Captain’s Log - Day 3 of Dave's adventure from Boot Lake to the Mystic Lake Bridge:
I got up at six o'clock, I made coffee, and I had cereal for breakfast. I packed my things and got on the water early. Today I started from the Boot Lake camp and paddled to, or where I thought
there was, a creek flowing out of Boot Lake, but I found out that it's way too low and it was a solid marsh. There was actually no flowing water, so I had to change my plan. By this time it had started to rain. I then paddled down to the end of the lake to where there's a ski trail and an 800 meter portage to the Maraiche Lake Road. I had to pack all my gear 800 meters three times. After 2.4 kilometres of walking I got to the road and ran into Alan Vowles and Greg East who were waiting to make sure I was okay! They had some things Sara Lynne had given to them so I had a good little chat. They were very encouraging!
After that I got into the Meridian Creek and found out it was very shallow in many places and I had to pull my canoe down shallow rapids. I didn't realize there was a gorge on the Meridian Creek! Once I got into the middle of the gorge, I realized that I was already too far down to back track, but I did see a nice little bit of a waterfall. I got some good pictures when I bush crashed around the waterfall. I finally got on to the creek again and paddled a little further and came across another little set of rapids that I had to pull my canoe down and then I finally got into Mystic Creek.
By this time the rain had stopped and the sky was starting to break up so I had a beautiful afternoon of paddling across Mystic Lake. I fished there once about 15 years ago, but this was the only time I've ever been on it with a canoe and it was just incredible. It's one of the prettiest lakes around here! I think they call it Mystic Lake because it has so many little islands and inlets that you can get lost in it if you don’t know where you're going. So, I paddled across and I got to the end where the Meridian Creek flows out. I couldn't find the portage trail. A buddy of mine gave me coordinates for the portage trail and for whatever reason I just couldn't seem to locate where it was and ended up bush crashing for about an hour trying to find it. I gave up on trying to find it and paddled on the lake a little bit further and discovered there's an old skidoo trail further down the lake, but it definitely added on to the portage.
So anyhow, I'm just waiting at the bridge here, the Mystic Lake bridge, and Greg East is actually going to come and pick me up and bring me back to his house where a lot of people want to give me an official sendoff. I was hoping to make it to Alistair's cabin, but the events of the first few days, and how hard it was just to get here, there was no way possible making it to Alistair’s today.
So, I’m going to leave my canoe here, get a ride to Greg East’s, have a shower, some supper and talk to some friends and show them some pictures. Honestly, it feels like I've been on this trip for a month now! I knew this part was going to be the hardest part of the whole trip and I kind of got thrown right into the fire on day one! It usually takes me two weeks to get trail hardened. You know, you get used to starting out on small portages and getting used to paddling and here it feels like I've put in two weeks of work in three days. I feel like I've put my body through tasks that it shouldn't have been through until later on in the trip. But hey, I’m feeling good. I'm sore, but I'll sleep good tonight!
Over and out.
I knew Cheez Whiz was the breakfast of Champions. Paddle on :)