Day 4 - Mystic Bridge to Amisk Lake

Captain's Log - Day 4 of my trip, Mystic Lake Bridge to Amisk Lake:

This morning I woke up and had breakfast at Greg East’s place. I spent the evening there for a little bit of recuperation and visiting friends. We had an unofficial send off for my trip out there instead of at my house because I knew I was going to be in too much of the scramble mode at the house. So anyways, it was nice to spend the night, get a hot shower, and wash clothes after a gruelling first three days.

Greg took me back to my canoe at Mystic Lake bridge where I got into my canoe and I started down Meridian Creek, which then flows towards Table Lake. Right off the bat I got into a few shallow rapids where I had to get out and pull the canoe over about a three kilometer section of shallow water. Then after about 100 meters of paddling I went through a wild rice pond with a beautiful old cabin before finally getting onto Table Lake. It was a beautiful day. Sunny. Not too hot; calm. Birds were singing, the fish were jumping. It was just one of those bluebird mornings. It was nice. I finally got to paddle longer than a couple of 100 meters before I had to get out of the canoe to portage or walk down rapids! I was enjoying the day.

I’ve never been to Table Lake in the summertime. I’ve actually been on exploration jobs in the area. In the last 30-40 years I have been doing exploration for big mining companies in the area. I would have snowshoed or skidoo’d in these areas, but I've never ever been on them in the summertime. It was nice to see this lake in the summer. It’s kind of a short lake and not too wide. Just before I got to the end of the lake, I looked over and I saw a couple of cabins over on the left hand shore and I spotted a guy out on his dock. I decided to paddle over (I almost never paddle over), but I thought I should really go. I was thinking, “I really want to get there,”

but you know what, I'm only on Table Lake once, so I figured I'd better go talk to this guy. I paddled over and as I was getting close he looked at me really close. At first he called me Brad Koop. I said, “no, but me and my brother Brad look alike.” I said “I’m Dave!”

Day 4 - Reconnecting with Gord Grandison on Table Lake

He knew where Dave Koop was going; he had heard that I was doing this trip. And then he said, “well, you know who I am?”

And I said, “well, no.”

He said, “Gord Grandison. I used to be the butcher at Willow Vale Grocery when you worked there and when you were in high school. You and me used to go play tennis after work.”

And then it all came back to me and I couldn't believe it. I didn't even know that there were cabins on Table Lake, never mind running into a guy that I actually worked for in a grocery store. After that he invited me onto his pontoon boat and gave me a beer. It was about two o'clock in the afternoon and it was smoking hot. It was already 28 degrees above and I was just burning up, so I got under the cover on his pontoon boat, out of the sun, and we sat on the cozy seats and we told stories of the old days. We had a grand old visit. We were both so excited to have the chance to visit. And it was just happenstance! I suppose it was very fluky because I almost never stop. So that was very cool. Anyways, he then told me, he said, “Dave, you realize what you're in for after Table Lake - to get down to Amisk Lake on this section of the Meridian Creek?”

And I said, "well, I have an idea that it might be some tough paddling.”

He said, “Dave, you are in for a long gruelling day.”

Sure enough. It was a slog right from the beginning. There was maybe 500 meters of good open water and then it went into shallow water for 400 meters and I was dragging and pulling over deadfall and beaver dams, shallow water and more shallow water, heaving and hauling and dragging.

Day 4 - Gruelling drag through Meridian Creek

And then I’d get to a stretch of open water and think, “Oh good. I finally made it to open water,” and then it only lasted for 400 meters and back into deadfall and more shallow water. At the beginning I thought it was kind of fun because the boat was floating on the water. It was good. I thought, “I can drag it. I can walk the canoe down.” But after about two hours of this, I realized I'd only gone five kilometers from the very beginning after Table Lake. I had 20 more to go and I wasn't getting anywhere! At this point I'm kind of going, “this is crazy. This is gonna last forever. I'm never gonna get to Amisk Lake!” After about 10 kilometers of that it finally opened up, but then it turned into a big winding switch back and I went back and forth. It felt like I started going backwards on some of the corners because it snaked so badly. The scenery is all the same there and I did that for over two hours! One exciting part is that I came across a cow moose and two calves basically 100 feet in front of me. She started bawling, but I couldn't get my camera out fast enough. She bolted out of the water with her two calves so that kind of made up for all that boring section.

At this point I knew I was finally getting close to Amisk Lake. It was getting close to six o’clock and I’d finally made it to the part of Meridian Creek where I could see Amisk Lake. I got to the bridge and I entered a section where I could pull the boat out and get rid of all the twigs and branches. I was exhausted and then along came a school bus! They pulled up and stopped, they opened the door and I heard the people inside yell, “It’s Dave Koop!” They all came running out and said they've been following me on Facebook and I was so excited to hear that.

Day 4 - Culture Camp Group

I said, “Oh man, you guys are in your teens. Why would you be following me?” But they were so keen to see me and hear about my journey. The school kids were part of a culture camp at the end of the road where they were going to spend a couple of days doing some fishing. They all got a picture with me and that kind of made up for the whole day.

By that time it was still cooking hot, but I was on Amisk Lake and I only had three kilometers to get to Alistair Callegari's cabin. When I got here, Crystal Colt and her husband Mark had come out to wish me well and brought me some supplies I needed from town. We had a good visit and got some pictures with her by my canoe. Also I got a text saying a good friend of mine was going to be showing up at Alistair’s with his canoe and that he's going to join me on day five of my trip. That’s really exciting that I'm going to have someone to paddle with on day five.

The toughest part of the trip is basically all wrapped up in those four days. Nice! Now it's just a regular canoe trip. Lake paddling and the portages are way shorter and in much better shape. I'm looking forward to it now. Finally get on to the normal!

I'm going to add one thing now that I completed this stretch. Meridian Creek was a major prospecting and geological route in the early 1900s. We're talking 1905 through 1915. The prospectors would use that route to go prospecting in the Flin Flon area. That was the main prospecting trail. So, I'm very happy that I was able to complete the prospecting trail that basically opened up Flin Flon. Flin Flon is what it is today because of the exploration and the geologists, the Tom Creighton’s of the world, that discovered the Flin Flon mine. Also, Mandy Mine was another route that they were prospecting down, but from the other way. They all went back and forth. I'm happy to say for my trip that I did the main prospecting route of the area and I did it in my canoe. No one ever, ever, ever does that whole thing. They do certain parts of it, but I'm probably one of the very few that have done the whole thing. Just like in the olden days. Anyhow, we'll sign off with that.

Over and out from Captain Dave.