Exploring Boreas Ponds: Overnight Kayak Camping Trip

We are in the Boreas Ponds. Absolutely stunning. So here we are at our campsite. There's a cool little parking lot and they've created all these parking spots all the way down the access road, the Gulfbrook access road, down to the Boreas River, which they also call the Labier Flow. And yeah, as you can see, this is really cool. This campsite is very close to the launch point for the Labier Flow, which is where I'm going to launch from tomorrow morning. You can see there's the flow, which is actually the Boreas River. And here's the cool little campsite that we are going to stay at tonight. It's super duper handy to the launch. We're right here to get an early jump in the morning. And yeah, look, these are new. These are brand new sites. All right, back to the car. Got to get set up here. I got about half an hour before it gets dark. A little chair because I got the luxury camp chair. What do I need this for? That'll be tonight. Tomorrow night. This chair is for now. All right, let's go down and get set up. Got my tent set up. I have a quick, quick look. So this is a Mountain Smith Morrison two person, three season. Believe it or not, I have not slept in this overnight yet. I bought it last year and then we bought the hammocks and ended up using the hammocks more. So it's got cool little vestibule sides that split open. It's got these cool little, little vent vents. Yeah, I think that might be a little bit crooked, but I think we're all set. It looks pretty good. Now we've got to do some firewood before it gets dark. That's the next chore. Good. We have success. Let's just hope it keeps up. Well, here we are. Got my fire going. It's actually going quite nicely. And yeah, we made it at 842 set up. So that's not bad. I got some logs to cut up and keep this fire going. Now we're just going to chill for a while. And it's 1160. All right, folks, we is out. Good night. Well, I don't think it's raining. It was raining a few minutes ago, probably around five o'clock. But other than that, yeah, I'm going to get packed up and we're going to get going to the lean-to so we can grab it because I don't think there's anybody here yet. So that's pretty, pretty darn awesome. All right, time to break, break down camp. I think the whole thing weighs about 10 pounds. I'm sorry, five pounds, which is pretty decent for a two person tent. When I bought it, I wanted to get something. Here we are. How do you say? All right, off we go. So here we are at the Lebear Flow unloading area. Parking lot is up there about 500 feet. There's the flow and the bridge and we are just about to unload the boat. We're ready to head out. Car's parked and we're ready to walk. Four corners parking area. That is just the blow up of the map that I have on my phone. So that's cool. So there's the road. If I was walking, I'd be going that way and it says 0.8 miles to the ponds and 550 feet back to the flow water access. Well, that's where the boat is. So that's where we're going. Oh, this is a new spot. They just picked this, this Boreas lands. They're not that old up here. Not like some of the docks. We are starting out in the Lebear Flow. There's the bridge and the boat launch. One of the car came in as we were packing up. So we are on our way. Just waiting for my Cal Topol map to refresh and then we'll be good to go. Hopefully. You can see there's a lot of lily pads in here. It's going to be interesting to get through this mash. You can kind of see where people have been going through. There's a crane. Very nice to mash through here. We got to get over there. It looks like I found the the exit point. I'm trying to do this all with my hiking shoes on because I have to hike. And I think this lovely little rock will make it very, hopefully, easy to get out. Oh, my. It's heavy. Oh, my. It's heavy. Beautiful. Look at that view. Gorgeous land here. All right, we have made it. Take a break, undo the life jackets, and we will carry on. So right up at the pond, they've got another parking lot, which is quite interesting. But you have to walk to it. So this was the mile hike up to get to this spot. And at least there's a trail register here because I forgot to register back at the car. So that's cool. And yeah, we're almost here. Cool, cool. And here we are. Nice. Got to like it. All right. We made it to the ponds. That would have been a little bit tough to paddle down. So we're not doing that. There we go. That's what we're talking about, folks. That's beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. We are in the Boreas Ponds. Absolutely stunning. Absolutely stunning. Just looking forward to paddling around today. Should be a lot of fun. Let's go find a lean-to and have some brekkie. Let's go find a lean-to and have a coffee, I would say. We will look for it. We'll look for a nice location. So here we are at the lean-to. This is a brand new lean-to that was just built a few years ago. I watched the video of it being built and it's got cool, man, bunk beds. How freaking awesome is that? Oh my god. Look at that. Oh, that is so freaking cool. Oh man, I love that. That is awesome. Wowee, wow, wow, wow. And look at the view. I just got to figure out how to get to the lake from here, but that will come. All right, so we're going to have ourselves some coffee. Unfortunately, I have to barf out everything in here. Espresso. I need my canteen. That's the point. To make