19 Days Alone in The Wilderness - part III

Well, this is a lesson to me and to anyone else who wants a lesson. Don't ever put off what you can do at the time to do it later. Look at this. All my clothes are dry. Now I'm more wet than I could have imagined. Let's carry this to camp now. Good morning. It's morning of day six. You can hear the train in the background. I'm camped pretty close to the entrance to Wabakimi where I have to cross the train tracks to get into it. That's all they say. Red sky at night. Sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning. Right Kyle? Sure was a red sky this morning I got my ass up out of bed, got into gear, and got on the water. It's 6:30 and I believe I can see the train tracks right in front of me. There's a flat line about 20 feet in the air. That's gotta be it. It'd be cool if a train came by when we were paddling under it, but twice in a year that might not happen. A little Spanish River style. You know jerk-ass Joe strikes again here. I'm squinting my butt off and under these many layers of bug protection Look at that sunglasses Sunglasses. Yep. That certainly is the train track. Okay, we're in luck. It does come twice a year So much for there being no portages I first carry through I came across on somebody's property And they were nice enough to just let me cross They could have told me to get out of here, but this is where my map says to cross. Brought a bunch of goodies to entertain the kids and to make our lives easier. To power all those goodies, we brought the Bluetti Elite 30 V2. With 288 watt hour capacity and weighing just 9.4 pounds, it's easy enough to carry around without compromising on power. It's got a 600 watt rated output with 1500 watt power lifting mode, which is great for powering small kettles, toasters, and other resistive appliances. It's got nine output ports including two AC, four USB, three 12-volt DC to handle multiple devices at once. With its 140 watt PD 3.1 charger it supports fast stable charging for power-hungry laptops like the MacBook Pro. Look at me make a face. And it's got a long lifespan over 3,000 cycles for long-term use. And with its fast AC charging you can charge up to 80% in just 45 minutes. Fall Prime Day is officially live from October 7th to the 10th and Bluetti solar generator is part of the deal you've been thinking about getting one now is the time you can find the product link and the deal in the description below check it out before it's gone well that was an experience I crossed over with my my first load and as I cross over the top I come back down there's a whole Lodge whole Lodge there with a dog barking at me like crazy like a big mountain dog and i'm like oh man i hate hate doing this type of thing but that's where it's exactly where it says on my map i looked on my gps and it's the same place and inevitably a lady comes out i'm like i'm so sorry i'm just just passing through is that all right she's like is it just you i said yeah just me yeah go ahead i said this is where my map says to cross she goes it's actually down there oh man do you want me to go back and go down there she goes no you're already here go ahead i'm very sorry i went back and got my canoe and then the train came by me and that was a whole experience getting there with going up a set of railroad tie staircases my canoe on my head and a train going in front of me doesn't get more canadian than that but uh yeah no problem just got in a short portage and uh now i'm in in wabakini proper and happy for that this trip is all full of all surprises already trip is all full of surprises already and today is day six six days of travel it's day six i've eaten four fish and they're very plentiful when i do start fishing but i think i have just made the decision to only fish when i'm hungry now and want fish i'm not gonna really just fish for fun i haven't been trolling i caught my last pike on the troll and if i had my way i would not have eaten that pike i would have eaten a walleye swallowed the hook like they do like i said and uh couldn't get it out so i had had to dispatch the old guy and uh and eat him up and it was a good meal it tasted fine it was everything's fine it's just when you have the choice of walleye and pike pike stink they're snot rockets they smell like tin they have y bones they taste fine it's just walleye is just the perfect eating fish and um anyway i'm not too picky i will eat more pike it's fine if i'm out fishing and i'm hungry and i catch a pike and i'll eat it but uh i think i'm gonna target walleye and only when i want them for food being out here however long i want to be out here i don't want to just keep taking and taking and taking fish and even if even if you don't keep them you know sometimes there's a mortality high mortality rate but anyway that's just how i feel right now that's not for future trips that's not for preachiness that's just how i feel at this very moment for this trip and i think that's fair this is a very very very nice spot i'm in kind of a little canyony type thing didn't