return to murtle lake

the time was upon me for another sweet canoe trip.  usually i would head to manitoba around now to accomplish this, but this time around, mark and rude dog came to bc.  add kris to the party and you have a party.  4 people, 2 canoes, 4 days, 1 lake.

their plane landed at midnight thursday, and by friday 430 am we were on the way to blue river and murtle lake.

step 1, portage 2.5 km to the lake. 

we got to the landing and waited around for a bit in the rain for the ranger to come and hook us up with our rental canoes.  the early rain would get us accustomed to the weather for the next 3 days.

the leaving place.

 Once the canoes were loaded we paddled and fished our way for 14km to leo island.  a camp that was crazy full last year when christine and i were there, but we got all to ourselves this time around.
check out last year's adventure here part 1 and part 2.

mark and rude

kris getting ready for fish.

coming to the island

once on leo island, it was obvious that the next few days would involve a lot of rain.  we were all prepared, so it was all good.  part of being prepared is bringing tarps and knowing how to set up an epic tarp camp. 

epic tarp camp... not it's final form

The sun came out in the evening and we cooked up pizza wraps.  mega good.  

the beach.  usually much bigger at low water.  rare day 1 sunshine.

holy double rainbow!  we saw a LOT of rainbows.

Day 1 ended with a big roaring fire, some beverages and calm water.  have to see what tomorrow is all about.

Day 2 we header west towards the end of the lake and a hike to McDougal Falls.  it wasn;t too crazy getting there and only rained a mini. 

headed into the lagoon.

 We checked out the old cabin.  it was still there.  not sure if i'd sleep in it, but i've slept in worse ones i guess.

the old cabin.  might not be there for long.

 The 5 km hike to the falls stared just past the cabin, so we docked the canoes and headed off through the rain forest.  it was still early in the season so the trail was muddy and a bit overgrown with tons of devil's club.

crossing a creek on the way to the falls

definitely bears in the area

an old cedar thats soon to be part of the ground

 We got to the falls and mark found a geocache pretty much straight away. we hung out at the falls for a bit, took some photos and then headed the 5km back to the boats.

mark and the surprise geocache

the falls.  hard to get a good pic from the viewpoint.  weird.

these 2 cedars had come out of the rock about 50+ years ago.

 The way back we had the crazies headwind of all time.  the 5 km felt like 50 and every paddle was a battle.

things got harry in the wind when we stopped paddling for a minute to try for a picture.

luckily mark got a sweet picture.

that's our island in the sun.  woohoo.

 we got back to island and fired up the largest pot of pasta ever.  we earned it for sure.

goodnight day 2

another sweet fire and then off to bed.

Day 3

clearly this day was going to be on again off again rain, so we played it a bit low key.  the first order of business was to head to the approved woodlot and get some fire wood.  the constant raging fires of the last 2 days necessitated a restock.

we fished our way to the wood pile and kris ended up catching us some sweet lunch.  once at the wood pile island, a massive storm blew in and rather than try and cross the 2 km to our camp, we hung out in a sheltered spot in the island and waited for it to blow over.
 

waiting for the storm to blow over.  the island in the distance is camp

 after the storm, we got the flattest and calmest water/wind so far.  we fished our way back to camp just in time to avoid another mad rain.

after that rain, it was clear again.  we hung out and fished a bit more and had a time.

 Dinner was mad ass baked potatoes, corm on the cob and some other random stuff.  one thing we did not run out of was food.

baked potato yo.  yum yum

also, dad looked like this for a bit.

this sunset.  it's a thing

Day 3 ended with an epic mountain sunset and sunflower seeds around the fire.  gotta get up early for the paddle home tomorrow. 

 Day 4

alas and alak.  it is time to head for home.  for the 1st time this trip, i applied some sunscreen and we were off on the 14 km paddle back to the dock.

leaving our now sunny spot

 it was such an awesome day and we didn;t really need to hurry back.  we did some fishing and some slacking and some paddling. 

since it was pretty early, the north arm was cloudy when we started, but at the perfect time, when we were in the perfect spot, all the clouds dissolved and we caught this sweet view of the east wavy range.  pretty awesome.

east wavy range.  now with 90% less clouds!

kris mastered balancing in the canoe.

crazy clear water and a good rock to hide a canoe behind

 we stopped for one last beach and sun appreciation before officially beginning the home stretch.  sad to leave the lake behind us.

good spot for last minute soaking it in

at the last beach, herbie the love bug rolled up, so the 4 of us posed for a picture with it.  mark got to drive it.

what a sweet trip.  got many more planned and the summer is just getting good.  christy and i are headed to clearwater and azure lakes in august, but there will be camping before that too.  you should come.  next weekend.

thanks to mark for many of these sweet pics and to mark and rude for making th flight out.  and for kris for putting up with klassen craziness.