Well, I defied all logic and made my way up to Cedar Lake to do battle with the bugs and I was pretty disappointed by what I saw. The bugs were not as bad as they were 2 weeks ago when I was up (although Markus did say they were worse on Carl Wilson). The Stable flies were having a field day on the ankles though...
So I made it to the dock at Brent and as I pulled up, Jim Cavers was just finishing loading up his car. He told me about the week he had with Markus and that Markus was all alone now. I was puzzled because JeffP was supposed to have been up the day before. So I unloaded my truck, got the canoe loaded ans in the water, and off I went.
Btw Jim, nice to put another face to a name. Hope we can meet up for a longer period next time.
SWEDE!!! I have your bug tent and if ya want it, I will meet ya up on Cedar lake next June!!! hahahaha... Well hook up and pass it off to ya soon...
Anyway, I just took it easy paddling across Cedar as I was not in a big hurry and the water was fairly smooth. I even took some time to troll along the way but was denied.
Rounding the islands in front of the island Markus was on, I could see him on shore and yelled out to him. Jumping into his canoe he paddled on out to escort me to my island home for the weekend. We chit chatted while I set up my tent and stored my gear. We both wondered what happened to JeffP and were a bit concerned. After that we decided to head out on the lake and try our luck at fishing. Caught a couple bass and a lot of whitefish. NO TROUT!!! AARRGGHH!!!!
While we were out, we saw a green canoe approach our island but gave no thought to it till we got back and low and behold, the missing JeffP had arrived in a loaner canoe from Langford.. Long story short, he was camped at the Brent campground after arrive late the night before and I had actually passed him as I drove in that morning.
We made dinner, chatted and had a couple beverages around the fire that night.
Markus and I were up at 6am to get ready and go fishing for the day. Rain gear was the order of the day. We went up cedar to the Nipissing to try out the spot I had caught the speck 2 weeks before but only caught whitefish and bass (small ones). We saw a couple moose in the marsh at the mouth of the Nip.
We headed back towards the Petawawa to try our luck there. My first cast I caught a walleye about 15 inches long. Being the nincompoop I can be some days, I threw it back thinging "Hey, I caught this one on my first cast, maybe I will get a bigger one".. Yeah, that was the only one we caught.. More whitefish and bass though.
So back to camp drenched to the skin for a nice fire, Apple Butter marinated Pork Tenderloin with wild rice and some beverages. After some good chat around the fire we watched some lightning off in the distance and knew we would be in for some weather over night. Markus and I estimated about ten to midnight it would hit. Close, about ten after midnight it hit.
Thunder, lightning. rain and an absolutely wicked wind storm. But we survived AND we stayed dry. Waking up in the morning, we found the camp had suffered a bit, but it was packing up day so i it was not a big deal.
We all packed up our gear, loaded up the canoes and set off for our vehicles and Brent. The wind was starting to pick up a bit and the waves were getting bigger and bigger. I felt like I was on a roller coaster at one point as wave after wave lifted the front of my canoe up and then it slammed down just in time for the next wave to hit.
We were not in a big hurry today so we just paddled as hard as we needed to ensure we would eventually get to Brent. I was actually enjoying myself and found myself whistling at one point. There was a time that waves like that would have had me scrambling to shore, but after many years of paddling and knowing my craft, I found the perfect line and made it almost effortlessly back to my truck.
JeffP, Markus and myself all loaded up our vehicles and after saying good bye to JeffP (nice to meet you Jeff, will have to do it again..) Markus and I headed over to meet Jake. I made a point of stopping in 2 weeks ago and he was away, this time I was not disappointed. What a great guy to chat with. Can someone put all his knowledge down on paper please?
Jeffrey M, I passed off a section of your map to Jake. I took and area from Rattrap to Wendigo and from Mink to Burntroot and had it Blown up, printed and laminated. He was quite impressed. And, for the record, I went looking for the grave marker on the first portage on the Petawawa towards Catfish and could not find it. It was damaged by a fallen tree, but was fixed today. I will have to go up again so I can see it.
