Day 8 - Friday, June 14 2024 – Dunstan Lake to Simeon Lake (13 kms, 4 portages)
In a common theme for the trip, we woke to cool, moody skies and slowly packed up camp. We weren’t in a hurry again today, only traveling through a few unnamed lakes to South Simeon and Simeon. By 09:00 we were paddling north, hoping to paddle the waters of the Bloodvein River system for the first time today. Paddling past other potential campsites towards the north end of Dunstan, we were very happy with ours – they looked exposed to the elements or completely burned out. After negotiating an interesting narrows at the NE end of the lake, we approached a short portage and the headwaters of Simeon Creek, flowing out of Dunstan. The portage was a little “tight” as they say, but then again, so was Simeon Creek! After a somewhat manky, but thankfully short portage, we exited into a tiny sliver of water that must be very interesting in lower conditions. We’d had plenty of rain so far and Simeon Creek was more of a dribble running through tight rock gardens between granite walls – clearly visible on the topo maps. There was some interesting maneuvering to get the loaded boat through and over the shallow headwaters of the creek before we could once again get into the boat and very cautiously work our way downstream. Upper Simeon reminded both of us of upper Royd Creek. This was both a good and bad thing. I love tight, windy creeks with their more intimate setting and myriad songbirds, waterfowl and animals that tend to prefer the shallows and easier access. But. Tight, windy creeks also lose their depth very quickly and just as quickly become a nightmare. I remember when Hanneke and I came to the headwaters of Royd Creek and there was only 1 inch of water to greet us. That was a very low moment, I assure you. All’s well that end well, and before long we were exiting the narrow channel and paddling a small lake dubbed, “South Simeon Lake” on my WCPP route map. South Simeon was a portend of things to come with a mostly unburned, green shoreline. A short paddle across South Simeon and we came to a short portage along a scenic little rapids. Another short, twisty paddle on Simeon Creek and we spotted our last portage of the day, leading off across a floating bog to a height of land presumably sitting between us and Simeon Lake. Thankfully I spotted an orange ribbon tied to a half-sunken log or we might not have found this portage so easily. Other than a few wet sections balancing the bog, the carry wasn’t especially difficult – the trail was recently maintained through unburned forest. Simeon Lake was heaven. After days in mostly burned landscapes, we exited the final portage onto Simeon Lake under a bright, blue sky and enjoyed a delightful paddle north to campsite “4N”. I must admit to feeling pretty pumped that we’d made it this far north. Remember – only a few hours into our trip I’d pulled my back. Thankfully my bout of Covid was in the rearview 8 days into the trip but it was still affecting my energy levels. We set up a delightful camp and settled in. We’d discussed the idea of moving further north onto the Bloodvein River proper, but with a gloomy forecast for the next few days we decided that we’d stay here for an extra day of relaxing and fishing the area instead of pushing further. We spent a few hours setting up camp and relaxing, before heading out to catch some walleye for supper. As usual, walleye were in good supply and within a few hours our stringer had two nice sized specimens with others released and several large pike caught as well. We returned to camp to swim and eat fish – the weather was now gorgeous at 20 degrees and sunny. After supper we spent a few hours fishing north of our camp along another side channel of the Bloodvein and experienced some of the best fishing I’ve ever had in WCPP. I’m sure it was a combination of time of year, weather and of course, luck, but we really cleaned up on the evening of Friday, June 14th. I caught a number of huge pike and walleye and so did KC. My largest fish was a pike that pulled the canoe around before I had to cut the 2nd fish of the trip off my line to avoid hurting both me and them. And yes – it was my last black and white Len Thompson lure. Dang it. Oh well. #worthitbigtime
Day 9 - Saturday, June 15 2024 – Simeon Lake Rest Day (0 kms, 0 portages)
Rather than deal with strong winds and forecast rain, KC and I decided to sleep in and enjoy an extra day at the northernmost point of our trip and the northernmost camp I’ve stayed at so far in WCPP in Simeon Lake. The winds were indeed, fierce all day and it wasn’t until the evening hours that we managed to sneak out for some more fantastic Bloodvein River fishing. Once again, we caught several huge pike and easily enough walleye for supper. I’ve read of several parties unable to reliably catch fish while canoeing the Bloodvein and it’s always surprised me. Based on my limited experience, I can’t wait to get back and fish it some more. We turned in early as wind and rain hammered our little corner of the world yet again. This trip was proving to have it all. Sun, wind, rain and fish, there isn’t much more you can ask for! Winds were forecast to be strong again from the south the next day and of course that was our direction of travel as we reversed our route back to Carroll Lake. The forecast also proved our choice to avoid the much longer route to Artery and then south through Ford and Carroll Lake to be a good one.
Day 10 - Sunday, June 16 2024 – Simeon Lake to Wanda Lake (20 kms, 6 portages)
We woke up early at our Simeon Lake campsite and by 05:00 we were paddling south, glancing back one last time before bending the paddles on the calm lake surface. That would not last long – the calm that is. A night of strong thunderstorms was forecast to be followed by several days of strong south winds and indeed, this was the case as we reversed our route from the past few days. The day started very grey, very wet and quickly got windy as we completed the first few portages and navigated back up a narrowing Simeon Creek towards Dunstan Lake. By the time we broke out of Simeon Creek and paddled onto the northern reaches of Dunstan the wind was ferocious and directly into our faces. Thankfully the rain had stopped but as we started the 4km paddle south we weren’t feeling very thankful. Unfortunately my GoPro had a smashed lens from one of the portages so it was now out of commission for the rest of the trip. (Next time I’ll bring a spare lens.) It was too windy to pull out the phone for video, so there is no evidence of how hard the paddle was, but it wasn’t easy. It was one of those endless battles where the shoreline inches past so slowly it’s like you’re not even moving. Eventually we paddled the last few strokes off Dunstan and portaged the 750 meters back towards Ugly Lake. I was a little surprised to see fresh blowdown from the most recent storm. Only 2 days after passing through and maintaining it, I had to break out the saw again! This is the reality of things right now in the park. There are so many standing, burned, dead trees that after every storm there is potential for any portage to be completely blocked again. Thankfully the sun was now trying to make an appearance, but the wind remained strong as we paddled down Ugly Lake. We were greeted by roughly 1.5 billion thirsty mosquitoes on the 165 meter portage into Wanda from Ugly Lake. This, combined with some fresh blowdown made for a bit of a struggle, but we made it to the unnamed stream leading back to Wanda where we could see whitecaps on the lake ahead. Donning life jackets, we buckled down and comforted ourselves with the thought of a waiting campsite before launching into the frey. By noon we were at a familiar campsite “6A” on Wanda. Unfortunately this site was very exposed to the intense south winds and I thought the tent might break free of its mooring but thankfully it was just fine.
The rest of Sunday was spent hunkered down on Wanda Lake. It was simply too windy to even venture a little way to fish for walleye, so we didn’t bother. Some days are like this, you take what you can get.