Two Canoes, One River - A Temagami Journey. Pt1

Hey guys, thanks for tuning in. Joe here. Kyle's right over there. We finished driving for two days. Finally made it. We're up north into the Temagami region. We're going to do eight nights, nine days, back country camping, canoeing, portaging, fishing, loving life. You got it, man. It's five o'clock now. We've come to the first campsite along our paddle so far, and we're going to take it. We want to do some fishing tonight. We haven't slept more than an hour in like 48 hours. pretty much so this is this is home we've got everything all squared away i've got my tent set up my food's rehydrating so i'm going to go and attempt to catch a fishy or two what a novel idea it's nice out it's almost six now probably around six starving but beauty weather time paddling it's like a canoe kayak hybrid open top kayak 26 pounds kevlar fusion made by swift canoe and kayak i picked mine up in gravenhurst at the store there they got a few stores around ontario this is a 13-6 adirondack model meaning it's 13 feet 6 inches long loving it first failed fishing attempt of the trip i was out there for maybe 45 minutes an hour didn't get a bite the wind's picking up and it's pushing me, paddling against the wind to get back to camp now. I'm hungry man. I'm just gonna stop and eat and relax. I think that's it for me for tonight. No more fishing, no more canoeing. I need to get some food into me and I need to get some sleep. We'll check back in with you back at camp. Looking good. Gonna eat pasta tonight for dinner boys and girls. How do you feel now after supper? Better. Chocolate and sherry. Sailor Jerry though. Well, late enough. 7.15. I don't expect to be awake until past 9. The first drink of the trip. Cheers there bud. Cheers. That's quite terrible. What happened to half the bottle they shot? This is like 200 mils. That wasn't a shot. We parked here. Right here at the end of this road. Beauty Road, Gamble Road, whatever you want to call it. Here's the Evelyn River came down just a little bit like one click down to this so can't first campsite, which is okay tomorrow We have a whole bunch in probably three kilometers or so before we hit first portage There's like back to back to back to back to back little tiny ones getting the McPherson And I'm thinking maybe we come down here hit these few other portages sleep down here by a dry lake or caffin Lake That's my thoughts not yours. Those are my thoughts not yours Where do we start today on the map? Can you even point that out? what is a map exactly find it no it's a sand dune in the desert toothpick in the forest works too hey let's see your breath smell your breath what are you doing same Z's all day one in the books I just did the same to him ah it's like not even 9:30 and we're both in bed it just got dark we we waited for it to get Just dark enough to go to bed where we didn't feel too bad about it. Tomorrow's another day. Tomorrow's our first real full day We're all looking forward to tomorrow tomorrow ten hours of sleep. I feel rested Rejuvenated and ready to do this Oh beauty morning You can probably hear the tail end of that motorboat that just went by last night We only got in a few clicks didn't have to do any portages yet So we are gonna see some motorboats maybe even up till tomorrow. We're trying to get deep We're trying to get super far interior so that that stops just packing up my gear Kyle's already fishing He said he doesn't want to do cooked breakfasts Breakfasts is he said he doesn't want to do cooked breakfast because he wants to be able to eat on the boat Well, he's catching fish. So he's got to have a any kind of little advantage to beat me in the fishing, you know So I'll let him let him have it he heard me he heard me starting our journey two days on the Lady Evelyn river and then we are going into some lakes interior lakes and then we'll be ending our journey on the Lady Evelyn Evelyn river as well so this is a very slow moving river at this point it's very wide there is a current we can feel but nice and easy paddling man beauty weather it's a boat coming up behind i can hear so that's not the greatest but hopefully within a couple days we'll be out of that nonsense well that was a first for me uh kyle and i were paddling up to this little river there's little rapids i heard like a grunting i thought there was a bear or a moose so i was telling kyle to be quiet turns out it was an otter they're pretty big animals man he came right out of the water swam by us very cool we're on the start of our first actual portage and we're portaging because there are some rapids that was a rough portage man it was only 300 meters that was rough it's not marked it's not maintained very well either so it bounced off stuff trees are down crazy crazy dose of reality to be honest well that's what we portaged around right behind me you can see all sorts of rapids this is the the slower