The next morning was the start of a beautiful, sunny, hot day. I retrieved our shoddily hung bear bag (unmolested thankfully) and made pancakes for breakfast. There was a particularly bold chipmunk at this campsite. Not only did he try to steal a pancake out of the frying pan he even jumped right onto my foot to eat some spilled batter off of my sandal.
It was Alex’s birthday, and to celebrate we were going to tackle a brutal portage. The 2775m carry from David to Great Mountain Lake isn’t particularly steep, but it winds up and down repeatedly. There is a portion of the portage that’s navigable in good water, but I didn’t want to spend a bunch of time loading and unloading the canoe, so I decided to just carry from one end to the other. I was beginning to question my choice as I felt the burn of the yoke on my shoulders and I could see open water just a few meters away to my left. There were obvious put-in and take-out points every few hundred meters, but I hadn’t checked the status at the park office and didn’t want to paddle halfway only to get stuck and have to turn around.
The portage finally turned away from the water and removed the temptation, but that’s when it started to go uphill more seriously. After climbing a particularly steep hill the forest opened up and the trail turns and heads across a bare rock face. There’s a blaze to indicate the turn and then a series of rock cairns to guide you over the white quartz. Xander was behind me by this time, and he stopped to take a break when he got to the rock. When he got up he forgot about the blaze and headed straight into the woods. I was taking a break at the far end of the portage before heading back for my pack, and was wondering what was taking so long while he was lost in the woods. Fortunately he kept his head and when he realized his error he was able to retrace his steps and find the trail again.
My original plan was to take several breaks with the canoe, but I kept pushing on and finally decided to do it in one go. I was almost there when the canoe yanked back and stopped moving. I tugged again and it was stuck. I turned around and saw that the painter had come untied and had fouled on a few planks that bridged a muddy bit of trail. I backed up, rolled the canoe off of my aching shoulders and dropped to the ground exhausted. I drank half of my bottle of water and caught my breath before picking the canoe up and continuing on to the end.
We passed a couple going the other way on the trail. There’s not much time for conversation when you both have canoes on your shoulders so we just exchanged pleasant greetings and moved on. These were the last people that we saw for the next two days.
As tough as the canoe had been to carry I actually found the second trip with the food bag harder. It was hotter by then, and the food was still heavier than the canoe, even if it was less awkward. Xander was getting way ahead of me on this trip, and when we got to the rock face I collapsed again to take a break. The rock was in the shade and surprisingly cool. I could feel the heat being drawn out of my body and into the rock.
We got out on the water quickly to enjoy a cool breeze on Great Mountain, and then started the leisurely paddle to Gail Lake. Gail is a close neighbour to Great Mountain, and only has a single campsite,, so by booking a site there we were guaranteeing ourselves the best site on the lake and also complete solitude. Finding the portage to Gail was a bit tricky because it’s on a featureless stretch of shoreline. After the long portage I was so hot that I broke down and checked the GPSr to make sure that we hadn’t passed it.
The portage to Gail is short, but steep. My feet sank deep into the mud at both ends. It’s a good thing that it was short, because I was overheating and out of energy by the time we got to our destination. The campsite on Gail features a huge expanse of white quartzite that stretches up the hill. Once the canoe was unloaded I stripped down and waded into the water for a swim to cool off and wash the sweat from my body. Even though I was boiling, the water was so cold that I didn’t go all the way in. Laying on the rocks and drying off in the hot sun was a relief after a short but exhausting day.
The campsite is very pretty, and features a suite of ‘Flintstone furniture’. Massive boulders with flat faces have been propped into position to form tables and chairs. I’m not a big fan of overdeveloped campsites where overzealous campers have built tables and benches, but I always use the facilities when they’re available. It does make for a nice break from squatting on the ground or a log while trying to do chores. The stone furniture fits in a little better than some of the clumsier wood constructions, and it’s kind of cute so I’m not sure how I feel about it.
We had some Ritter Sport bars for desert after dinner to celebrate Alex’s birthday and then I went to hang the bear bag. I’d strung a pulley between two trees again. It was a good hang, high off the ground and far from the neighbouring trees. The branches were both strong, so naturally this time the rope broke. I was so frustrated I didn’t even bother trying to ‘fix’ it, I just left the bag at the base of the tree. The next night I split the food into two bags and hung them both over the same rope. This worked much better, and after that I didn’t have any more problems with the weight of the bag.