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oldzip
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...had the good fortunate to travel from Bulging to Leano on a leisurely 10 day paddle.
The route up Beamish Creek from Haggart then over to Welkin, Wrist, Aegean, and Paull was through the burn of the May/2016 fire. But, portages were open and the narrow parts of Beamish Creek didn't have any more windfall than a normal summer event. The fire left pockets of unburned areas, good camp sites, and opened views in the woods that often are missed with the old growth forest. Plants are rapidly reseeding the trails and the bright color of green contrasts with the blacken, charred trees left from the fire. From Bulging to Wrist I found little evidence of other paddlers, from Aegean to Confusion Lake/3 portages south of Paull on the way to Upper Kilburn the park crew had remarked the trails and cleared the few fallen trees on the portages. While this isn't the old, quaint forest of the past, the regrowth, new plant life, long views, and quiet still make this a wonderful paddle. On Aegean, mature jack pines not in the burn are suffering from the pine beetle and most are dying...leaving a landscape of brown needled jack pines along the northeast shore/high cliff island area. One unique aspect while paddling in the August sun is the lack of shade while tucking close to shore plus the sounds of birds chipping away at the dead/dying trees...other song birds are absent from the scene. The route produced a few fresh moose droppings, no new wolf or bear scat...in the burn the lack of blueberries was evident, but they existed in abundance in the "green" areas. In 1989, my wife and I paddled from Red Lake to Lake Winnipeg using the Gammon and Bloodvein Rivers: the park had just suffered a burn in the previous years, lakes from Hatchet to Donald were burnt hard. So, we are familiar with the regrowth of the region...find it interesting and hope that others continue to visit this wonderful place...despite the changed landscape.
     
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