Sean arrives!
At 6:00am I was awoken to the sound of wood snapping, Mike was up and had a fire going, water already boiling. Mike you're the best!
I got up and joined Mike at the fire. It was a cool morning and I checked the thermometer for the over night low, it read 7.8°C. I asked Mike how he had slept. Mike told me that he had to get up at one point in the night and do jumping jacks, as he woke up feeling cold in his hammock. I slept well and was warm in my own tent. The sun hadn't risen yet and their was a light mist on the water. I had a breakfast of eggs and bacon with coffee. Mike wolfed down some oatmeal and breakfast pitas with coffee.
The sun shines on our campsite, while the portage to Clara Lake lies in shadow
Despite the cool morning, there was no wind and the rising sun added to the warmth of the morning campfire. After our quick breakfast Mike wanted to go out and paddle around in the rising morning sun and to get some photos too. We got in Mike's canoe and paddled in the direction of the dam, but turned away heading for the protected bay where "Splash Creek" emptied into McCraney Lake. The water had a near glass quality to it with a light mist playing across the surface, a most beautiful start to the last morning in the month of July. The scene was topped off with a nearby loon calling.
By 7:20am we were back at camp. Time for another coffee. Our friend Sean was due to join us this morning and according to Sean he would be at our campsite by 11:00am. Anticipating Sean's arrival, It was decided to stick close to camp, to paddle over to the nearby portage, exploring the trail and then collect some firewood at the landing and surrounding shoreline.
We paddled over, passing the portage and landing where the creek that came down from Clara Lake emptied into McCraney Lake. It was very rocky and the white noise we had been hearing at our campsite was magnified; here was the source…further up the creek, falling water could be clearly heard.
We got out and explored, the rocky shoreline making it tricky to walk around. Mike got back in his canoe and paddled over to the portage landing proper. The landing is a rocky affair with the shoreline dropping off rapidly into deeper water. There is a large pine with the portage signage affixed it and can be clearly seen from a distance. The signage itself was in excellent condition and should remain so for years to come.
By 8:55am we started 'up' the trail. The portage wastes no time, almost immediately you find yourself ascending, a short foot bridge offers minimal relief then the real climb starts. Climbing with nothing but a camera bag is easy, but a canoe on your back? Yeah, it is a tough climb. As we walked up the trail, we came upon many small waterfalls as the creek cascaded down over the rocky terrain. This part of the trail was very pretty and the water coming down the creek was quite cold and refreshing.
The trail continued to climb tracking alongside the creek where it eventually levelled off and the trail crosses the creek with an easy large flat rock studded crossing. About three quarters the way up, the trail emerges onto a beaver meadow and there was momentary confusion as where to go next. We moved left where there was the creek running back into the forest and eventually down along the portage. We hopped across a few rocks and were back on the trail, with a portage sign ahead denoting that the trail continued on in the forest ahead.
The creek that ran through the meadow reminded me very strongly of Maple Creek, East of One Mile Lake; a waterway of a small stream like quality. Here the water was barely 3 inches deep, and the stream 30 inches wide. I pointed out to Mike this is what I had to contend with years earlier on certain parts of the upper Maple Creek. "That's Nuts", Mike said. "Yes, that's why I got leeches all over my feet…all I could do was get out and drag my canoe thru it all". Luckily, there is a trail that bypasses the shallow creek. We re-entered the forest where once again the trail began to climb. There were dips and climbs and the elevation wasn't so steep here, so once you make it past the meadow you can look forward to a more shallow climb for the most part.
The creek that flows down from Clara Lake
The portage parallels the creek for the most part all the way to McCraney Lake
By 9:20am we reached a partly sunny and quiet Clara Lake. Clara was a pretty lake with the expanse of the lake curving out of sight to the left (East). The landing was an easy smooth rock setting with a big log that made for a good dock reaching out into Clara Lake. To the left and right was the intersecting Western uplands backpacking trail. I was just about to check out a backpacking campsite ahead when I heard someone's throat clearing ahead of me. Immediately, I said to Mike, "let's go, there are people here". I felt like a deer, ready to flee at the first sign of my fellow man.
Here the portage ends at Clara Lake, intersecting the Western Uplands backpacking trail
I didn't want to damage my fellow campers' solitude, but Mike said that someone was coming and I stopped. Two guys with backpacks emerged onto the portage landing. We greeted each other with the guys commenting that they had spent the night at the campsite we had seen ahead of us. They asked us to take a photo for them and I obliged, we exchanged departing wishes of good days ahead and headed for the campsite.
