July 2025
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Wednesday
Another idyllic sunrise
A loon taking an early morning bath in front of our campsite
Today we were going somewhere! Dan had booked a campsite at another lake further into the park. We would leave Teepee Lake behind and find a new location on Tom Thompson Lake (and we all know who that is now, don’t we?) The day held a lot of promise for being “perfect” – not too warm, a nice mix of sun and fluffy clouds, and a light breeze to distract the little flying monsters.
Another still morning on the water
The peacefulness of the wilderness
Someone’s campsite that we paddled passed
Perfect reflections
Hello there, Loon!
It was easy paddling today. Dan and I were still working out the whole “who steers, who powers” thing, but I was slowly getting it. Dan had a massive map of the park in front of him, which I had folded up to show just our little corner, and he consulted it periodically. That one directional sign we had seen on our first day was also the only directional sign we had seen. Our route took us passed sleepy campsites and other boats heading towards their own destinations. There were no other sounds, except for maybe the low drone of an airplane high in the blue sky.
I was a little skeptical when Dan steered us into a lily pad choked area. The middle was clear, where other boats had gone, but I couldn’t see anything in the distance that told me that this was going to end up at another lake. And my skepticism increased when I saw that the way was partially blocked by a beaver dam. How on earth were we supposed to get around that?
Well, it turned out that we weren’t supposed to “go around”, but instead “go over”. As we were speculating on our options, a couple of canoes came from upstream and demonstrated how it was done. They called out and confirmed that it was a lot easier coming down than going up!
Who’s a good dog?
We got our canoe lined up and with some hard, fast, strokes, we managed to bully our way over the lowest point. We did it! And now we were steadily heading into the heart of Tom Thompson Lake
The campsite we had our eyes on was already taken, so we kept on paddling to the next one, which was also taken. There were 19 campsites on this lake, so we had a lot of options still open to us. We could see another site across the lake, sitting high above the water and in the sun. It looked like it would be a good site. We were wrong: when we beached the boat and walked up to the tent site I was immediately set upon by both mosquitos AND black flies. This was in the clear sun, away from the trees, so I knew that it would only get worse in the evening. I told Dan “no” and we went back to the canoe to continue our search. As we were getting into the canoe we saw a large leech swim by. It was fascinating to me, as I’ve never seen one “in the wild” before. Cool! And no swimming here, thankyouverymuch.
I pointed out a campsite that we had passed on our way in and we went back to check it out. It was perfect. It was set back from the lake, near a portage route to Bartlett Lake, and there were almost no flying insects to deter me. We had found our spot.
Frogs – so many frogs!
Hullo
After setting up camp and having a bite to eat, I asked if we could paddle over to Bartlett Lake. I had watched another couple take their canoe through the passageway – it looked like it was water the entire way through and not a true portage. Dan agreed and we did a little loop through the other lake.
Our campsite from the “portage-less portage”
Bartlett Lake was pretty small and with no water-based outlets. We didn’t see anyone else here, although there was a pile of gear at one of the portages. Looks like someone was coming (or going!). We followed the shoreline around, hoping to spy another moose, but the best we could do was another beaver lodge (and again, no beavers)
We returned to our campsite and our books and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon – or at least tried to. The campsite that we had originally wanted had been taken up by what appeared to be a couple of camp counsellors and half a dozen kids. As sound travels exceptionally well across open water on a calm day, we heard them all.
“JACOB! JACOB! JAAAAACOOOOOBBBB! IS THIS ENOUGH WOOD?”
“No – there’s never enough wood. Go get another handful”
“OK!”
The Kids Camp
Loon babies!
The kids eventually quieted down and we enjoyed a peaceful evening by the fire, enjoying another home cooked meal before retiring to the tent for the evening.
Each evening I had the hope that maybe “tonight would be the night” that I could actually get a good night’s sleep. The first two nights had been terrible: the accordion-style sleeping pads we had picked up at the outdoor store were terrible. I could never find a comfortable position and would lay there in the tent, staring daggers at a snoring Dan while I struggled to fall asleep. I figured that eventually I’d be so tired from not sleeping that I would actually sleep, but no – that never happened. So I listened to the frogs and wished for my Thermarest that I left back in Switzerland.
Sunset from the tent
