Thursday, July 2, 2009

Day 8
Little Misty Lake
Petawawa River
Daisey Lake
Hambone lake
Magnetawen Lake

Approx 8 miles paddling
1195 meters portaging

Woke up around 5:00. We had a Little rain last night plus this was one of our colder nights in the park. I actually had to sleep inside of my sleeping bag all night. The lake was misty. I started the fire and got the water going for coffee. Sat down and starting drinking coffee and spotted a moose across the lake from us. We watched the moose the whole time we packed up camp. It would stop and look at us when we made a louder noise















Here was the big tree we looked at the night before


















We both wanted to get going so we left camp at 7:30 to head back to civilization. We started down the Petawawa river. This river was similar in ways to the tim river. It had it's share of turns, beaver damns and grass. Plus the occasional frog resting on the grass. We heard Lot's of birds this morning. We stopped here and there to just listen and stare.






























We had two portages on the river. One of the portages had some nice water falls on them. After the river we ended up on Daisey lake. Daisey was a long and narrow lake. there was a slight breeze and some small waves. We both where paddling hard today. I guess we both wanted to get back. The closer we got back the more groups we started to pass. They looked all fresh and clean but a little clumsy on the water. Matt made the comment to look at their strokes compared to ours. After a long trip you get in the groove and get efficient at what your doing.

The biggest thing we both noticed is how loud they are. The voices seemed to echo. The quietness of the wild is not as quiet anymore.

Daisey was a long paddle but we finished it pretty quickly. This lead to another portage to Hambone lake. Here is a couple pictures of the two of us carrying our packs and canoe doing a single portage. We also spotted many dragon flies on these portages. We did have dragon flies on our whole trip.





























At this point we know we are almost done with our trip. Two more portages and a little paddling and we are done. The day was sunny and was starting to get hot. We paddled hambone lake pretty quickly and found our last portage. Just a short 135 meters and our last lake to paddle.

We reached Magnetawen
















And we could see the access point














I'm happy to reach the access point but also sad. I can't wait for some ice cubes and a hot shower but I'm sad to leave this all behind and head back home. I always liked being in the woods. But this has been better than I imagined. Someday I'll be back here. Once at the access point we notice the parking lot was pretty full. When we left from here on the 1st day there was only 3-cars including ours. Now there are maybe 30 or more.

We quickly packed up and hopped in the car. Boy this feels weird. 1st off we have padded seats with backs. Then we started the AC. That feels goods. Now I wonder if I remember how to drive. So off we went. After riding in a canoe for 8-days you feel like your going fast when you have a tailwind. I looked down at the spedo and it said 15 MPH. We both feel like we are flying down the road and need to slow down. This took some time to get used to again.

The gravel road went on for ever so it seemed. Finally we hit the hard surface road and started back to Huntsville for a well deserved shower and a Ice cold beer.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I know that feeling of getting back into the car.  After my first trip in Algonquin; a 6-day solo; I drove my car out onto the dirt road for just a few minutes, before I stopped and got out to inspect the back end of the car.  it just didn't feel right.  The car was fine, so I continued.  About 20 minutes later, I realized I was doing about 30km/h.

Unknown said...

How long does it take to paddle from Little Misty Lake to Access # 3?

Russ Sturgess said...

If I remember right it took us 4-5 hours. It all depends on the wind.

Unknown said...

How is the quality of the campsite on Little Misty Lake?

Russ Sturgess said...

There is only 1-campsite on little Misty. The 1st time we stayed there was after some big storms and there where blow downs everywhere. The park service had just been through and cleaned up most except for the really big stuff. The last time we stayed in 2012 the sight was cleaned up. It's your basic sight. There was not many spots for multiple tents but we still found room for two. I like the fact that nobody else is around. It's a great stopping point for your trip but there are better sites on other lakes if you plan on staying multiple days.