coffee. To make coffee, sir. But I have it. All right. Boil in this. Drink in this. That is the secret, man. Decided to bring my fuel, my alcohol, in this now because it's much more stable and much more secure. I'm really going to wonder if it uses more, if I use more liquid than if I was using my stove. Although, I can tell you that I made some coffee. Delicious. Whenever I'm away just for a weekend, avocado is always delicious. No problem. That's that. Cheers, cheers, cheers. Nice. Awesome. Go sit on the bed because I haven't been up on the bed yet. I know, we're not supposed to eat. This is going to be funky. Here's the view from the lean-to. You can see the high peaks in the background. Absolute gorgeous spot. I got some of my stuff packed away. I got my little, my little bed all folded down. There's another one over there. Pretty darn cool. It's a lovely morning. It's still cloudy, but the sun's trying to get through the clouds. It's clear above, so I'm hoping that this might pass over and you never know. Might have a nice sunny day. Oh, that's pretty. That is pretty cool. Lots of mountains. That is an island. It's a big rock and there's a few trees growing on it. Wow, it's big. All right, check this out. Well, I've got a bunch of wood cut, split for some big stuff. A little corner. Oh, gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. So, good. We've got to put our starter in the bottom. I was lucked out. I found all this birch bark just laying by a tree. I probably don't need all of this. Just layer that in there nice and thin. I'll save that. Getting late. It's seven o'clock. It's time to make dinner. On tonight's menu, we have Next Mile Meals Beef Tacos. Something like the chicken we had last weekend? I don't know. We'll see. Probably enough. I put a little extra in and then it took a while. I'm only boiling six ounces right now. Well, hot diggity dog. It'd be good if I had some water. At least. Boy, I can feel the heat coming off that sucker already. Wow. Set the timer even though we always forget to stop it. But anyway, something's happening. I can hear it. That's good. Gotta have the pot left there. This is from the MSR stove. Remember last trip when I tried with this and I burnt my hand on the handles and there's a stick and this four spork and it's like, yeah, nope, nope. Steam is coming through. I'd say we're almost good. I believe in this phrase, almost good. I'm getting close. We are boiling. Okay. Can I get a mosquito? But okay. No, that was under five minutes to boil six ounces and that sucker is still going. That's what's interesting. There's no on off switch. All right, so let's give this a whirl. Beef bits in here. Lots of beef bits. I mean, there's flavor, but like the chicken, the beef bits are a little crunchy. Very tasty though. Well, that was a good meal. I have to say those beef tacos were pretty darn tasty. Now we're going to tear down. I don't have anything else to eat for tonight. So my stove goes in that shield. Not big enough for the pot holder, but this will stay out because I need it for tomorrow. So I decided to go for a little walk, came down to the, to the lake. I want to see what the sunset was like here in the mountains. That is Marcy right dead center, straight in front. That's cool. It's time to light the fire. All right. Right contacts a little bit squirrely, but hopefully it'll fix itself. Let's go get our food. I'll show you where I put the food. So the food is down the trail and I think the boards that are nailed to the trees, I think that's what they're for. Still on the way back. Yeah, I was up at five, got the camera all set up to take the, uh, the time-lapse of the sunrise and the night and zonker and went back to sleep. Cool. All right. I think that's what those are for. Good morning. We are getting ready to have some breakfast, eating up some water for coffee. Apparently I thought I was recording, but I wasn't earlier. Whatever. I tell you, this freaking thing is the bomb. We have hot boiling cup water. Awesome. I should have timed that. I think it might be a record. Keep that going on there. That's too much cream in that cafe au lait. It's still lumpy. That's awesome. All right, so we are all packed up and we are just about ready to leave. I've clouded over a little bit this morning and you can see I'm pretty well packed up. Pad and I've got basically sleeping bag, two blue dry bags, three counting the clear one and my clothing couldn't go in either one and that's really about it. I gotta find a place for that damn water bottle. That's sugar. All right, gotta work on that one too. I've got tape. Left up the bed, which is really, really cool. Ground. Don't see anything else left behind. Okay, we've got everything. Just a short carry down to the kayak and then I'm gonna go from there, pull the kayak back to the car. So this is it for here. All right, we are gone. Here we are. Just pack the kayak real quick and then we'll be able to head out. All right and off we go. There's the boat launch right there and that is the flow. That is pretty awesome view. And we are done our trip. It was an awesome trip and the weather was awesome. Now we got to drive back but it's always worth it. That's for darn sure. So yeah, we're gonna launch our dock here and get packed up. Don't want to go but I got a four-hour drive ahead of me so thanks for watching. It's been an awesome trip and I hope to do more and I hope you continue to watch.