Day 19 August 29 Bear Camp along the Garner River to Jester to Garner Lake

“ The Longest Day.”

It was now well after midnight and we retreated back to the tent, huddled under our bags in our clothes and traded “watch”. Tony: “ You want first or second watch?” Me: “Second.” So, I dozed some until about 330pm when I was forced to leave the tent briefly. Yup, nature calling again, then I took over watch. At about 500am, just before first light, the bear alarm went off over by the pot and the stove. Tony sprang into action with his flashlight and we started back into our “Bad Bear Routine” with more whistle blowing, this time not in the ear. The bear grabbed the small tarp and carried it non-chalantly into the forest. About a half an hour later as we sat in the tent discussing what to do next, it was back at the stove and this time it was light enough to clearly see it. At this point Tony had the most excellent suggestion to “Get the camera! We’re gonna need proof of this!” But I nipped that idea in the bud with a quick, “Ya, no.” This time when we both yelled and the bear took off, our camp stove hanging out of its mouth. It was at this moment that we simultaneously decided it was time to break camp and make some human tracks to an alternate location. Unfortunately, it had rained hard half the night so we dried things a little while we wolfed down energy bears, packed, and talked loudly. Now light, Tony went into the woods brandishing a paddle for protection (Hey, it’s carbon fiber?) and recovered our stove with the fang dented fuel bottle still attached (if only it had been pierced.) Encouraged by this success, he headed up the hill behind the tent and came back with our fang-pierced pot lid.

Motivated by no sleep, a rising wind, and an uncooperative bear we launched at 800am. Paddling off into the wind we quickly encountered a beaver dam blocking the stream that led to the next portage, but we easily slid the boat over by rearranging a few sticks. We crossed the first 150m portage followed by a short stream walk and another manageable beaver dam blocking the next pond. After that we paddled NW and then W for quite some distance into a stiff headwind. We did pass one island camp housing two tents, just before sneaking though a narrow section of the river that led to a rocky narrow portage followed by a stream walk that dropped us onto the small pond where we had camped on the second night of our trip. Next, it was into a narrow stream paddle with a 100m portage around a small rapid with downed tree obstructions before popping into the next pond. By now the wind was blowing fiercely west forming whitecaps on the water. We turned our caps around, dug deeply across and took shelter behind a small point where we ate a quick lunch. Pointing the bow into the wind we crossed to the next big rocky, non-passable obstruction (obs). Here we had to unload and reload twice to get through. Tony found a passage across the stream, up and over some rocks, and then through the bushes that brought us to the windward side. Apparently at this point I was being too quiet or at least less than my jovial self, so Tony started to worry about me. I could tell because he left me back to make sure the boat didn’t blow away in the wind (?) and he was being overly nice to me. I assured him I was OK, just tired from no sleep and bear-stress. The saving grace of all the wind was that it wasn’t raining. In fact, the wind was blowing all the clouds away to the east. We paddled west again into the wind, across another small connecting pond to a 40m portage and around a corner to a stoppage where the next 100m portage was not to be found. We ended up bushwhacking 100-200m following the random footprints of earlier travelers and then reloaded for a short stream paddle to a blue tapped 250m portage that was not found on the Christmar map, but it was a necessary diversion around a stream section that head many blowdowns. Finally, a 30m portage, a 25m portage and the last 50m portage into Jester and back into the wind. It was now 400pm, which was our target time to reach Jester in order to decide whether to camp or continue on to Garner Lake. The decision was easy given the heavy wind and the lack of protected camps in this area. We made a dash for the other end of the lake and had an energy bar at the portage. From here we crossed the final three portages (825m, 225m, 300m) with short connecting paddles reaching Garner Lake at 730pm. Garner Lake was under heavy wind swell as we paddled the short distance to the western beach camp where we had spent our first night. Here we worked together to set up the tent and have a quick dinner in the fading light. We secured our boat behind some small pines, tucked our drybags under the boat and set up some paddle alarms. We felt ridiculous but we are still in a hypervigilant state from last night’s experience. Just as we hit the tent (9pm) another boat (motorized) appeared offshore looking for a camp but moved onto the #6 island camp nearby. We were willing to share. Tony stayed awake most of the night “listening to the darkness.” Some late arriving geese landed honking into the swampy area nearby to our camp. Around 230am we awoke to a honking frenzy with one goose clearly in distress. Shortly thereafter the music of a wolf pack howling nearby filled the night. The wolves howled intermittently from the ridge above us throughout the early morning hours.

Day 20 August 30 Garner to Beresford

We got up at 600am with the wind rising but the water was still calm. Had a fitting breakfast of the final oatmeal, raisins and walnuts. We launched at 700am trying to beat the wind and succeeded in crossing Garner with only a slight western breeze.

We met five motorized boats in the river section, making them aware of presence in the narrow channel by waving our paddles over our heads. Everyone slowed appropriately. We landed at the Beresford Lake boat launch at 11:00am and spent an hour drying gear and repacking as people launched for the holiday weekend. Party on Garner!

We headed home to Wyoming, another fine adventure completed.

“The wind rules the day, but the bears rule the night.”

Summary:

Total miles traveled as calculated on the GPS: 177.74 38 Lakes and 52 portages plus some stream walks, beaver dams, and obstacles

• We thought the Woodland Caribou was amazing and we surely got the adventure we were looking for. . .we could have easily skipped the night we shared our camp with the bear. •In 10 years of two multi-week trips to the Quetico annually, we have seen one mama bear with cub. We passed that record on our second day in the WCPP. The WCPP is rich with bears and you should therefore be Bear-Aware and make double-secret sure that you bear-proof your camp. It is disconcerting to have a bear in your camp :) •We loved the Burn. The wide-open views, berries, and wildlife are quite compelling. Having said that, it is challenging to find camps with cover in the burn areas. During times of horizontal blowing wind and rain, hunkering down in the trees is safer and easier. • We saw more people in the WCPP than we generally do in the Quetico (after day 2) and the WCPP still felt more remote. We saw 1 canoe party on the Garner River, 1 on Wrist, 1 on Hammerhead, 2 on Nutria, and 4 on Mexican Hat. We saw motorists on Garner, Donald, Hammerhead, and Rostoul. • Compared to the Quetico, we agreed that your navigation and camping skills needed to be stronger in the WCPP. We would not hesitate taking inexperienced outdoors people into the Quetico. We felt like the WCPP given its remoteness and lack of cover in the burn areas, requires a higher level of outdoor skill and tolerance for uncertainty. •We missed the bass fishing in the Quetico and also thought if it hadn't been so windy we would have had more success in the WCPP with the species that were there. •We didn't encounter ANY mosquitoes in the WCPP, even when it wasn't windy :) •And no, we didn't gain weight from all the blueberry treats.

Thanks for reading. Happy Adventuring.