This past weekend I went out on my first completely solo camping trip. I've done day trips before and have done one night ahead of a group arriving as well, but never have I gone for two nights with just me and my brain. Friday morning I started the drive up to the Haliburton Highlands. My destination was the Wren Lake access point just north of the Leslie Frost Centre. I had my canoe on the roof, a small food barrel and my portage pack full of essential gear.
You can see the complete photo set here: http://flickr.com/photos/egnaro/sets/72157607597319943/
Unfortunately my canoe is a bit big for solo usage but I make due. If I get he heavy packs as far forward as possible it keeps the bow down so the wind doesn't blow me around too much. This trip was also on some smaller lakes and the portages were all under 500m so I wasn't too concerned.
From the access point I crossed under the highway 35 bridge from Little Wren into Wren Lake, southwest on Wren and into the Black River. Trip diaries I read prior to this had talked about running the rapids or lining the canoe along some of them. The water at this time of year is so low this simply wasn't an option even if I'd wanted to. Instead I had to start with a tiny liftover a rock outcrop across the narrows, then down a portage past the first falls.
Here at the start of the Black River I made a navigational error. The portage I completed was marked on the north side of my map but it was actually on the south side. When I got a ways into the river I accidentally skipped ahead a portage to the first one on the south side. This lead to me thinking the next portage was somewhere that it wasn't, particularly because I was able to match the land elevations to my topo map as well. In previous trips I had come across portages without signs so I wasn't surprised to not see one. This led to me doing some bushwhacking and traipsing across marsh land to try and find where I was going. I did eventually figure out where I was but not without taking a serious beating to my bare legs and burning up a lot of energy. I could have saved the trouble if I'd looked at the maps a little more carefully, paddled up the river a bit further to scout it out and not listened so much to the anecdotle evidence I had in my head from reading other's tales of this trip. Lesson learned.
With the sun getting closer to the horizon I hurried along the next two portages, excited to be back on track. I got to site 7 on Horse Lake and made camp. A quick check of the cellphone revealed I had signal so I checked in with Dora via sms as I made my dinner. Grabbed a few photos as the sun cast a warm red glow over the Fall coloured trees and then got a nice hot fire blazing to keep me company as I sank into the first night.
It always takes some getting use to the sounds all around you when you are along in the dark wilderness. This particular site was interesting because it had many oak trees around it and the squirrels were constantly clamouring about overhead, occasionally sending acorns thudding to the ground. Overnight I did wake once to the sound of a raccoon checking out my canoe and food barrel but it didn't bother long before it disappeared.
Saturday morning I awoke to overcast skies which soon after began to lightly rain. I decided to take my time with my breakfast in hopes the rain would pass. It did eventually break long enough for me to pack my gear and paddle to the south end of Horse Lake before it started coming down again. After carrying the canoe along the portage into McEwen Lake I decided I'd take my time here and carry each pack individually. This portage was stunning. It's mostly a rough hewed plank boardwalk with rocks and trees climbing up on one side and the other sinking into a water soaked lowland. I felt as though I was walking into a fantasy world straight out of the novels I was obsessed with as a teen. The trees here also provided good rain cover so I used this as an opportunity to shoot more photos.
Once the rain slowed again, I paddled to the south end of McEwen, walked into Dan Lake to scope it out and then headed back up the west shore to the portage to Three Island Lake. This portage was a bit tougher. It was almost 500m, longer than my map would lead me to believe, and climbed up over a ridge and back down again. The view out to Three Island Lake was stunning. Two small islands dot the center of it and the foreground is occupied by a decaying dock.
I love camping on islands. There's something exhilerating about having this space surrounded by water to yourself. Sure, I had to go ashore to gather some firewood, but still. It's like your own little paradise. The rain continued on as a light mist most of the afternoon but did let off by evening. I had a late lunch of French Onion soup and ended up snacking on fruits and nuts for dinner. Had another great fire that night and took some time to do a bit of strobe experimentation with my camera. Put the fire out at 9:30 and went to the tent to read a bit before crashing for the night. 
Awoke around 7:30 to more overcast skiies – but no rain. Started packing up camp and as I did so the sun peaked through a few breaks in the clouds. Grabbed the camera to shoot some morning light photos of the Fall colours before the clouds closed back in. While making pancakes for breakfast I was reminded of one of the bad things about island camping, the wind. There's no shelter and the wind was blowing cold against my back. It wasn't freezing and I had plenty of layers to choose from, but in colder weather the wind can be very unpleasant.
Loaded the canoe and began the journey back to the Wren Lake access point. I was exhausted by the time I got there around 12:30 but it was pretty decent trek back. Other than a slip in the mud that filled my Keens with black ooze it was a dry and uneventful trip.
Maybe I'll try and squeeze in another trip before October ends. Would be great to go out with a couple friends in tow to finish the season.
