Day 5
Burntroot
Longer lake
Big Trout lake

Approx 8 miles paddling
415 meters portaging

Woke up to another day with no rain. There was a slight breeze and the sun was rising.
Hard to believe it was our 5th day already. After breakfast we packed up camp and said goodbye to our island campsite. So far this has been the best site we stayed at.

We have seen yellow stuff in the water the whole time we have been here. We where not sure what it was. Then some time during our paddling we where both looking at a shore line when a whole pine tree released the pollen at one time. Just a big cloud of yellow came off the tree all at once. Both of us have never seen that. So now we knew what was in the water.

We are on our way to Big Trout lake. The lake was calm but the temps where getting hot again today. On our way we stopped by an island campsite with a big rock overlook. We sat back and enjoyed the view and snapped a couple pictures with one of the pollen in the water. This was a really neat campsite with a great view. Matt wanted a campsite like this on big trout.

We kept on paddling towards our 1st portage. We are in a shallow and marshy area when we spot a moose and her baby. The water was really shallow so we kept back away a good distance. We watch till mom wanted to get her and the baby away from us and into the cover of the woods.

Once at the 1st portage we tried our luck fishing again. No luck there so we headed for the next portage. We tried fishing again in the rapids but still no luck. So off we went for longer lake. Matt really likes the shallow narrow part of longer lake.

The wind changed on our way back through longer lake. When we headed east from access#3 the wind was against us or coming out of the north or northeast. Now on our way back west the wind was in our faces again. But this direction is normal. So we had to paddle into the wind both ways. Just like walking to school uphill both ways.

By now we where both getting pretty efficient at rowing and portaging. So we easily made our way down longer lake to the last portage of the day. We stopped for lunch at a campsite next to the waterfalls coming from Big Trout.

Once on to Big Trout we didn’t paddle very long till Matt spotted an Island camp site with some high rocks. We stopped and checked out the island and decided to stay. The day was sunny and hot again. We had to put up our tarp for the 1st time for some needed shade.

We made it too Big Tout on the early side of the day so we did a little fishing but didn’t have any luck. I went for a swim to cool off. Then we both sat back to relaxed and discuss our trip.

When we picked up our camping permit the ranger told us that if we needed to change our route plans that it was Ok since the park was pretty empty and was not booked up.
We where both tired from paddling and portaging. So we starting looking at options to our long trip back to the access point. Since we have never done this before I may have misjudged how far a good distance to travel each day is. When you look at the map the route I chose looks good. But when you factor in the few long portages and the wind at our faces both ways it really wears you out. Both of us didn’t want to keep pushing but wanted to enjoy the trip more.

It was getting late in the day when we heard noises. Sounded like a motor. As of this point in the trip we have not seen anybody. We finally spotted a boat pulling a canoe way off in the distance. Then later on we spotted a canoe with two people trolling.

We both thought the lake was busy and that we truly enjoyed being the only people on the lakes. We decided to start our trip back to access#3 a day sooner so we could explore a little more and get off the big lake. Or plan was to head to White trout the next day instead of staying on Big Trout.

We later explored the island and found some neat wildflowers again. It was getting close to sunset so we sat on our big rock looking down about 30’ to the water and watched the sunset.

In the evening we sat around the fire pit overlooking the beautiful lake in the background. Matt wanted some more Bannock. But this time we stuffed them with some pepperoni and cheese. These turned out pretty darn good, just needed some pizza sauce with them.