So all in all it was a good weekend up in Algonquin, even with the rain and lack of bugs. Bo and Racoon, Markus and I made a toast tou you two with our morning coffee's this morning (and something added to the coffee for taste...).
I am sure Markus will be posting a bug triplog of his trip soon. Keep an eye out for it.
Great setup was invented to wimp proof Racoon/DD
??? Wonder if it would of survived the wind/rain
storm at Ceadr ???
Glad to hear nobody was hit but Lightning and
that the paddle out was fun/exciting yet SAFE
L8tr I hope to meet you all
Rac n
24.201.43.5
Re: Back From Cedar
June 30 2008, 10:01 AM
Hey Sean. Welcome back. Glad to hear that you had a good time sans insects. Happy to hear Markus made it to the island. It was pretty dark behind us on Cedar last Monday and I wasn't sure if Markus would make it in time to avoid the storm. We'll meet up in the future, somewhere in the park.
Algonquin ROCKS!
Canoeguy
www.canoeguy.ca
99.229.142.37
Holly fast trip log Batman!
June 30 2008, 10:47 AM
Hey Sean...
It was great to finally meet you! I've unpacked and started repacking for next week, but haven't even uploaded my photos, let alone organized my thoughts on the weekend, well done! We MUST do it again, your "one liners" and Markus's "monologues" kept me well entertained!
Jim, if I'm not mistakes, I saw you heading out Friday morning. I had just got back to Cedar with my permit, and saw what I think was your car with your canoe slowly drive by my site. It looked like you were deciding to stop or not, but by time time I put "two and two together" you had driven off. Next time!
I'll be writing my log later, but Sean is write, wow what a wind storm Saturday night; I thought we were all going to wake up and say "Toto, I don't think we're in Algonquin anymore"
Yep....as I was leaving the put in, I looked over and and remember thinking..."Man that guy looks a lot like Jeff P....nah it can't be...he has a red canoe" and kept driving. DAMN!!! Markus and I had figured you made it to Brent and thought better of paddling up to the site. I look forward to meeting you another time. Are you and your boys still heading up to Booth Lake next week? If so, we should arrange a time for us to meet up. Godda Lake maybe?? Let me know.
As for the bugs, I didn't find them bad at all. Sure there were times that they were thicker then I would have liked, but no where near as bad as I was expecting...and was reported. I'm sure they were all the size of small dogs on Carl Wilson, but on Cedar they were hardly even a issue.
I was disappointed that I wasn't able to meet Racoon, CanoeGuy, Jeff P or Swede, but I did get to hang out with Mark for 3 days and it was a fun and relaxing time. What a great guy. We ate well...maybe too well??? lol It was a great time...thanks Mark.
I was also happy to have ran into Sean of Ajax on my way out. Yet another great guy!
This was my first opportunity to meet my fellow AA members and it won't be my last.
Yup, I outran that supercell, man it was huge....huge fissile after all.
Then along came another one, I ignored it and proceed down the lake, close to shore, made it to the island campsite at 7:30pm...gotta love June...loads 'O sunlight!
It was great meeting Darren and Kevin(hope all is better now, son), Jim(wow wow WOW, he makes the most awesome tasting steak in the world!) Good to see Swede(briefly), Jeff and Sean(of Ajax) again. It's too bad everyone's(well almost everyone's schedule and plans all became discombobulated. I was also handed a letter from Sean which was on my windscreen. It was a letter of congratulations from Bob and Diana McElroy, on my first Laker. That was quite a surprise and nice to read, Thank you! Hope to see more of your triplog online(soon!). Darren made really good chicken fajitas, and Jeff treated Sean & I to really cold beer, bless him! Sean also brought in some Honey apple pork loin...awesome!
These un-official AA gatherings just get better and better, looking forward to Bo's in August!
.