uh lower end of them so they got a lot more fierce up that way i think i'm going to try and fish in these rapids though i want some some trout in my belly kyle just saw a brookie he spit his lure and came back up to the surface for his lure so that's a good sign i haven't got anything but that's par for the course i'm using a little Mepps spinner with a split shot about a foot and a half above it i'm getting no action at all kyle might have been making stuff up too he does that i'll do a couple more casts here i think and head on down there is another uh waterfall up right up here maybe in about an hour or so so hopefully we can try to fish the fish the rapids fish the waterfall a little scarier there check back in look at this beauty black spruce huge rock formations this guy over here can't be all good there's some little fiddleheads growing right next to these rapids Kyle's back there trying to fix his backpack I wanted to come down and check out the portage before we do it. It's pretty rocky, man. It's right next to the water and there's blow down trees and everything Crazy. That was a rough portage, man, 490 meters which is nothing, but we're not walking on any kind of trails that I've ever really done before. Killarney, in Killarney Park, the trails some of them were pretty rough, but it seems like every trail every portage trail Temagami or Lady Evelyn Smoothwater is pretty rough the black flies are starting to come out they're not biting yet awesome i'm thankful but they're swarming so it can't be long another day or two we got to uh make our way to one more one more 50 meter portage nice small portage and there's a campsite at the end of it it's uh 12 o'clock now so ah we're gonna gonna go do that and have some lunch so i was trying to hand it some fishing I'm not too not too positive okay yeah all right let the bragging rights begin beautiful man very nice you can if you want to you don't really need to well no fishies for Joe probably eat his trout better do a portage and then we're on the water for a little bit another portage and another portage we have This is our portage trail. Portages are something else, man. I know I've said it already, but it is true. Black flies are starting to really come out, but they're still not biting. It's fantastic, so I hope my camera doesn't tip. I'm using my DSLR right now in the canoe. It's on a tripod, and it's just kinda precarious, so I'm just trying to really be careful. Kyle, I can see, getting out of his canoe, starting the next portage. there's one place to put out and it's there and kyle decided to leave his canoe there and go into his portage that's really helpful real nice of them all right so you can see we're at the put in at the end of the portage see kyle behind me he's about to put in and that water is a bit a bit quick completed our portages for today we're going to camp on this section they're both pretty beat but it's a beautiful view there's huge rocks everywhere jack pine black spruce so we'll do some fishing tonight set up camp eat some supper have some camp life things are so much better when you're on the water here these portages man kyle and i were doing like a thousand meters a kilometer portage single carrier last time they'll go out there by ourselves we take a turn with the canoe in the in the in the uh in the pack no problem they weren't flat by any means but they weren't this yeah it's a it's a eye eye opener it's a it's an awakener so day two has been hard but rewarding as well except for that damn trout so kyle went up there to scope out the campsite and oh it's a touch windy bud i'm having gravel tonight it's the ground beef rice and veggies called gravel because the ground beef never really rehydrates back properly and it feels like you're eating by far my least favorite meal that i've dehydrated but it's a good staple the rice and ground beef and veggies it's good to eat so the frank's red hot will be welcomed on that so the bugs are getting pretty bad and i'm gonna apply some bug spray i have i've only used uh bug spray once today so far i watched a video in preparation for this by a guy named winter trucker winter trucker has a ton of experience in the north he's in northern ontario and he was showing how he applies bug spray and how he can get away without using a head net in black fly season which is awesome awesome to know and what he he said yeah i'm filming here bud oh way to go good job he uh he got my my bear bag my bear hanging bag stuck up in the tree so yelling at me for not doing it properly yesterday and dummy over here friggin gets it stuck first try you're gonna get it it's 50 feet in the air man anyways um so he he applies like i'm doing now he's rubbing he's spraying on his hand rubbing it into his skin and there this one has 30 percent deet in it the one he was using had about 25 i believe um this is ben's he was using deep woods off i think the main thing is that