is teaming with activity. As we near the other side of the lake to the mouth of Jakes Landing, the skies have completely clouded over and become much more menacing than they were a short time ago. There is a gentle breeze blowing across the lake now as well, just enough to help cool off.
As we enter Jakes Landing, there are now dozens of canoes kayaks and paddle boards coming and going from every direction. It is very busy here today. Once we make our landing it only takes a matter of minutes to pack up the truck. We have our loading and unloading routine nailed down pretty good. We made good time on the way back, only four hours from the campsite to Jakes Landing compared to five and a half on the way in. I guess that just goes to show how much difference paddling into a big head wind makes.
When we left we had thought we would spend the extra time this afternoon doing something in the park, maybe do a couple short day trials, but we are both pretty tired from paddling in the heat all morning and decide to just head home. But not before stopping at our traditional 'after camping' eating establishment just outside the park, EJ's grill. This is one of our favorite parts of camping in Keji, coming out and enjoying a good burger and some cold drinks after a few days in the backcountry.
As of Thursday last week I was seriously considering cancelling our trip. The thought of another wet and rainy paddle was not at the top of my list of fun things to do. As it turned out, it was the most beautiful weekend of camping we have had this year by far. I guess the lesson to be learned here is to not worry about what might happen, and concentrate on making the most of what is happening in the moment. You never know when things could change for the better and work out in your favour. Just one more lesson to be had as part of our Backcountry Evolution.
Oh, and the rain did come, just as we were sitting down to eat some fresh burgers and a wobbly pop. And it came down hard. I guess it was just meant to be.
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