Triplogs / Triplog#22-Day 1 / Day 2
Tim Lake - Tim River - Rosebary Lake
Day 2 - Rosebary Lake - Longbow Lake
It was another beautiful day in Algonquin Park. The sun was up, the temperature warm, as I made us bacon and eggs for breakfast, along with coffee and bailey's. Once breakfast was done, Sean and I cleaned up our camp and packed everything away. We made a daypack, filled with some GORP and water, and hopped into my canoe and headed out.
The weedy east end of Rosebary Lake
This bull moose was feeding as we emerged onto Longbow Lake
We paddled around the bay that was located east of our campsite, then paddling down the east shore of Rosebary Lake. We passed the lone site on the lake's lower east end, it was a nice looking site, with some slope to it. It was occupied, visible by the hanging bag of food, and a tent far off in the background, but no canoe. The occupants obviously out and about. We headed for the east end of the lake. Here it became very shallow and weedy.This part of the lake, was the most congested. Paddling through the narrows that led to Longbow Lake was very weedy also. As we emerged onto Longbow Lake, we spied a bull moose off to our right in the first bay. We approached (very slowly) the moose to a distance of about two canoe lengths. Here I stopped, took a few pictures, and waited. The moose continued to feed on the rich plants that grew up from the lake bottom, occasionally pausing to look our way. The moose slowly moved off. We headed off in the opposite direction, heading towards a site on a point, facing west. As we landed at the site, we became aware of a couple at a landing around the bend from the campsite. They told us that they were just leaving, and we could have the site. We returned, mentioning that we were camped on Rosebary and we're just exploring, we hadn't realized the site was occupied. The couple had just loaded their canoe, thus the vacant look to the site. The fellow of the duo, mentioned that we had gotten pretty close to the moose out there. I mentioned back that we were about 2 canoes lengths away, it was mid-july, and the temperament the moose was showing, gave me comfort. Whether the fellow was satisfied with my answer or not, I do not know. I myself, know that although we were relatively close to the moose, our visit was brief, the moose seemed unmolested by our visit, and no harm was done. We did not pester the moose or make disturbing gestures or noise. I would not try this again later in the summer, especially when a bull moose readies itself for the rut in September.
Sean checks out a campsite with an
interesting wind break for the fire-pit
We spotted this bull moose feeding for many hours on Longbow Lake
We looked the site over, a great view, a few tenting spots, only one worthwhile, the rest looked uncomfortable on the back. The rear of the campsite was loaded with ferns...mosquito bearing ferns. We got back into the canoe and decided to paddle down Longbow Lake a little bit. Lakes like this that become narrow are interesting, you can see both shorelines easily, subsequently the wildlife that may appear there as well, would be easy to spot. At the mouth of the third creek entering the north shore of Longbow Lake, Sean spotted a cow moose with a single calf. We kept our distance, probably 20 meters or more from the shoreline( as we were paddling down the middle of Longbow Lake's narrow section). Even at the distance that we were, the cow eventually became aware of our presence, moving off the shoreline, heading for the safety of the creek and the surrounding forest. The calf did not follow at first, slow to react, we waited and watched, sure enough a moment or two later the cow began calling softly to the calf, then, like a child left behind in a shopping mall, began to canter towards it's mother. Soon the pair were out of sight and we continued on down the lake. Reaching the fourth creek, we stopped along the north shore and had some nuts and flavoured water. Sitting on a log, we both took in the view. The soil here was bog like...very soft and wet, with small stones...and it all had a muddy rusty colour. After 15 minutes we started to head back, this time heading towards the south shore as we paddled up the narrow part of the lake. A few minutes before we came once again onto the expanse of Longbow Lake, something large moved suddenly in the forest bank right above us. It crashed through foliage, and disappeared. I have no idea what it was, but suspect it might have been a deer or a moose. We past the campsite we visited earlier, and headed for the campsite just south of the portage that takes one down the rest of the Tim river.
Sean looks ahead to the north beach on Rosebary Lake
Sean on the fabulous north beach on Rosebary Lake
The landing at the site was very narrow, and sandy, with a sandy path leading up an incline to the open area of the campsite. The site was small, and had one large clearing...suitable for a tent or two, with a fire-pit, facing the water. The fire-pit was interesting in that it had part of a iron shovel from a mechanized vehicle of some sort(from logging days of old, I suspect), propped upright, shielding the fire-pit from north winds. It looked to be an effective wind block. We decided then, to head back to camp. I also felt a bit grimy from the days' paddling and wanted to check out the big beach that was west of our campsite for a quick swim. As we headed back towards the narrows that separates Longbow & Rosebary lakes, we not only saw our bull moose in the bay we visited earlier, but now we saw another bull moose in the bay around the point which was on the northwest shore of Longbow Lake. Access#2 was proving to be very moosey. We paddled back to our campsite, arriving around 4pm. We grabbed our towels and headed over to the beach. We landed about halfway along the beach. We could see the other campsite and a canoe on shore there. Behind most of the length of the beach is flooded plain...a small bog, thus I can see the beach possibly being a buggy at times. That day though, there were no bugs to speak of, as I studied the water carefully, searching for those ever present leeches, before I dove into the water. The sand here is nice and white, where elsewhere on the lake, I've seen red sand(particularly at our campsite). It is an odd mix, though the light coloured sand makes it easier for one to spot a leech coming from a distance. Both Sean and I had our chance to have a swim, the beach was very accommodating. I would also rate the beach as being very nice too. You know all good things come to an end....about 40 minutes into our beachfest, Sean spotted a leech, coming my way of course. I just couldn't believe the leechy-ness of this area of The Park. It was great for moose, but bad for leeches.
Some of the flooded plain/bog, behind the north beach on
Rosebary Lake. It is possible to walk to the beach from the east
campsite in low water(summer) conditions
We headed back to camp, it was time for dinner. I do not recall what we ate that night, but afterwards, I had an idea, why not go out and troll for trout? I had the only fishing license and fishing rod with me, but Sean was content to come along for the ride. We got in the canoe. I let out my line as I attempted to troll for lake trout. We paddled down the length of the lake, eventually, we arrived at a beach. This beach was on the south side of the lake, and was much smaller than the one near our campsite, and it also led to the 3375m portage to David creek. I went over to investigate the beginnings of the portage. It was dusk, as the sun had just set, and the mosquitos were starting to come out. The portage looked very bushy, dark, and by the sounds of it, extremely buggy. The skeeters were rising fast, as it was all Sean and I could do to stand there and fight a losing battle, swatting a skeeter every second or so with increasing frequency. "Let's get out of here" Sean suggested, "right", I said. We hopped in the canoe and paddled away. I let out the line again, trolling for trout...not really too sure of what I was doing. With evening settling in, we made it back to camp, just as it became difficult to see. I did not catch anything and in the near darkness, the excitement of landing a fish, might have been disasterous anyways. It was another superb night for star gazing and loon listening. Neither of us stayed up long, we had had another long satisfying day in Algonquin Park.
The tenting area and fire-pit on our campsite on Rosebary Lake
Sean points to something off-shore from our campsite