I didn't have any agenda for this weekend but Christy had hoped out loud we could get all the way to port 15 which is 28km in. My agenda won out.
Flies again.

Now, we know from speaking with a native Water Steward, Charles Simard, a number of years ago that the First Nations people who used to ply these rivers used oak trees to mark the start and end of portages and in between on long ones, in the same vein that we use blazes, as well as camp sites. I had forgotten to look at #1 but there were plenty on 2. Start, finish, middle. Lots of oak trees. Why oak? They are not indigenous so would stand out over time and they still do.
After #2 we ran out of clear portages completely, so due to the quad trail that uses the bridges at 2 and the usual spoils of partiers, they likely keep the trails open a bit as there are tracks most places but it was apparent nobody really uses the river anymore.
It wasn't far to the third rapid, which would not be difficult to wade at these water levels but the purpose of this trip was to find and resuscitate the ones we knew had to be here. So we looked but did not find an oak tree on either side, but chose the right bank as the likely choice since the river turned right just upstream. Christy went inland looking and I waited before playing Marco Polo to guide her back. She hacked and I sawed and soon we had a decent path around that rock pile. It was short, too short it turned out.
Back on the water we round the bend to the right and find another one. Easy wade again, which is what I did as Christy walked the sloping rock shore. She noticed a potential clearing just back from the bank and then joined me at the top of the swift.
The satellite photo's did not show this, but when looking closely later we could see some of the rocks so the picture had to be taken during higher water. At some point someone had cleared this one out creating an easy run down the west side. We found that again further upstream and figured that maybe it was FN to move cargo easier, or when they first started to log the area and it made it easier for the river men to get the timber downstream.
We carried on.
Stunned silence when we got to 4. Oh crap. How are we getting up this? It was long, high, rocky as hell and had trees stacked like cord wood in all the wrong places. Rock hopping would be required at the bottom which we did after beaching the canoe to go explore. Wading, rock hopping and then walking up the slope to the top where there is usually water. I did notice the prominent oak tree at the opening to the clearing but it was getting to be later in the day and we needed a campsite.
Once again I won out, which is unusual, so rather than humping gear over all the boulders we went back to #3 and checked out the little clearing. Moss, grass, nice spot. Funny how it is ringed with oak trees.
There is a nice large erratic on the upstream side of the site.


I did my chore which is set up camp while Christy got the kitchen set up down on the rock by the river. The space as it is would hold a couple small tents or our Wanderer 4.
A little more clearing and it would fit several tents. Where I set up would be perfect for a canvas wall tent. It is a south facing exposure and protected on 3 sides.

We were both a tad weary at this point having spent 6 hours going 4km but it had been a satisfying day or achievement which would only improve.
Although we had the perfect spot for a campfire, we could have it beside the river and just push it in at the end, we adhere to the Provincial Open Fire Ban between April and November. A rock ring is an open fire although if it is an emergency it is permitted.
Besides, we were worn out.
I spent the early evening penning the journal entry while Christy cooked then another tick check and hashing out the day's events and plans for tomorrow before fading into a 10 hour sleep.

Saturday morning found both of us groaning with aching muscles and no desire to move right away but Christy found the energy to go start the coffee. We had brought the single burner propane stove and it is just so convenient other than packing the little bottles of fuel in and out.
While she was doing that, I fired up the GPS again to check the time and poke around with it and the maps. While doing so I found that from the start of the portage we cut yesterday to where camp was set up was a straight line. So I went behind the tent and found what looked like a old path. After breakfast I showed Christy since she could not see it, I walked down into the bush and found myself at the blazes she had cut where the path went left to the river. It took no time to cut it out so it came straight into the back of camp. 140 paces right into camp.

Good start to the day. With that bit of work taken care of, we planned a simple fishing day and threw appropriate gear into the boat to go up and fish the pool below #4.
It would turn out later we had far less gear than was necessary as we extended that excursion. After only finding snags below the falls we walked up with rods and tried the top. Nothing much happening there either so I walked over into the bush with the GPS and started looking for other oak trees. We found the top of the path fairly easily then started working downhill.
The high water mark here was a fair ways up the slope and based on the wood pile at the bottom we knew we had to back in the bush a bit away from the edge. So we started from an oak tree and tried to work down in a reasonably straight line. Each time we stopped there was another oak and I would way point it. At one point Christy headed off uphill a bit figuring it had to go that way as I waited, and I turned around to find an oak tree behind me. We eventually just followed the oak line and have a path of way points for a future trip to cut out the port. It will be mostly uphill but shorter than #2.

Looking down from almost the top of #4

Found a few of these, old log flume maybe



With that done, we lined and waded the boat to solid ground and portaged over the exposed rock to the top to go find #5. Due to my map running out a bit upstream I had put a flag on it with the accumulated distance and along with a printer malfunction so I could not read the text, I had assumed that flag was where the next port was. Not so.
We paddled a long time, it seemed long since the scenery never really changed, just trees and bush. We did spook something large in the forest and crashed away a short distance before silence, likely a moose. Mostly just birds and one buzzed me. I heard it and Christy said it was a green hummingbird.
Getting close to an hour and still no sign of the rapid and were considering turning around when we heard some quads in the bush. I remembered the old road came right alongside #5 and sure enough, around the next right turn it was there. Turned out that it was about 4 km upriver from #4.
Oak trees on the left bank but we did not explore at all since we had no tools with us. Again though this rapid had been cleaned out of rock so it would be a straight shot down the center in higher water.