we're not using the aerosol it's just the pump spray it works a little bit better and then you're rubbing it right into your skin man you gotta soak up that deep love that deep right up into your hairline so and i'm gonna wash my hand thanks winter trucker what are you what are you trying to do co well if i can hit the bag it went up and it spun itself around uh-huh and uh yeah yeah there's no good i'm going to climb that and get that are you sure yes 100 okay if you die No, I will not die because I'm not you Well, everything's done at camp food is eaten food is hung firewood is collected and processed water is Procuring and put the drops in it already and it's seven o'clock So it's time to catch some fishies and try our luck at some fishing. It's a nice night There's no no no wind at all bugs are pretty bad. Not as bad as it could be. You know Kyle caught two walleye small ones, but still Can't get a bite man Don't know what I'm doing wrong Dude, everything the same as Kyle except for I don't have braided line on I have mono on I have a second spool that I'm supposed to put braided on I just wanted to get out here and fish so I can't see that being the difference but Kyle's cast a hundred times too just like me and he's only got the two So it's kind of weird. It's kind of finicky not as hot fishing as I thought it was gonna be and I am kind of bummed out if I'm being honest I want to catch a fish man I don't care if it's a pike at this point like I'm not getting any bites it's frustrating got a little perch it's all right I'll take it it's better than nothing but we're gonna let this guy go because he's not eating size I don't even know if perch are in season to be honest with you I got a fishy calling it quits for fishing tonight it's almost nine o'clock been out here almost two hours so I only caught that one little perch I showed you guys Kyle caught a couple perch well he told me that they were walleye but after I caught the perch he said that they looked just like that so I'm guessing they're walleye as well we can look at his video and see I'll go back have some drinks I'll make a fire and warm up my legs and everything are all stiff from sitting in this boat for all day and then again for another couple hours tonight so lake is glass so i guess this is a tributary of the river They named it McPherson Lake because it kind of widens out pretty good. It doesn't have a lot of current at this spot. You hear the peepers? Gorgeous place, guys. Really, really nice here. You hear all that? Spring peepers, birds. That's probably it, but it's loud. This camera is adjusting the light so it looks a lot lighter than it is, actually. It's 10 after 9, so it's getting dark. It'll be probably dark around 9.30. I imagine sun's gone down. We can see the purples and the pinks in the sky right now. So that's kind of cool enjoying some Forty Creek copper pot by the fire today was an interesting day. There's an eye-opener It's a good day good end to the day too. So that's good. I'm excited for tomorrow and what that's gonna bring There's no hardwoods here at all. We're we're burning balsam fir spruce cedar Eastern white cedar no birch actually here either not this spot We came across a bunch of birch before but it's pretty northern feel it has a northern feel to it Anyway, balsam fir sucks man trying to split that stuff. they're just burning rounds right now kind of this is our gorgeous sunset We got a perfect view of it. Kyle is doing a very inappropriate thing behind the camera right now gotta ruin her bud day two is in the books he's getting back for yesterday day two is in the books i'm a little chilly stripping down tonight no sweater on tonight in the sleeping bag to try and minimize the condensation up and out again tomorrow looking forward to it good night folks sold up face foggy lens morning of day three boys and girls kyle said there's a bunch of steam off the lake so let's go check that out fish just jumped right there gonna get some breakfast in us and head on almost all packed up it's got a few little odds and ends i gotta put in my bag kyle's gone eating breakfast in his canoe trying to slay them fishies so i'll catch up with you on the gopro in the canoe this pack boat is taking some getting used to i like it a lot paddling like this is a little different i've ever kayaked once before it's very similar to that it's a kayak paddle uh it's light it's a light boat it's a good boat i'm happy with it you can tell it's gonna be a hot one today eight in the morning i've already got to shed layers gotta do things a bit different in this canoe instead of taking my my jacket off around my arms just right over the top of my head nice and easy no messing around life jacket goes right back on all is well we're going to uh try to bypass a portage Kyle has got it on the map where we might be able to go to the right of this island up here and paddle down a little streamy kind of