Saturday, May 26, 2018

Our goal on the third day was Jasper Lake, so we knew we had a good deal of paddling ahead of us.

The day started off hot, bright, and windless. I burn easily so I was dreading what the day may bring, but shortly after portaging into Emerald Lake a thin layer of clouds rolled in, which certainly made me happy.

In between Emerald and Plough Lakes we had to cross a small, unnamed lake. Near the eastern portage we passed a section in the middle of the lake where the rocks came up to just a couple of inches below the waterline. We alternated getting out of the canoe and we each took a picture "stranded" in the lake.

Me (John) standing strong and proud after conquering the diminutive Unnamed Lake.

Dan standing slightly less strong after tagging along while I conquered Unnamed Lake.

I had read negative reports about Plough Lake - that it was stagnant, smelly, and not very scenic. Our experience was quite different. We decided to drop a line in, and instantly brought up a small perch. The second cast made it two. The third cast yielded a third fish. For roughly an hour we paddled through the shallow waters of the western end of Plough and caught a couple of dozen fish. At one point my friend dropped a handline with a lure and pulled up a fish. I had never seen such aggressive fish before!

After a difficult portage to leave Plough Lake we lowered our canoe into Ottertrack Lake. Shortly after beginning our long paddle northeast in Ottertrack it began to lightly rain and we spied two bald eagles watching us from an island not too far away. Dan slowly paddled towards the eagles as I took pictures. Turns out, it's really difficult to get perfect focus using a 200mm manual focus lens while you're in a moving canoe and trying to photograph a moving target. I just barely mis-focused on a few shots of the eagles flying that would've been amazing. In any case, this was my idea of paddling in the north - misty, cool, rugged, and with plentiful sightings of wildlife.

After a couple more hours of paddling, in which I recited the movie Con Air to the best of my ability and Dan described Moana to me (which really helped to pass the time) we finally made it to Jasper Lake and the fantastic campsite on the island in the center of the lake. We both took turns washing off in the cool lake before settling in after an absolutely perfect day in Quetico.