like my imagination are you mocking me are you mocking me home no i'm really glad i left the camp early this morning. It's 8.05. I'm pretty clammy and sweaty. I've had my shirt off for a few minutes already. I have a reminder to have Isaac with me. It's a double-edged sword. I'd love to have him with me right now, and I'd love to have a reminder and bring him around with me everywhere, but I sure wish I would have done it while he was here, you know? I tried once. We went to the Kirkpatrick Lakes area. I thought it was going to be great and catch a bunch of trout and stuff like we had been doing, and I made it way too difficult, not on purpose. I just thought like that would be a great place to show him the ropes and to let him see everything that that's out there and catch trout i know he loved fishing i know he loves fishing loved fishing and uh it just was too much and i wish i did it differently i wish i would have just brought him somewhere we could just paddle in you know what i mean and you can't but uh maybe maybe it would have been different but it was a bad night anyways i remember him breaking down to me and and lots of stuff uh it's a bad memory it's a really bad memory i remember taking him fishing and just in the Detroit River when we were younger and he caught a pike and we ate it just grilled up with nothing on it and he acted like he loved it even if he didn't love it he had a picture of him with it he had a great smile on his face that was a very very good memory with him so I was just trying to replicate that type of thing trying to show him what he he could have but uh it wasn't to be Will got me this put some of his ashes in it for me and stuff so now i wear it all of the time do as much as you can for people that you love don't even question it you know don't don't don't have uh don't think about other things don't don't worry if they think you have ulterior motives just do what you can for the people you love that you know need help or maybe you're going through something and they keep quiet about it but you know it's it's a big deal you just don't know how to deal with it deal with it man learn how and figure it out and stuff Because you're going to regret it if you don't. And maybe nothing can be done. That's true too, sometimes. But at least you won't be left with feelings of regret and unknown. And that's really bad. Really bad feelings. It's a nice day. I cry often. I'm sorry. It's what happens. Lots of, uh... I got rods that won't reel. I got scars that won't heal. You know? I'm a torn cigarette. Flipbook of matches. Got patches. Got patches. Torn cigarette. Kiwi. Just like it does in Waikiki. wait five seconds the weather changes like crazy it's nine o'clock now completely clouded over and I'm a little breezy maybe getting a tit nipply soon maybe wanting to cut some cut some glass pretty soon but uh we've made it far in three hours very far of not too much left on the map where I had planned on camping tonight we'll see what happens I might be alright to take a mostly rest day paddle for a few hours and stop for for a day get a lot of writing done things mulling over in my head that i want to add like backstories and explanations and things i forgot and stuff i think i'll start writing those in a different book today but uh writing is addicting for me i do enjoy it quite a bit i think it's probably best to put the camera i literally just finished doing up my backpack putting that camera putting that camera away and just started i know it's not much okay on I go oh yeah this feels real this time oh man all right well it's time to get to a camp and get some shelter there'll be no shelter here and just like that it slows down again that is so wild to me it's every day like this it's like that's why I haven't worried about my my rain jacket and stuff it's just like it it's on and off for like a minute at a time it's heavy heavy metal I can hear it behind me I can hear it's gonna come again it's coming right now again watch this i can hear it all behind me could you hear that one time to get off the water i think here comes the rain it is the bane of my existence it's not really the sun's worse the bugs are worse staying at home living in bed is worse keep reminding myself that one All right, there you go. I've got to get my rain gear on. I've got to get my rain gear on. I think the stuff is here to stay for now at least. Paddle up to this little island put my rain gear on and then continue on. I do have a portage or two before the campsite. It looks like one before the campsite. I'm just gonna get it on. This is gonna keep happening. I've got to get my rain gear on. I've got to get my rain gear on. I will stop now day 6 of course it has completely stopped but there's thunder in the distance I forgot my shirt out my secondary shirt so I have it under there trying to keep it dry I don't want to open my pack again you know lots of pack openings and dealings with on this trip already I am looking forward to a rest day it'll probably be another 6 hour paddle and portage before