river instead of portaging 170 meters and I'd much rather do that so that's what we're gonna try out let's see if it pans out or not might be able to yeah nope no go too many trees blocking the way and it's like six feet deep water so there's no no chance of getting out and pulling it over I tried to run over the log wouldn't work so don't want to ding up our boats or put a hole in them on the third day of a nine-day trip well just taking a little snack break eating a granola bar in the boat we just got done a portage pretty easy portage relatively so you have a 700 meter portage coming up I'm hoping that's a normal kind of portage beautiful day black flies are just starting to come out for the day they're not biting yet they started only started biting last night around 5 they're swarming all day weren't biting start biting around 5 so I assume today and forward they're gonna be biting but it's not really that big a deal I thought I've dealt with a lot worse black flies than this so we'll see in two days if I feel the same way area is gorgeous man all this rock is beauty we got to be careful there's all these rapids and they kind of suck you down so you got to watch it keep give a wide distance so we're over here heading that way to our portage, ooh hello, okay, so a little ETA, we um, we got a little turned around, we were trying to find a 700 meter portage and we found it, but the portage dead ended and there was no, it literally dead ended, there was nowhere to go so we hiked through the bush for quite some time and I found a second trail, I followed that trail and went out to the water on it and it came out to a second portage, so we took that one and on the books it was supposed to be the 341 but I think it actually is the 700, um, Kyle, his boat's there, we've resorted to double carrying for a little bit, uh, it's a little treacherous here I don't know if you can pick it up in the, I don't know if you can pick it up in the GoPro, but I'm walking on top of trees and big boulders here, ah so anyways, good times, Kyle's a little pissy he's not happy the way his canoe is riding on top of his backpack and I agree with that it's um, the backpack's a bit too tall and smashing the canoe down into our spines and into my vertebrae near my neck there, but that's okay so I'm just getting used to it, I gotta gotta bring a smaller pack, but next time not as much gear, I uh, I put too much gear this time thinking because I have the small small boat, it's okay, it's not, so I'll be using the 70 liter pack from now on instead of this 115 from Doug Here we are, the end of the portage, and it is windy. First trout I've ever caught in my life. She's a beaut, nice brookie, and we're gonna eat that guy up. I am so jazzed right now. Look at that, compared to my hand, it's like probably three times the size of yours, I think, Kyle. Well, that was bittersweet. Caught this awesome brook trout. I'm super happy with it. Good size, beautiful fish. We're gonna eat him. Lost my fishing rod. the commotion i guess of me getting this fish in the boat and bleeding everywhere me trying to get him to settle down me trying to film me being excited i must have knocked my fishing rod over the side of the boat my mom bought me my fishing pole for my birthday a few days ago for this trip specifically and i brought i bought a brand new reel and i'm really bummed out that not for the fact that i don't have a rod anymore but for the fact that it was a birthday present from my mom and i caught my first brook trout on it and all this stuff it was it was a good rod too and real so i feel a little a little bummed out but what are you gonna do it's a lesson to to really take my time and think about things and try to keep my head even when even when i'm excited anyways paddling on we're gonna keep this fish i'm gonna try and portage with them and cook them for supper over fire we've come across some class one maybe class two rapids I'm gonna run them cows spotting on the shore we've already scouted it out got all my stuff in my dry bag let's do this haha so well it's 3:30 we're along the side of the river right here not at a campsite at all but we're starving and I've tagged and carried this fish all day long he's starting to get stiff so we're gonna cook him up so for this shore lunch we're just using the bush buddy And a bunch of butter all you need is a few twigs and this trout so nice It's not gonna take long to cook up. Oh, it's about done. I think this piece is done first piece done Moment of truth not too shabby. I'm gonna eat the skin and everything. Oh, man. Yeah, beauty So I'm splitting it with Kyle because it was such a big fish, you know, there's so much to go around Okay after this we have to find a campsite because we're both just done and and uh it's really really hot i need to i need to relax so we'll move on soon like very good man well that was delicious it hit the spot time to go find a campsite