Day 3
Tuesday 08/20
Peter: The early birds waited for the rest to emerge and we left about 9.55.
Sharon: The next morning while having breakfast, a Twin Otter flew over the falls and continues to fly south. Once we were packed we continued down the river looking back every once in awhile at the beautiful view of the falls.
I hated to leave; it was such a nice place to relax and was so peaceful.
The Paull River continues to tumble from lake to lake down
rapids and fast water.
(Click here for a bigger map)
We soon came to P7. The portage is 310 metres long around a class 3+ rapid, which includes a sharp drop over a ledge 1.5 metres high.
We lined down the top on the left hand side, and portaged the gear around the bottom part. Rick ran the lower part solo and wiped out, then wiped out a second time getting back into the boat. Mike and Peter portaged their gear while the rest ran the lower part and took on lots of water, but made it.
One kilometre below this portage there was a short stretch of fast water which we ran easily, and at 12.15 we stopped for lunch on a point about 2 km. above P8.
P8 is around a winding and picturesque gorge and rapids. The trail is 300 metres long and is around a class 4 rapid. The canoe trip guide advised that This portage DOES NOT start at the beginning of the rapids which wind through the gorge. Rather, it starts 275 metres to the northeast in a quiet grassy cove .For a rewarding side-trip, although this is not the portage trail, it is worthwhile to land on the west side immediately above the start of the rapids and walk along the fisherman's trail to view the gorge, and to fish in pools in the gorge and at the foot of the first part of the rapids.
Canoeing through reeds and mud to shore on the river left, we carried all our gear along Campbell Portage. Again, I noticed on the forest floors numerous mushrooms species, some I’ve never seen before. I started taking close up pictures; one that stood out had a surface that looked as soft as of antlers. After the trip Mike bought a very large book on Mushrooms because he too noticed them. Leaving our gear at the other end of the trail Dawnna wanted to stay with the packs. This is until Rick mentioned that she could protect all the packs especially the food pack, from the bears. Dawnna quickly changed her mind and walked back with us. We all paddled our canoes to the Gorge called “Campbell Rapids.” The fishing guide was frantically waving at us to come his way; worried we’d go into the gorge. Paddling up to the rock shore we greeted the guide and his party and they gave us some freshly cooked Walleye. While walking along the fisherman’s trail, we noticed high cliffs across the gorge and about four to ten feet high cliffs on our side.
The guys planned a possible route, but no one wanted to run the entire rapid except Warren solo; then Warren and Rick together. I found a rock to sit upon to take pictures and waited. Warren did the gorge alone with ease and skill canoeing the swiftness of the river. Warren picked up Sandy after the worst part and they continued to the bottom. Mike and Peter portaged to the bottom half of the gorge canoeing the lower half. Mike walked the trail back to join Brent in his canoe running the lower half together. Rick and Warren started from the top with our canoe and ran the gorge successfully. I joined the others down river and hopped in our canoe at the bottom.
Warren ran the top solo with an empty canoe,
and finished off the bottom third with Sandy in the bow
.
Rick and Warren ran in Rick's empty canoe.
Brent ran the bottom third with Mike in the bow. They got stuck on a rock, but made it, submerged.
Rick portaged the top and ran the bottom third with Sharon, while Mike and Peter portaged their canoe part way and, after watching everyone else managed to run the bottom part OK.
A group of 7 fly-in fishermen at the bottom of the gorge, with a guide, were catching fish with almost every cast. The guide shared their shore lunch of walleye with us.
The other party watched us leave, as the guide still seemed worried.
He kept asking us who was our guide, not knowing how experienced the guys
were having done numerous canoeing adventures before.
It was 3 pm by the time we left the gorge. We then came to P9, a class 2+ rapid which we ran and P10 which was a short class 1+ rapid which we ran down the middle and where we stopped at 4.10 pm for a snack. P11 is around a class 2+ rapid which connects with McIntosh Lake. This rapid proved to be difficult. Warren ran this solo but hit a rock. Rick and Brent lined their canoes and slid them down a boat ramp on river left, while Peter and Mike lined the upper part then ran the bottom part. They went too far to the left, hit a rock ledge and turned around. Warren shoved them off, and they went down the rest backwards, but did not take in much water!
Picking up our gear we did another rapid around the corner, an
easy 1 or 1+. We canoed to an
opening into a narrow pass of reeds as ducks or loons made their sounds, to
another opening. With Rick and I
going down first I thought I had the picture of Sandy and Warren canoeing the
rapid. Further down the river, our
canoes were portaged over a rock ledge. I
took a picture of the guys above it and then realized to my horror as I rewound
the film. There was nothing to wind, I felt sick to my stomach and
tried hard to remember what I lost. All
the pictures along the portage trail before the gorge on to here were gone.
The guide says that McIntosh Lake is a large beautiful lake with some attractive sandy beaches. In bad weather, larger lakes such as McIntosh can become very rough and should be treated with respect. If in doubt, they should not be attempted until the wind drops. The wind was certainly blowing hard and we had a long, hard paddle across McIntosh, with a strong westerly wind, rain and white caps slapping against the canoes.
Warren had a beach campsite picked out on the eastside of McIntosh Lake. Paddling across the lake we had another beautiful view of the clouds and the sky, one being a rain cloud. It seemed like we paddled forever before I could see our destination on the beach. One by one our canoes glided onto the sandy lakeshore. This is what I’m used to unlike the rocky shorelines before this. We quickly set up our tents on the beach; over turned the canoes and collected dry wood.
The water was so high that the space on the beach for a campsite was narrow. Sandy braved the chilly water and went for a bath
The rain poured but quickly passed over us. This evening Rick and I make chili for supper. We missed the final warmth of the sun as the others went for a swim. Rick and Mike made the booze measurements to see how much each person got to drink. Mike’s thumb was a measure width for a drink, so you’ll see those two eyeing the cup for the proper amount.
Once the dishes were done, everyone settled into their tents. I couldn’t resist the beach and the waves of the lake. I went out for an evening swim and felt very refreshed in a very short amount of time. The lake water was cold and there were weeds that seemed to twirl around my legs. At this point I didn’t want to swim in the darkness of the water so ended it.
