Canoeing on a river of memory

Ontario Trip - to the Lady Evelyn River System
August 1995


These notes were written while on our trip. The notes are recorded as written with any insights or additions in the final summary. Unless otherwise indicated, the notes were written by Hilton Moore and his partner.


August 12: Saturday: Gamble Lake. Landed by plane, set up camp - no fish, set minnow trap - fire - lake water was warm - set food in canoe for night.


August 13: Sunday: Partner’s birthday - fog on lake - took dip - no minnows - took down camp at Gamble Lake, proceeded downstream, at a point noted on topo map we caught nice perch (3). We then proceeded downriver and caught 8 more nice perch in swamp just past bridge. At junction of river saw couple, then 3 more canoes where we camped. Set up camp just beyond junction of river. Moose tracks on banks. Saw mink and muskrat. We fileted perch. Had sauteed perch and seasoned rice for dinner. Nice weather. Set out minnow-trap - many minnows there.


Trip Note:
Gamble Lake too warm for trout, lots of perch just down from Chance Lake. Do not take child proof lighters. Don’t use Coleman mantles for lantern and bring enough. Don’t buy thin fishing line. It tangles too easily. Small rubber worm worked great for perch. Don’t take army rations. Too heavy.


August 14: Monday: Got up early - took down camp. Let out minnows. Lined down rapids. One mile through marsh, difficulty in finding Portage Site B, -440 meter portage taken because it avoided other rapids - difficult portage through rough rocks. Camped along portage on hill, caught one perch. Explored unnamed lake, small like marsh now. It is the evening now, drizzling, having tea and soon a sip of brandy before bed. No need for suntan lotion on this trip yet. Still no trout just perch, saw no people today. Having food in separate bag very handy for portaging purposes. Dynamo bottle for water works great.


August 15: Tuesday: Did the 5 portages to get us to McPherson Lake. First portage short but very rough over boulders. 2-3-4- portages not bad, 5 a little rough. Most beautiful campsite so far overlooking falls on lake. Lots of beautiful cliffs behind campsite. Caught no fish. Chubs in minnow trap. Land has been burned over to this point. Hope fishing gets better. Sat by fire at night, beautiful weather. Loons, muskrats. Partner got many blueberries and made delicious blueberry bannock for dinner. Need to get berry identification information for next trip because have seen many berries we can’t identify. Plastic bottle got leak and fixed with duct tape. Ibuprofen still very necessary - much pain in shoulder and chest area from work accident. Had salami with blueberry bannock for dinner. Took bath for first time in McPherson just below falls. Only need a tiny bit of hair conditioner for trip. We are not using soap for dishes, only using for body and clothes so we could take a lot less next time in small plastic bottles.


Trip notes: Don’t take plastic jelly containers. They squish out. However mustard and catsup packets are great. Don’t take powdered milk next time. Bannock recipe from Hap Wilson’s book is great. Foam bed is shitty, soaks up water. Next time inflatable mattresses. Boots too heavy, take only one pair next time. Brandy is great on trip, 20 fluid ounce root beer plastic bottles work. Jackets take up a lot of bulk. We brought jean jackets. Consider other light weight alternatives that take less bulk and weigh less. Trail bread excellent but too heavy. Take more homemade baked granola because it is lighter.


Trip note:
(Partner writes): “We need to reduce our weight. Suggestion: lightweight or no axe. No army rations. Use dried meat and no salami. Come up with lightweight shoes. No foam, unless air mattress. Fabric minnow trap. Less hair conditioner, just braid hair,” she states.


August 16: Wednesday: Got up, blueberry oatmeal for breakfast, most excellent. Left shortly after ten and made camp shortly after six. 4 portages (3 runs and 1 portage) got to Kathryn Lake, 2 couples camped across point from us and YMCA boys at far end of lake, these are the first people we have seen for 3 days - unfortunately solitude has been interrupted. Dinner was a combination of army ration and cous-cous, very good, she scores again. My eyes hurt very, very much yesterday morning, sunburned because of previous welding experience. Had to cover eyes with bandana and she took over steering. Lasted about 2 hours until it got hazy, Then I could see again but eyes are still really sensitive. Saw several loon and babies yesterday, also beaver, still no moose and no bear although have found bear scat on portage trail.


Trip notes: Found out pan with leftover cous-cous in it weighted down with rock in the water made an effective minnow trap. Will try this again. Don’t ever want to haul metal minnow trap again.