this is home day three super buggy but let me show you what's on that side of the camera these bugs are relentless before i start setting my tent up and getting my gear all together and everything i gotta get some water so i have a full liter of water i collected down at the water obviously and i'm doing drops this time these are pristine drops it says five drops per capful I do six just to be safe that's six a part a six apart B excuse me and then we let it sit for five minutes till it looks like yellow Gatorade in here pour it in this do a little swish around just shake it and wait for half an hour then it's good to go there's a nice level piece of ground so I'm happy to camp here no rocks perfect this is how we portage and we have the PFDs attached to the outside of the pack easy access bag is hungry my pole for the Big Agnes it's all one piece basically convenient it's got this three spreader trifecta dealie here yeah that's definitely not how to say that but it's got a spot where it branches into three a connector and that's basically it right there I just got my tent set up as you saw everything's good there my fly is still wet from condensation from last night. It takes honestly 10 seconds in the sun to dry it. So I'm going to leave my tent just like that, air it out with the bug screen done up, and I'll go lay this on the rock in the sun along with my sleeping bag that had wetness from condensation. Now that that's done, black flies. It's 10 to 8. I want to go fishing. Kyle's feeling a little beat. I felt that way earlier. So he's nice enough to bring an extra fishing pole and reel and let me use that. So thank you Kyle. I am appreciative of that. I would love to be able to still fish on this fishing trip Three days in so we'll walk out to the to the water. It's quite I'm gonna catch a fish make it all worth it a redemption trout You on this rock in the middle of the river no bites at all, but that's okay Nice scenery and I was able to get some cool shots. Tomorrow is another day We've been in this lakes or in this river system the whole time so we got to be coming up into some lakes soon and I imagine with the lakes will come the pike be cool to switch over we've been trying to catch trout this whole time Kyle's at one I'm at one trout that is he caught a bunch of perch once we get into the into the pike that'll be a whole different ballgame and spoons and big spinners and stuff so I caught that big trout on a Meps Aglia number two that was a gold colored one it's gone with my fishing rod so that kind of sucks but I'm gonna head back now sit by the fire have some drinks relaxed probably turn in around 10 or I'll get up and do it again at 4 tomorrow. Seems like it's flying by. The Blackfoot. Doug let me borrow this Olympus camera. It's a stylus, I believe. Somewhere. Stylus. Olympus stylus. We're gonna get drunk so we don't care about the bugs anymore. Kyle's overheating so he's got his sexy shirt off. Oh my god, it's so warm. And these bugs are relentless. Like, just nonstop. They're not even as bad as I've seen them before. I've seen them Where they're biting all the time like they're biting now. I've got welts I'm starting to get all swollen up, but that didn't start till actually last night as well each night I think they get bad like that, but hopefully when the Sun goes down completely they're gonna be gone What being destroyed with all with bugs yeah for sure like somehow they're getting in my they've trapped in my net I think oh My goodness. What kind of silly concoction you got going on we got a rat We have a Walmart brand raspberry lemonade drink with vodka tonight. Oh, actually, that's not that bad, Saturday. It doesn't. When you mix the whiskey and the Sailor Jerry with the raspberry. Ah, he's in my... I'm blue on this thing. Oh, well. What does that mean? That's what that means. Oh. Blue on that. Look at the GoPro. You got a part in the blue screen. This Olympus doesn't have the best low light functions. Kyle and I were just discussing how this is the best campsite I think the best campsite I've ever been at To be honest with you Best view We have like 1, 2, 3, 4 We have 5 waterfalls 5 substantial There's one that's like a 30 foot drop 5 substantial waterfalls right in front of us Black flies To no end That's a huge plus We got wet wood We're rocking man What? We got a flyer. Kind of. We have to sit about four or five feet away from it because we're so hot. It's 922 at night. We're sitting here in no shirts. The black flies have subsided for the most part. They're still buzzing around, but they are not half as bad as they were. So that's a good plus. Kyle just snorted one up his nose. I swear to God, he just did. I'm like six of them. Why can't I snort them? Oh, my God. I ate a couple today, but Kyle's taking it to a new high and snorting them. You got a buzz off that? He's snot rocketing it out. This is, without a doubt, the most intensive