EP60 - Base Camping on Rose Lake
by dolson929
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
08/09/2012
Entry & Exit Point:
Duncan Lake (EP 60)
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
4
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (9 messages)
Day 3 of 5
Saturday, August 11, 2012 Rose Lake
Today we made a fishing / exploring day trip to the west end of Rose Lake to have lunch at the last campsite or at the portage into Rat Lake. I was hoping to see the border route trail cliff overlook and maybe even get to the Height of Land portage. We set out from the campsite trolling for fish as we headed west and I had no action until getting into the narrow section of Rose west of the falls. I had a good sized fish but it hopped off before I could land it. I gave up on fishing as it was afternoon at this point and we continued west. We came across some swans sitting in a bay. Beautiful birds, very cool to see! My wife and I were always a ways ahead of our friends and we left the swans to continue ahead to the west.
I should have been more clear regarding the days plan and stayed closer to the friends to maintain contact. By the time my wife and I got to the end of Rose we sat and waited for a long time. We kept looking back to see if the friends were coming around the bend and within sight. We sat and waited for quite a while, getting frustrated as more and more time passed and we saw no sign of them. We began to realize the sun was going to burn us up if we stay there on the lake much longer. We did not put any sunscreen on prior to leaving for the day and the sunscreen was with the friends, doh! My wife and I had quite the dilemma at that point, backtrack to see what was taking them so long, or continue on our own adventure. We chose to head back and get some sunscreen on. It was disappointing but it was the right move. Sunburn would ruin the trip, missing a point of interest destination only gives me another reason to go back there at some point. We came to find out that they had found a fish that they were determined to catch near the same bay that had the swans. Their progress halted for the day as they hunted their prey in that area.
Now with the group back together we tried to pull up on shore to put together some lunch. Unfortunately we couldn't find a good clearing that would work to cook some ramen and keep the canoes from bashing rocks so we decided to just swing back to the site for lunch instead. We cooked up the ramen, did the dishes and were getting ready to head out to do more fishing when we heard something in the distance.
MMmmmrrrahhh!...MMmmmrrrahhh!...MMmmmrrrahh! We look out in the distance and see two dots on the water. The loud noise was coming from a black bear cub (I not sure if you would still call it a cub at this point in the year since it was getting to be good sized but that's what Ill call it unless I get corrected by someone) swimming behind its mother. They were coming towards the site. My heart started beating pretty good at that point. I've heard they act more like giant raccoons than a grizzly but man seeing two bears coming right towards our site made me nervous. We watched for a while as they got closer, hoping they would end up going somewhere other than out site but as they closed in there was no doubt where they were heading. They were close enough we could see their faces clearly. Although the cub sounded like it was struggling a bit I banged pots to turn them away from our camp and hoped the cub and mother make land somewhere else along the shore. As soon as the mother heard my racket she doubled back to the cub, swam around it once or twice, kind of head butted it, and made like a lightning bolt back to the Canadian shore across the lake. The cub was like WTF we're almost there! but turned around to follow mammas lead and slowly began its paddle north across the huge lake. It was making that horrible "I'm dying" MMmmmmrahhh sound the entire way. Although I know I needed to bang the pots when I did I still felt bad for making the poor little guy swim all the way back after getting so close to a tasty snack. Once they were on their way my wife and I started fishing again while our friends apparently decided they would trail the cub over to Canada. I certainly would have preferred they had not done that but by the time I figured out what they were doing they were well out of earshot and all I could do was think "It was so cool to see a bear but WTF are they doing way over there!?". Evidently, they wanted to be there in case the cub couldn't make it, as if they were going to do an emergency Baywatch swim rescue of a black bear. They eventually came back to the US side of the lake. The rest of the night was uneventful, fishing, dinner and a drink, stars (lots of satellites and shooting stars!), ZZZZzzzzzzzzzs.
Today we made a fishing / exploring day trip to the west end of Rose Lake to have lunch at the last campsite or at the portage into Rat Lake. I was hoping to see the border route trail cliff overlook and maybe even get to the Height of Land portage. We set out from the campsite trolling for fish as we headed west and I had no action until getting into the narrow section of Rose west of the falls. I had a good sized fish but it hopped off before I could land it. I gave up on fishing as it was afternoon at this point and we continued west. We came across some swans sitting in a bay. Beautiful birds, very cool to see! My wife and I were always a ways ahead of our friends and we left the swans to continue ahead to the west.
I should have been more clear regarding the days plan and stayed closer to the friends to maintain contact. By the time my wife and I got to the end of Rose we sat and waited for a long time. We kept looking back to see if the friends were coming around the bend and within sight. We sat and waited for quite a while, getting frustrated as more and more time passed and we saw no sign of them. We began to realize the sun was going to burn us up if we stay there on the lake much longer. We did not put any sunscreen on prior to leaving for the day and the sunscreen was with the friends, doh! My wife and I had quite the dilemma at that point, backtrack to see what was taking them so long, or continue on our own adventure. We chose to head back and get some sunscreen on. It was disappointing but it was the right move. Sunburn would ruin the trip, missing a point of interest destination only gives me another reason to go back there at some point. We came to find out that they had found a fish that they were determined to catch near the same bay that had the swans. Their progress halted for the day as they hunted their prey in that area.
Now with the group back together we tried to pull up on shore to put together some lunch. Unfortunately we couldn't find a good clearing that would work to cook some ramen and keep the canoes from bashing rocks so we decided to just swing back to the site for lunch instead. We cooked up the ramen, did the dishes and were getting ready to head out to do more fishing when we heard something in the distance.
MMmmmrrrahhh!...MMmmmrrrahhh!...MMmmmrrrahh! We look out in the distance and see two dots on the water. The loud noise was coming from a black bear cub (I not sure if you would still call it a cub at this point in the year since it was getting to be good sized but that's what Ill call it unless I get corrected by someone) swimming behind its mother. They were coming towards the site. My heart started beating pretty good at that point. I've heard they act more like giant raccoons than a grizzly but man seeing two bears coming right towards our site made me nervous. We watched for a while as they got closer, hoping they would end up going somewhere other than out site but as they closed in there was no doubt where they were heading. They were close enough we could see their faces clearly. Although the cub sounded like it was struggling a bit I banged pots to turn them away from our camp and hoped the cub and mother make land somewhere else along the shore. As soon as the mother heard my racket she doubled back to the cub, swam around it once or twice, kind of head butted it, and made like a lightning bolt back to the Canadian shore across the lake. The cub was like WTF we're almost there! but turned around to follow mammas lead and slowly began its paddle north across the huge lake. It was making that horrible "I'm dying" MMmmmmrahhh sound the entire way. Although I know I needed to bang the pots when I did I still felt bad for making the poor little guy swim all the way back after getting so close to a tasty snack. Once they were on their way my wife and I started fishing again while our friends apparently decided they would trail the cub over to Canada. I certainly would have preferred they had not done that but by the time I figured out what they were doing they were well out of earshot and all I could do was think "It was so cool to see a bear but WTF are they doing way over there!?". Evidently, they wanted to be there in case the cub couldn't make it, as if they were going to do an emergency Baywatch swim rescue of a black bear. They eventually came back to the US side of the lake. The rest of the night was uneventful, fishing, dinner and a drink, stars (lots of satellites and shooting stars!), ZZZZzzzzzzzzzs.
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