Hot & sunny, just what the flies want
It was 7:00am when I got up out of the tent, Joan still slept, I murmured I was going for a paddle, my whole being screamed for a morning solo jaunt. I paddled in shadow along the shoreline to the bay past our campsite in the Southwest part of the lake. Gouinlock is a nice small lake, unremarkable in appearance and features, a small unassuming lake if you will, just the kind of lake a solitude seeker would like to visit. This ran through my mind as I paddled its shoreline.
Although it was unremarkable, I found ways to appreciate its uniqueness; One spot had a shallow muddy beach in which very old moose tracks could be seen. Further along, a babbling brook emptied into the lake, its charismatic voice lulling me to come closer for a look.
The sun shines upon the north shore of the lake on a beautiful morning in The Park
Swing around and up the Southwest shoreline and into the sunlight… And black flies. Today's forecast promised sun and heat and it was starting out that way. I could've spent hours out there on the lake, happily exploring the shoreline, but I headed back to camp…my excuse? Coffee with a little blackfly thrown in…yum!
Back at camp, the fire-pit area was still in shadow and it was still cool, this made coffee time quite pleasant as Joan and I enjoyed a bug-free breakfast for the most part.
Much of our camp was in shadow of the rising sun - A good thing, bug wise
The lake's still waters and rapidly greening forest beckoned me for a paddle
After breakfast, more wood to gather as I made my way into the forest behind camp. There was quite a lot of fallen trees, one just had to climb elevation to get to them. Joan headed down to the rocks for a bath in the shallow waters. That didn't last long as the day before Joan had discovered leeches. Today was even worse, calling me to come and inspect her bathing area, Joan pointed out the culprits that kept her from enjoying the water proper; one, two, and three, a big fat leech with lots of orange dots on its back, swimming happily towards the spot where Joan had been splashing moments before.
It seemed to us that the water's clarity was murky somewhat and that no waterbody fed into the lake, it was land-locked as it were. Only the odd brook was feeding into an otherwise semi-stagnant lake. The more we looked the more leeches we found… They blended in very well with the surrounding rock. "That's it, no more coming back to this lake, it's infested with Leeches", Joan exclaimed. I couldn't blame her, leeches didn't bother me as much they did her, but I was with her on her exclamation. The noise from Little Cauchon Lake was annoying, not what I drove hundreds and hundreds of kilometres for. Through-out the day we heard various boats going up and down the lake, it was a veritable Opeongo out there.
Paddling Gouinlock Lake's still waters
Paddling in the diminishing shadow of the forest
By 1:00pm the black flies had become intolerable again. The sun and heat were very strong. I'd rather lay in a tent and boil in the trapped heat then get eaten alive and that's exactly what I did. Joan soon joined me and we had a little siesta as we slept part of the afternoon away on an otherwise beautiful sunny Saturday in Algonquin Park. That was it, the black flies were peaking and it would probably remain this way for a few weeks more. Oh well, it wasn't all bad we had the cool nights that were bug free..better to be here than anywhere else.
By about 2pm-ish Joan mentioned (waking me from a sleep) hearing a canoe on the lake. It couldn't be, no one in their right mind would come up here! We were right in our minds, we just didn't want to wait till late June for our first trip of the season. I didn't hear anything and tried to go back to sleep. By 3pm I had had enough and stepped out of the tent.
Shortly after this point, I headed back to the cool and shadowy safety of the campsite
Sure enough along the lake's west shoreline a green canoe floated, it was hard to tell but there seemed to be either a family on board or at least three people, all dressed in white (Bug jackets)…ahhhh, fishermen, anyone else coming up for a day-trip would be crazy. The North campsite remained empty, so again we would have the lake to ourselves. After a few hours, the was a slight breeze on the lake and Joan & I headed out to take advantage of that breeze.
I left my camera behind for I figured I'd be too busy paddling to keep the breeze going and it was becoming increasingly difficult to photograph with the black flies about in greater and greater numbers; they kept getting into my shots. We actually stayed out for several hours..paddling around in the middle of the lake, before seeing the green canoe head back to the portage and off the lake.
Back at camp I caught another laker, this one smaller then the first, but it got away at the last moment as it came to the surface. Just after 8pm Joan had prepared dinner; Pasta with meatballs and meat sauce…oh boy it was so delicious. The mosquitos thought so too, of our blood that is. Mosquitos? Yup, they came out that night and in force. It was if they were making up for last year's dismal numbers, as soon as the black flies left the skeeters came out and they stuck around for a long time, not your usual half-hour sundown appearance, they were out for the whole night. It was quite warm and humid after all.
Trees are silhouetted against the glassy waters of Goulnlock Lake
Early evening around the fire-pit as dinner was being prepared
It was just after 9pm when we were relaxing around the fire and swatting mosquitos that the generator noise started up again. Joan let out an irritated curse, I actually though she was more annoyed that it would bother me and I would complain about it endlessly. Actually that turned out to be the case the night before, but this time Joan was honestly pissed off with the noise and I just got more furious as well. What the hell?
Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.... Oh yeah!
Kinda late to move and to be honest with the bug situation I'd really only want to move if we were threatened, say if a bear showed up in camp. Too much of a bother, not what we had wanted at all, so we just had to sit there and live through it. The noise went on for two hours, finally ceasing just after 11pm, We went to bed after midnight, finally enjoying about an hour's peace without noise or bugs for the most part.
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