canoe trip I've ever done. Can't put that in a video now. This is what it does in low light. Hold on, I've got to hit the... How do you feel after today? Look at that moth. So many moths. Day three in the books. Day three was a hard day. a lot of realizations came there's black flies in my tent at night so that's awesome first ever caught a trout first ever lost a fishing rod in the lake good day all around tomorrow is gonna be another hardcore day i imagine it'll be pretty hot as well so sunscreen breaks and lots of water will be the name of the game i'm headed to bed i'm in bed right now sleep uh in my tent so you guys have a good night and I'll see you in the morning. Day four. Feels like day four. 6 30 in the morning. I haven't heard Kyle get up yet but I can't hear anything over the sound of this waterfall so who knows. Black flies love moving water so this is a breeding ground this campsite. It's a picturesque campsite. Beautiful here but lots of black flies. So we're into the lakes today and yeah so change of scenery and I'm looking forward to it. Maybe some pike on the line too. time to get up face the day we just did this portage called fat man's portage right over fat man's falls um it was intense the portage itself was rocky and hard and difficult but the entrance was or the exit to get into the water was like a cliff man i had to line my my boat down and everything it's too much to film these portages they're brutal i'll try to do it more but man it's like i feel like i need a film crew out here i'm doing this stuff and try to get shots it's so much work so anyways my friends the bugs are back old black flies kyle says he thinks he smells so bad that they don't care about him probably dump him i can't even talk i can't even talk i'm losing my mind keep dumping my hat in the water to keep me cool this section of the river's pretty cool we've ran two sets of small rapids now we had to line one and we're going through a third one right now not too bad definitely not anything past class one even if if that but it's nice it's nice to have a little moving water and a little obstacles to avoid oh that was a lot less than i expected through it already i was complaining that it's nice looking oh wow oh my goodness this almost looks like out west my 2000 over 2000 meter portage right now i feel like crap i think i have sunstroke or heat exhaustion or something combined with bites because i have not felt this way in a long time um when the water touches me like when i'm paddling and i get dripped on it's like this horrible achy pain feeling i'm i'm exhausted i can't even muster up any energy so i think uh i'm doing this portage right now which is difficult already for me so i uh i want to get to camp it's it's 120 i want to get to camp and i want to sleep because i cannot keep feeling like this this is this is pretty rough i'm not gonna lie oh something's wrong with me it's heat stroke uh sun stroke heat exhaustion i don't know what it is to be honest with you but it might be might be part to do with some bug bites i got uh my legs got destroyed last night it's been a rough day i almost couldn't make that 2 000 meter portage kyle went back and probably carried my canoe like 800 meters or something like that man Because I've never felt so bad. This is rough. Let me show you my uh, my bites. This one's really bad It's like oozing. There's pus all the time on it Needless to say this sucks and I feel bad that I had to, that Kyle went back and got my canoe I told him not to but he saw how bad I was looking. I feel a little bit better now I'll take some Benadryl, eat some food, drink some some water I don't want to lay in the shade for the rest of the day. It's like 530 or something I don't have an appetite, but I'm gonna force something down. I really hope this this goes away. I hope I can sleep it off Excuse me, because this is only day four and we're here for nine days Feeling a lot better now rode in the boats trying our hand at some fishing almost ate some supper slept we went and cut some wood but it killed me after after I was all up and right before we came out here to fish we went and cut some wood and it drained me like crazy but I don't feel half as bad as I did today I'm praying for an overcast day tomorrow and this is the first clouds right now that we've seen in three days the first day was raining the next three days full sun now we're in the lake and there's opportunity to catch walleye pike and lake trout I I believe I got nothing. It's pretty shallow for most of it. I Was I was fishing in the middle there. I was jigging and everything I switched a jig Mepps a spoon a Rapala I feel like crap now. It's nine o'clock. I'm in bed I feel like I'm getting sick like like a cold or something like that. I'm achy. I'm cold. I Felt better after after we pulled in here ate something and all that nonsense, but starting to feel sick again and a lot worse, I'm not happy.