August 17: Thursday: Got up, had no breakfast - not her idea. As we were taking off plane landed with couple. Trip note: double-bag everything. Couples names were Eric and Ellen who scooted ahead of us on the river system. First set of rapids we lined, second set we portaged. Visited with Eric and Ellen and saw Hap Wilson’s cabin. Hap is known as writer of book about Temagami canoe routes. Eric informed us of fire ban in area due to high heat and no rain. They decided to stay at Hap’s cabin. We pushed on to Bridal Veil Falls. Difficult portage last 300 feet had to belay canoe down slope. Camped midpoint on portage. Had beans and potatoes for dinner - yum! Hung food over cliffs and bag ripped. Lost some parmesan cheese. It was another beautiful day - eyes much better. She put ointment in them. Ribs still hurt but not as bad. Used propane lantern for first time. We decided we do need 2 propane bottles because of fire danger and rain. Bridal Veil Falls is beautiful but no fish. My blue jean shorts are ripped now. Looks almost indecent but who cares.


August 18: Friday: Friday morning. Her grandmother’s birthday. We are camped on Bridal Veil portage trail. Making notes. She kind of had breakfast because I was anxious to get started. I tried fishing in the morning but got nothing. We slid and belayed packs down slope, and unfortunately left ropes behind - OOPS! Lucky we had enough ropes to finish trip. Next 950 yard portage then Far Man portage then 2 runs to track. Lining is using one rope to control canoe going downstream. Tracking uses two ropes, on tied to bow and one to stern to steer through rapids. Managed to catch beautiful bass as we were getting out of river system. Many bass but few takers. Food bag completely ripped now. Set up camp at old logging camp dock. Put food out in canoe for night. Fried bass with cornmeal and spice and had rice with basil and dehydrated butter flakes in it. It was a delicious dinner. No fire because of fire rules. Still no rain, hot weather, jean cutoffs shredded and unusable. Used jack knife to make new shorts from tan pants. Need shorts more than pants this trip. Sipped brandy till dark. Both Amy and I were fatigued at this point, tempers are short, she says mine is, but I say hers is. Lost expensive lure today.


Trip notes:
She writes: “We lost ropes (both of them) after belaying the packs down. We inadvertently left them there. Now we have no way of tying food up. Floated out the canoe last night with food bag. Works well but no one likes to swim near dark back to shore. Other dumb thing I did was to put the lantern after we used it under the blue tarp. Woke up to find hole in tarp - lantern had melted through. We ate 16 inch bass for dinner. Was delicious and better than our usual out of Fletcher’s Pond, near Alpena Michigan. I have still yet to catch a big fish. Packs beginning to get lighter. Should leave axe and boots home next time. It was another scorcher today. Has been one of the hottest summers in Ontario for a number of years.”


August 19: Saturday: Woke up had breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins. Very good. Moved camp a football field from previous spot to a more desirable and aesthetic area than old logging camp. Extremely hot. Took several dips and fished all afternoon with success. Several missed strikes in morning. Swam at point down the lake and must have punctured bottom of canoe - on the way back she had to bail while I rowed against strong headwinds. Very fatigued by the time we got back. Fixed canoe with silicon and had dinner of army meat patties which were excellent. She had a vegetable pattie, which was a gift and not her idea, and it was not terribly good. Also had popcorn and tried to use cous-cous in minnow trap with no success. Put oatmeal in minnow trap too but no minnows. Slept lousy (both of us), camp site where tent was was sloped. Put food up on cliff away from bears. No one in sight, beautiful sunset and extremely hot. She got stung by a bee when she and I went to crap.


Trip notes: Do not need to take towel and washcloth. Next time will take a pair of pants with removable legs which will make shorts if needed, much less weight. Buy the thickest Zip Lock baggies on the market and double bag them.


August 20: Sunday: Got up, had coffee and tea and went fishing. Got up early because of bad night of sleep. She caught a small bass, small pike, and lost a nice bass. I got nothing. We went back to camp and Amy fileted the pike - great breakfast. Couple came down the channel just as we were about to bathe, saw them later also. They were from Manhattan and he was working at a camp up here. We canoed from the south channel of Lady Evelyn River system to Willow Island Lake. On the way got a 24’’ pike which we devoured at dinner time. Made our own campsite on a small island. Fished in evening, no luck. Beautiful place to swim, sandy shore.


Trip notes: We need to check to see if stove leaks when we connect to bottle, and remove stove from bottle when finished.


