Ralph Brice Lake - June 2008

June 2008 and the first canoe trip of the season. Coincidentally, it was also the last trip for Old Green, the canoe that has seen me through many trips over the past 6 or 7 years. During this trip it seemed to me that Old Green was gaining weight. The portages were becoming increasingly more difficult and my back and neck were unusually sore. When I returned and before I put Old Green away, I weighed my favourite canoe. It turns out that Old Green weighed 73 pounds - that’s about 20 pounds more than I thought and was the deciding factor in retiring Old Green.

Day #1 - June 19th
I was excited for the first trip of 2008. I had purchased an expensive new tent (I was tired of cheap leaking tents), a new sleeping bag, and a foam mattress (my back had had enough of sleeping on the ground) earlier in the week. Old Green was freshly polished and waited in gleaming splendour on top of my car. In the early morning I left the school and headed north for 3 days of solitude.

I arrived at Magnetawan Lake and had the canoe in by 1 pm. Two small portages later I was settling in on Ralph Brice (formerly known as Butt Lake) by 4 pm. I decided to camp early as I had never set up my new tent and wanted time to read the instructions if it came to that.The fire was going by 6 pm and I enjoyed sitting by the fire until the wee hours of the morning drinking a wee dram of Scotch while watching a cloud obscured full moon. Total solitude and exactly what I needed.

Day #2 - June 20th
I awoke to light rain and decided to stay put in my new tent to see if it leaked and if the rain would let up. The tent was dry and the rain didn’t let up so under cloudy rainy skies I took off after having a soggy lunch. My goal was to reach Queer Lake - the lake of many echoes (9 to be exact). Two portages later and with the rain still coming down I finally made camp at about 5 pm. I was quite wet since I didn’t pack rain gear (I never do) but the sun started to come out as I was setting up the tent. The beauty of the last site on Queer Lake is that there is a huge rock that protrudes out into the water and it is perfect for a large fire.

Another night sitting by the fire, drinking Scotch and watching the full moon reflect off of the lake. Can life get any better?






Day #3 - June 21st
Up early as the trip back was going to be long as I had to return along the same route. This meant 4 portages and a long car drive home in one day. The weather was co-operative until the very end when a thunder storm rolled through while I was on the lake. It was pretty scary travelling on a lake surrounded by lightening. I also got caught in a small hail storm while 100 feet from the last portage. A great trip to start the year!