i end up getting there maybe five today which isn't very much of a rest day but it it really is it was just a paddle one little portage at the end so all good i'm having a good day i'm a good time this trip is going by pretty quick already day six tomorrow will be a week that's how it goes right six and seven peaceful not too graceful joe little moss type things all right off to flying camp never fails i got this rain jacket on never rained another drop sun came out it's actually pretty warm but i'm not complaining this is a beautiful spot i just need to find my portage i can hear the rapids on the left this portage is actually very visible from even from the water which is not always true here looks like somebody blazed the trail the tree a little bit there and there's a nice open flat-ish rocky area directly 12 o'clock noon right in front of me. Oh man the tadpoles again Tadpole city. This is a pretty nice campsite. Uh, it's really old not been used in a long time as You can see right here Um, but the weather completely changed. It's sunny Not really too many clouds. I don't want to just lay in my tent and uh And journal all day or write all day the bugs will be getting bad soon or I think I'm gonna keep going another lesson learned don't judge things don't make plans too far in advance ---- changes every second you can take that into life and can you trip in the short one top recording for 12 found a spot pretty similar and in the area to the last spot but this one has two rivers rushing into it and pretty open and it's nice I got a nice flat lay big rock here I can dry my stuff out on and have a fire the tents kind of in the shade I might set up my tarp we'll see but I'm overheated and I stink and a swim is due a real swim So I want to do that and then go crawl into my tent because the black flies are pretty bad Sun keeps coming out and back behind clouds whenever it comes out black flies turn on 110% I've got my tent already all set up stepped in an ant nest dealt with that unintentionally obviously all right let's go swim let's go swim everything's tucked in holy smokes I can still touch didn't take my breath away I swear that's what I was worried about diving out here and hitting my head anyway all good very bad proximity to my tent not see it when I set up really the only spot is dead tons of dead trees around I'm just gonna knock it down so it doesn't come down on me in the middle of the night it's actually pretty beefy at the base but present home an old can can't tell what it says oh look candid here's probably the can that went with blueberries aren't ripe yet they're still green but let's see how that progresses over the next few weeks hopefully by the time I'm done I'll be eating blueberries right from the pl a client local guy makes these least but to go with my mashed potatoes I'm gonna eat some instant mashed potatoes and while I... oh you got a good to local guys I try to show you the jig head the walleye is gone I have to do that again. I bought it. I don't remember his name. I didn't get it for free or nothing I just wanted to show them out now. I lost my walleye next cast Redemption walleye and this guy's already dispatched no more getting loose I actually dropped him down a hole in the rocks and had to fish him back out It was wild it wouldn't believe me if I told you that's just what happened doesn't mean good tonight that other one It could have been a bit bigger, but with this one now You know what no no we'll let this guy go go I don't need him and he's very small it is just hot for fishing here very hot for fishing I got some Frito crushed up Fritos in here mixed with some hot fish crust and some regular fish crisp it should be very good it's not that much the first walleye I lost was much bigger but this will be enough with the potatoes the little Joe the egg white pan is doing me very well looks good smells even better one more piece boom son and with the mashed potatoes tonight oh boy boy we are in for a treat best one yet best batch of fish yet oh man no joke that was on point restaurant quality no no kidding hot fire lots of oil fritos and potatoes now i remember why i don't really eat them that weird taste to them they're not bad and i'm happy for them not my favorite but anyways goes good with the fish and uh nice big fat meal tonight i love today today's been probably my favorite day day six it's been a really good day i'm glad i got here early still did a six hour paddle five and a half hour paddle but i'm glad i stopped it when i did around noon or one or whatever i have a big day tomorrow portage some say rough on it someone says 800 meters blow downs lunch has not traveled much and then i have a choice of an 800 or two 250s getting in and out of the boat is worth is worth something too i know the 800 sounds longer but In and out sucks as well. The first few days were like that a lot after tomorrow. It's a little bit of smooth sailing too and Familiar terrain because I did that part of the trip with Kyle a month ago excited to see it again in this time of year