August 21: Monday: She writes: “We are leftover fish for breakfast and were on our way to portage across 2 fairly flat paths to reach Lady Evelyn Lake. Sunday was quite windy and when paddling we did not pay enough attention to the topography of the lake. Paddling Monday morning it was clear we did not know our location in Willow Island Lake. The result was that we paddled way past our portage to Sucker Gut Lake. Lost about two hours in having to backtrack. The portage was a difficult one to find even if we had known where we were. The portage was located in a swampy area. We learned a good lesson - pay attention to the topography of the lake every moment you are canoeing in it. We are still not certain which island we camped on last night. After first portage we ran into a couple who had worked as guides all summer. They informed us that our outfitter is expensive. Nice to have this thought confirmed.”


Trip notes:
She writes: “Do not wear tennis shoes with no socks as water foot wear. Both Hilton and I have multiple blisters. At end of portage found 3 socks hanging on tree. Just our luck because our feet needed socks, as our wet gym shoes were hurting our tender feet. NOTE: Always hook the bungy cord securely in the canoe when not in use. Have lost one of them - and necessary to strap paddles in during portages. We have made a couple of observations of canoeing couple. It is very common for the man to carry the canoe solo while woman trails behind with gear. Carrying gear in wooden boxes with a tump line is very popular. Canoe traditionalist couple we met today had 2 wooden boxes and a pack full of gear. They wondered at the little amount of gear we had for such a long trip. We think we still have too much gear.”


[Note: Traditional box is called Wannigan in the Algonquin language. We were not traditionalists. Most of our gear came from garage sales.]


“Hilton must not have much male pride. He and I carry the canoe together. Find it easier and makes each of us less prone to accidental injury. Found good campsite for the night. Best of campsites - good hearth, latrine trail, rocks to sit on, and flat spot for tent, plus good view of water. Found this place late in the day after lots of paddling. It was about 6:30 when we made camp. I was getting worried because clouds were blowing in, the wind was strong, and the weather was in general spooky. I usually begin worrying anyway, when we do not have a campsite before 5:30 p.m. Windy and have to use the canoe as a wind break for our fire. Had wonderful and much deserved dinner of potatoes au gratin. Parmesan cheese great for camping. Our flashlights are going dead. Need extra batteries for next trip. Leave clothes pins at home - are unnecessary.”


August 22: Tuesday: She writes: “Today is overcast and we had cinnamon and raisin oatmeal for breakfast. We fished all morning. I was a lazy fisherwoman - let Hilton paddle while I read my book and yanked the jighead once in awhile. Caught 3 bass in the process, one was very good size 15’’. Hilton had no luck. We came in about mid-afternoon. I read my book and Hilton took a long nap. I sat on a rock shelf that overlooked the water and enjoyed the sun which every once in a while would peak out from behind the clouds. Went fishing again in the evening - no luck.”


August 23: Wednesday: She writes: “Began packing up camp to move down to Diamond Lake. Had to make a beeline for the tent and wait out some rain. Were on our way in no time with no further hindrance from the weather except the wind against our face as we paddled. Found portage to Diamond Lake and carried boat a few feet over a very tiny fall. Talked with a man named Flynn who had a house boat moored near portage. He was kind enough to give us a contour map of the lake, so we would know where the good fishing was. We decided to take a campsite along the narrows before the water opens out to Diamond Lake. Campsite is across from Indian pictographs. Thought there would be less people around here as Flynn led us to conclude that this is a very popular lake complete with fishing camps. Too many people.”


August 24: Thursday: We had planned on staying at campsite for the day fishing but it was too windy so we packed up camp. Cream of wheat for breakfast and last of coffee. Canoed across from campsite and looked at Indian pictographs, interesting, makes one wonder. Much wind today. Set out bottom bouncer for fishing and drifted down lake. She navigated us to end of lake where we found portage. Met couple from Toronto going same route. She carried canoe. The first female besides Partner involved in carrying canoe. They had not caught any fish. Had lunch on the old bridge which is now just a derelict. Portaged into Lake Temagami at Sharp rock - drifted down lake - continued to be very windy. Set up camp, water very clear almost eerie, but no fish. Had cous-cous, vegetable burger which was foul by both our standards, then went out fishing. Again no fish. Came in had popcorn and brandy and went to bed. Three or four cabins in sight. Coming back to civilization with much regret.


These notes from our trip, are so much like a river, a memory that will not be forgotten, that flows in the human mind. We were much younger then.


She and I are no longer together and have gone our separate ways. I have few regrets. I still retain the memories, and I always will.
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