Lakes: Beaver Lake, river, Talon River, Talom Lake. Travel Distance: 14km. Portages: 8 for a total 1320m.

This has been a great trip so far. Jim has been an excellent bow paddler, the weather has been good, fishing successful, no major issues and yet to see other people or canoes. If the rest of the trip is just the same it will end too early and I will be ready to head back out. But this is destined to be one of those days that you dream about when you are planning a canoe trip in the dead of winter. We wake up to mist over the lake, breakfast and head out in sunshine. West to the 400m portage to Beaver Lake. Beaver is one of the few lakes in WCP with Smallmouth Bass. After the portage we agree to spend some time fishing, and Jeff soon proves that the smallmouth are indeed present. Jim and I head NW to the point where the lake branches of to the SW. I look straight N and spot a moose on the shore by the next portage about 300m away. We slowly and quietly begin to paddle for a closer look. Damn, I have got a fish on. I ignore the fish and continue closer to the moose. It turns out to be a cow with a calf and they are not too concerned about us. Take a number of pictures and finally they move off. Go to reel up and find I still have that walleye on. Release the fish and start to cast in the weeds at the mouth of the stream waiting for Jeff and Gary to fish their way up the lake. Catch a dozen or so walleye’s by the time they get there. Not able to locate the portage and with the high water this looks easy to paddle or wade thru. The 1st part is but we also miss the 2nd portage and this part is more difficult to navigate. When we get thru we quickly find the end of the portage and go back to make sure Gary and Jeff take the portage instead of the hard way thru. Hanging at the end of the portage we find an old, clunky camera still in its case. I mean to take it in and see if I can get the film developed some time. From here we paddled north thru a wide stream, a couple of portages and we joined up with the Talon River. We paddle upstream, but the current is not bad and the river is wide enough to make this the kind of travel I enjoy. As we head east we start to catch rumble coming from ahead. Coming around a bend there is “Talon Falls”. Much more impressive in the high water than the pictures show. We spend some time wading up the rapids and then take the very steep 150m portage to the picturesque pond between the 2 falls. We paddle over to the other side and decide to break for lunch here. Beautiful sunshine, 2 roaring falls and great (ok) company. Does it get any better than this? After lunch we head to the 300m portage by the upper falls and are on the south body of Talon Lake. We fill up our water bottles and Jim and I decide to head to look for a campsite while Jeff and Gary decide to slowly fish north. We go over out intended order to check out the sites and head north. Paddle thru the swift chute connecting the two parts of Talon lake and head for the island site in the middle of the lake. We have been warned that this island may contain a population of man eating rabbits. According to Albert a group stayed here a few years ago and discovered that everything that had been left out and contained sweat had been chewed up. The theory was that a pair of rabbits reached the island in the winter and procreated rapidly. The island was apparently very hospitable for rabbits but lacked any source of salt. Hence the attraction to sweaty boots. The site was attractive, open to breezes,had one nice tent site and another usable but quite a distance back into the bush. Home for the night. We did see ample evidence of rabbit spoor but none fresh. Jim and I both decided this was an ideal time to take a swim and freshen up. After Gary and Jeff joined us we finished setting up camp and also washed the rankest of the clothes. Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening enjoying beautiful Talon Lake.