My family started participating in the Great Wilderness Cleanup Weekend (endorsed by Kevin Callan) in 2007 and have been taking early May trips to help since.
In 2007 and 2008 we followed similair routes through Canoe lake into Tom Thompson and Littledoe Lakes, where we would spend 2 nights before leaving to return to the city.
But in 2009, we headed for Cache Lake, the location of my summer camp, Wendigo and its sister camp Northway.
Day 1- Wind's Prevailing.
Route: Cache-Head
We arrived at Cache to a familiar scene. Whitecaps. Oh the horror; I wont mention brands but our 15ft symetrical canoe is best only for recreational use, even tho its an ultralite kevlar and it is just fine in fair conditions, or if you can always head directly into the waves and wind. It sits high in the water, even in a fully loaded canoe and blustering winds take terrible advantage of it. My brother, sister and father however; were located in the low-sitting, sleek, lightweight Bell Northwind 17, while my mother and I fought our way across the lake. The Bell is a great boat in or out of the wind.
Unfortunately, this meant that they sped ahead of my mother and I as we battled furiously against the wind.
Eventually, after a painfully long paddle and a lot of zigzaging to stay safe, we arrived at the Head Lake portage, a 1640m through to our destination. The portage is a little mucky year round, with sufficient boardwalks and is relatively flat with a few rolling sections.
Of course, being this the first portage of my 2009 season, it seemed a lot longer than it actually was, and after our first carry (my family double-carries portages, a method that I personally am against) we walked back and ate lunch at the Cache side of the portage.
After our second load, we regarded the monster that was Head Lake. We chose smaller lakes to reduce the risk of problems with cold rough lakes but this was pretty bad.
It was worse than Cache, and may I remind you the ice was just barely off the lakes. If we were to tip, it would be cold and dangerous.
We set our sites on a campsite 3 quarters of the way down the lake, a site beside a waterfall where our family had stayed before; and during the summer we even swam over to the falls for a 'shower'. You can really see the site until you are really close and we made our move.
Across the lake we went, being tossed and turned treacherously by the waves, making all our stomachs churn.
And then.
When we entered the bay where the site was located , we saw two people.
Standing.
ON OUR SITE.
Frustrated, we pulled over onto a nearby site.
This site was one of the worst I have every seen, sites like these are the ones that make me wonder if Park Rangers have a sense of humor.
It was a goat path; straight up to a small plateau with a firepit and 1 tent site and straight back down to the shore. But we had to park ourselves here. Paddling back up wind to other sites was not a good idea, and neither was paddling further down wind.
We sat there for hours on end with the roar on the wind. We eventually set up our Eureka screen shelter, where i curled up in my sleeping bag and prepared to wait out the wind.
At 7pm the wind finally died down and once again we made our move.
We first paddled down the lake, only to find the final 2 sites occupied; we were desperate enough to see if a hiking site was empty, but it was too small for a 5 person family.
So; we paddled all the way back down the lake to the site nearest the portage, which we had rejected when we first arrived. It turned out to be an amazing site: flat, a rocky shelf, good swimming in the summer and breezy enough to keep the spring blackflies at bay.
By now it was going on 8pm getting dark, and we forced ourselves to set up camp. We each use a eureka spitfire solo tent so its always a challenge to find good spots. My Dad cooked up some butter chicken for a late dinner.
It was cold; it even began to snow for a short while.
We ate our dinner and went to bed, resting our bodies. You could hear the wolves howling in the distance as you were half asleep. And then; I really felt like I was home.
Sunset on Head Lake; of course NOW its calm!
Day 2- Rested up and Ready to Clean!
Route: Rest/Cleanup day.
I awoke to the sound of a roaring stove, my fathers MSR Firefly at work making yet another masterpiece of a breakfast (Great food is part of the reason we double carry).
After eating, the wind blew up again and we decided to stay on the site a while longer before going out to clean, to see if it would calm down.
And so I took my sleeping bag out of my Eureka Spitfire Solo (I highly recommend this tent; I have had it for several years and it still serves as a great shelter) and stretched my self out in it on the sunny rock shelf and read 'Into the Wild'.
I was relaxed, and even ate some of the Jello Cheesecake that we were too lazy to make as a dessert the night before.
The winds seem to have died down a little when we decided to cross to the two sites on the opposite shore. Me and my brother sat in the middle of our 17 footer as our parents paddled over. (My sister stayed to 'hold down the camp') We arrived at the first site; it looked like a murder scene.
Wolf poop and fur was everywhere, combine with some bones and deer fur. There was also bear poop.
But the site was also covered in discusting things; tins from gas, cans from soups (which are both actually illegal), an assortment of wrappers and as always in Algonquin; socks. We find socks on most sites we clean up. My Dad says its where all the missing socks go.
We filled our garbage bags and headed back to camp; where i would pose with some of the garbage for photographic purposes. We also found a lot of garbage on the site we were camped on including a cut up pair of Lilo and Stitch boxer shorts!
Then I stretched back out before a dinner of Outback Oven Pizza (my dad works magic with his stove) and crawled into my tent after a fruit crisp for dessert and slept soundly.
The author poses with some cleanup prizes!
My dad observes our bounty of garbage!
Day 3- Back to the City.
Route- Head-Cache
I awoke to a bowl of oatmeal and Tang and took down my tent; it was time to go home.
As we were packing up my sister shouted 'Look a deer!'
Of course this deer then proceded to turn around see us only a couple of meters away, and bumble into a tree before racing into the bush. What a funny site!
The waters were much calmer today and we made the quick paddle to the portage and double carried over.
We made it to the Cache landing just before lunch; and drove into Dwight for a cold drink and chips before going back to the city.
It was a depressing moment when we were finished;but i knew I would be back for 20 days of tripping in July and August, with destinations much farther away.
And so we drove away from home; and back to the city.
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