One of the backpacking campsites on Clara Lake
The campsite was a nice one, treed with white pine and hemlock, there were several paths that wound it's way through the campsite and down to the water's edge. One could even walk to the nearby second backpacking campsite. The young guys had left the campsite in excellent condition. No trash was found and the fire-pit was cold. The young men left behind no obvious evidence of their passing. It was great to see such care and responsibility in young people. I know when I was that age, I was not as responsible as these young men were. The next campsite was a joke, it was very small and one had to jump down into it. As well it was right next to the water, so if there was an East or North wind, one could find themselves chilled.
We headed back down the well worn trail, arriving back at McCraney Lake at 10:00am. Here we scoured the shoreline for loose driftwood. Much wood was gathered. Mike and I both cut up a log each, leaving behind no obviously cuts. Paddling by exposed driftwood with chopped off limbs is disheartening to see. We headed back to camp with a huge supply of cedar firewood, enough for a few days.
By 11:05am I spotted Sean at the top end of the lake, and twenty minutes later he arrived. Sean had mentioned blinding morning mist when he launched and had difficulty finding the portage off of Rain Lake, as the fog had been quite thick. Sean's paddle down McCraney was fog free though and we were happy to have Sean with us for the next two days. Sean's presence made our already jovial atmosphere comical, Sean was quite a hoot and has to be the funniest person I have ever met.
Around 3:00pm we decided to go for a paddle, we wanted to explore Stutter Creek, maybe spot some moose. Sean had already seen some moose when he came in earlier in the day. At the top end of the lake when he was in the narrows, a cow moose and her calf swam across his path. Nice.
We paddled into two of the three bays that made up the Stutter Creek basin and if McCraney was ringed with dead cedar, Stutter Creek was a graveyard of long dead timber. The northern bay was cluttered with it, barring our way from exploring the northern reaches of the bay. In the North bay there is also a high ridge to the East, look for a bit of rock face there.
We followed Sean into Stutter Creek
Once back on McCraney Lake we paddled over to an exposed mud shoal which had grass grown in. There was a log on the shoal and a few seagulls were the resident guardians of the shoal. Anytime we came within 300m of the area (Quite a distance!), One, sometimes two seagull sentries would fly out to our position, each taking turns diving in on us. While returning from Stutter Creek we decided to make a landing and see what all the commotion was about. I was confounded. It was the wrong time of the year (As far as I knew) for seagulls to be breeding. They should've been finished around 6 weeks earlier. Unless there was a second hatching, I was wondering why the seagulls were so defensive. We approached the log while the seagulls flew away in anger.
Mike steers his Winisk canoe to shore on McCraney Lake
Mike walks among the graveyard of cedar on McCraney Lake
A few moose tracks were found in the mud, but that was it. There was nothing on the log. About 20m away was a nest, an empty nest and that was it. The seagulls were out of their mind. We got back in the canoe and paddled over to a nearby exposed point, that was cluttered with massive cedar tree stumps and trunks. Rarely have I seen such large cedar trees in Algonquin Park and to see these massive stumps scattered about made me wonder what the lakeshore must've been like before the dam came to be.
While exploring the area, Mike found a dead seagull. Was this a baby seagull that had died? Was this the reason for the seagulls unusual defensive behaviour? We explored a bit more trying to find remnants of what we thought might be the location of an old cabin, but found nothing. We paddled into another bay exploring there, then turned around and headed back to camp. The weather was gorgeous, sunny with the high reaching 25°C and it seemed a shame to head back to camp, I wanted this day to last forever. We arrived back at camp and Mike started a fire going, he needed some coals as he was cooking steak and potatoes for us this night.
Mike stands beside one of the largest cedar stumps I have ever seen in Algonquin Park
Dinner was very delicious, a regular occurrence when Mike is the chief. Mike's steak and spuds were accompanied with grilled veggies; red & green peppers, mushrooms and onions. After dinner I went for a walk on the North beach and to my surprise spotted a moose swimming towards the East shore. The moose was a few hundred meters from shore. I called Mike & Sean to come over and watch the spectacle. The moose was somewhat hard to see in the fading light and shadows, but we could see clearly see its silhouette and as it made landfall we lost sight of the moose in the shadows. What a treat though!
Mike prepared yet another tasty meal
Like the night before, the sky was clear and the stars were fantastic! I watched the stars for a short time, then all of us heading to bed before 10pm. With us being at the South end of the lake, we heard nothing of the lake's occupants further up the lake. It was pure solitude, accompanied by the occasional cry of loons.
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