The next morning was sunny and beautiful, which was a relief after the gloomy rain the day before. I was in a bit of a hurry in the morning since I’d heard that the wind could be a problem on Johnnie and Carlyle Lakes. My worries proved unfounded – other than a stretch where Crooked Lake twists around we had the wind at our backs all morning. We were heading straight for David Lake, rather than following the boundary of the park to the north east. While the latter route is more true to the ‘boundary’ it seems to me like the detour only serves to lengthen the trip since it leads away from the LaCloche hills that are the centrepiece of Killarney.
It didn’t take us long to see our first cottages as we skirted the edge of the park. We even passed a motorboat where a young couple were fishing, but other than that we only saw other canoes. Johnnie, Carlyle and Crooked lakes are really one large body of water that winds back and forth in the foothills of Silver Peak. There is a small lift-over where Carlyle pinches down to a creek and turns into Johnnie, but the dam is wide and easy to cross. Once we got to Crooked Lake we were rewarded with more of the scenery that Killarney is famous for. Silver Peak loomed in the distance and the shadows of the clouds above chased themselves across the green hills.
I was trying to navigate with the paper map and only use the GPSr for tracking and emergencies which is why I made the mistake. I had the canoe on my shoulders and had gone a significant distance down the portage to what I thought was Log Boom Lake when I realized that it was seeming a little long. It was only supposed to be 100m, and it felt like I’d already gone further. I checked the GPSr (with the canoe still over my head) and realized that we were on the portage to Clearsilver Lake.
This left us with a decision to make. Both portages would get us to David Lake, but the Clearsilver route required more carrying and less paddling. Then again we were already about 100 – 200m in, and it had been a bit of work to unload because the trail had a steep start. When Xander caught up with me we discussed it and decided to go back and try the easy way.
After paddling around the point and carrying the canoe over the much shorter portage that leads to a small pond I was taking a break before returning for our gear when I saw what looked like a large dog on the far side of the pond. There’s another portage on that side of the pond before we’d get to Log Boom Lake, and I started looking for the dogs owner. But there was nobody there, and the dog was moving in a decidedly undoglike manner. That’s when I realized that it wasn’t a dog, but a small bear.
Black bears aren’t particularly aggressive, but the two times they can be a problem is if you have a messy campsite, or when a mother is protecting her cubs. Even though the bear was on the far side of the pond I immediately began searching for the rest of the family. Fortunately for us this cub seemed to be out on his own. We made some noise before paddling across the pond to scare him off, and there was no sign of him by the time we got to the far side.
There’s an old logging trailer on the short portage from Log Boom Lake to get to the tip of Bell Lake, and then a longer 700m portage to travel up David Creek to where it becomes navigable. This is a pretty area and I really enjoyed the scenery as we got to the the navigable part of David Creek. The water winds around a bit at this point and it was fun trying to figure out where we were and which way to go using just the paper map. At the end of this section the takeout is an exposed rock face that leads past a small waterfall. It get’s a bit mucky at the end near David Lake, but there are boards on the trail to make it easier.
I’ve always been a bit hesitant about camping on David Lake because I know that there are several cottages there, but other than seeing the odd building between the trees it was quite peaceful. We did have to paddle a few kilometres before we found an available campsite, and it wasn’t as nice as some of the ones we passed on the way in, but it was still a fine place to spend the night.
If I was still wondering if we had too much food I got my confirmation that night. Not only was it hard to get dinner and lunch down once again, but I broke a branch hanging the bear bag. Setting up the hang is always one of the first things I do when we get to a site so I can see what I’m doing before it gets dark. The night before on Carlyle Lake I’d found a nice branch at the right height. It groaned under the weight, but it held. This time I couldn’t find anything strong enough for our food but not strong enough for a bear, so I strung a rope between two trees and set up a pulley to haul the food bag up.
It was late by the time we were done eating and when I heaved on the rope to pull the bag up there was a loud crack and a branch came crashing down. It was too dark and too late to set up another complicated hang. We searched around for a while in the dark looking for another good candidate, but in the end I just hoisted the bag up into one of the two trees that still held the rope I’d strung earlier. The bag was hanging right against the trunk of the tree, and I’m sure a bear would have been very pleased to find such a convenient treat. I went to bed feeling a bit discouraged, and worried about what might happen to a delinquent bear that found our bag.