Wednesday, June 13, 2007      Carin Lake – Kashapiwi Lake  Up at 6:00am, three casts from camp resulted in a Smallie, a snag at bottom which I promptly solved by grabbing the other rod, and a nice size Northern that managed to wrap him self around my snagged line and yank the attached rod into the lake. Teetering on the edge of the abyss, it laid on a ledge 8ft below. A few shouts out, got Dusty out of bed and we managed to horse that bad boy out of the water, and then recovered the rod. It was nice fish, but scrambled eggs and hash browns were on the menu. Back home powdered eggs and freeze dried potatoes might not sound so good, but somehow up here everything tastes pretty good. Besides, we had to lighten our payload; had those fish been Walleye, it might have been a different story.

After breakfast, a trip up the hill, business paper in hand, I came across a large Grouse that was sitting perfectly content. Returning with the camera, I had a second thought; if this were a cartoon, there would be an image of a roasting chicken in my eyes, for a hunter very tempting, very. May she live a long and prosperous life.

It was another hot windy day, a quick swim and we were on our way. Dusty’s inquisitive mind never stops as he points the various depressions in the tree line that may be clue to “a secret pond”. We explored several, armed with a fishing rod of course, and found what beavers can do in the middle of nowhere. Kashapiwi Creek and her majestic canyon walls, and rapids cutting through this chain of lakes make this the most attractive part of the trip so far. At the next portage we came across the first site of humans in three days, we greeted each other, exchanged information and learned they came into Kashapiwi Lake through Side Lake while wading through what they described as “a thousand yards of waist deep mud”. This is exactly where we were planning on going tomorrow; we will have to re-think our route. On the last rapids into Kashapiwi Lake, while still under the protection of the dragonfly squad, we tried to repeat yesterdays fishing experience. At mid-day the numbers were the same, but the sizes were smaller.

A few miles into Kashapiwi we came across the best campsite so far with just an awesome view of the area. 

Dinner and blueberry muffins were enjoyed with another nice sunset. We set up the typical food pack hang away from the tent to help insure it will still be there in the morning.  After sundown we paddled back up the lake to a spot we eyed on the way in, in pursuit of the Walleye that have eluded us so far. Dusty caught the first (and only) one and a few smallies, no keepers. Then we heard it, the unmistakable sound of a wolf howling, and interestingly enough it came from the direction of our camp. A calm clear night, we fished until midnight hoping to get a good view of the stars. The odd thing here is that even at midnight it does not seem dark enough for star watching, and in four hours it will be light.