Lost portages of Irvine Lake

Lost portages of Irvine Lake
A solo canoe trip into
Woodland Caribou
Provincial Park
by
Martin Kehoe
Part 7
Twin Lakes - Moose Lake - Simeon - Crazy and Pickerel Lakes
GPS Waypoints Listings at the bottom of the part 8

The sun is breaking over the horizon and the half moon overhead when the tent is exited this morning. It is a moving day but my next camp is only the two prescouted portages away. By studying the topo maps, two possible campspots have been selected in a bay on the north end of Moose Lake. Now to see if my interpretation of the contour lines is correct. My coffee mug is about empty as the last chores are done at the camp. A wood fire has been used for cooking here so some stones used to hold the pans up have to be put back in their place. The blackened pots are soaking in the pail to soften the glaze that comes from cooking over pine. My hike revealed some Aspen and Birch not far away and their use would have left my pots a lot easier to clean. It has been a good stay here. The hill has been climbed, the woods explored, the lake paddled and many hours reclining on the rock slab taking it all in.

A cow moose gawks and then walks into the woods as I paddle across that beauty of a lake that lies between Twin Lakes and Moose Lake. There is a recently cut blaze on the Moose end of the portage and a return trip is made to check out the possibility of a better way than over the hill. Following the creek, I have a bird watching moment. First there is a Winter Wren with his tail held vertical giving me a good look at a normally very shy bird. Black capped Chickadees are flitting about when a Brown Creeper ascends a tree trunk. My walk shows me that the best route is probably up and over the hill rather than fighting brush along the creek.

When arrival is made at my first choice of campspots on a point, it is found to be too steep to camp on. The second choice turns out to be a great camp spot on a point inside a bay. Enough exposure to blow the bugs away and plenty of places to take shelter if the wind blows too hard. My notes indicate that the creek from Moose to Simeon Lake is an improbable route so a trip is taken to check it off the list of possible ways out of here. The flow is impressive and a short portage around a rapid puts me on wide fast moving stream with a grass plain on both sides so fallen trees do not reach the water.


The creek from Moose to Simeon Lake	The creek from Moose to Simeon Lake

There were seven more lift over or drag around obstacles before a short portage to a delta area on Simeon Lake. The portages were 50 and 200 meters of brushy but walk able trail. As often happens this little exploration had gone a lot further than planned. The strong current had me concerned but with the kayak paddle the trip upstream went very smoothly. The slopes above the creek are filled with Aspen so there is plenty of food for the beavers and with their dams this stream should have plenty of water to travel on.

By the time I am back on Moose Lake the wind has calmed and the lake has taken on that ambiance that only a large lake on a calm clear evening can have. My kitchen pail and dinner items are hurriedly pitched into the canoe before heading to its sun drenched eastern shore to envelop myself in its mood. After the main course is enjoyed on a rock slab, the canoe is allowed to drift along as dessert is finished. The drifting takes me near the south and the creek that is to be my exit in a few days. The hour is late but the temptation of a lost portage causes me to pull into the creek mouth. Expecting nothing it is very shocking to stumble onto a recently cut portage trail. With light fading, a hike is made to the next lake. The trail leads to a huge beaver dam at the end of the next lake on my proposed route over to Dunstan Lake. A trapper probably cut the trail to get to the beaver colony. With the improbable stream to Simeon Lake proving to be anything but and one of the last six portages to Dunstan already open for travel I smugly head to bed for an intended long night of sleep.

It is barely light out when I get dressed. It was not my plan for today but since I am up it seems like a good time to finish a route started last year. After paddling down the stream to Simeon Lake a trip is taken through Crazy and Pickerel Lakes on the way to a creek that connects Pickerel and Beaver Lakes. Last year found me getting into My Lake from the Bloodvein River. An old portage was found from My to Beaver Lakes so the missing link on a canoe route that would exit the Bloodvein at My Lake and reenter the river at Murdock only needs the My to Beaver Lake portage checked out. Things are going so fast and smooth on the journey that I am not paying close enough attention to where I am going. Pickerel Lake has to be crossed and then through a narrow place to the portage. Enjoying the morning, my canoe ends up on the southwest tip of Pickerel and an extremely rough portage is the only one that can be found to get to the next lake. After hauling the canoe up rocks with a rope and getting to the other side, things just do not seem right. It is a narrow water way and I push on figuring eventually my location will make sense on the map. When I run out of water instead of entering the bigger parts of Beaver the map in studied and it is seen that this is not Beaver Lake. In disgust, the canoe is lowered down the treacherous rocks of the portage and I am back on Pickerel. It is then that I really kicked myself because it may have been a Freudian mistake that took me that way. During my hours of staring at the maps the possibility of traveling from Pickerel and over to Walking Stick and down to Carroll keeps jumping out at me. Instead of turning around in disgust it was the perfect opportunity to check out the connection.

The stream to Pickerel Lake - Woodland Caribou Park

With a lot of time gone the paddle up the right narrows of Pickerel seemed to take forever. Maybe it was because my boot was stuck where I kicked and now I had to sit on it. At my intended destination on Pickerel, an old blaze on a tree assured me that the search was now just a formality. A quick lunch and off to Beaver Lake I went. From the Beaver Lake side a short portage was necessary and then the stream could be traveled most of the way to Pickerel. At an ancient berm left from hundreds of years of beaver dams the portage entered the woods and came out at the blaze. There are boat caches on Beaver, Pickerel and Crazy Lakes so it is not complete solitude here. The boats probably mean there is good fishing here and most people do not portage motors around to fish for Northern.

My plans for a sleep-in came to fruition last night with an eleven-hour session. An excellent start to a day totally devoted to goofing off. The weather is cooperating in the cause with a bright blue sky with puffy cumulus clouds for accent. Breakfast is over and the clothes are drying so chores are all caught up for the moment. A hike over to South Simeon goes over country not fit for portaging so another spot is picked from the map further to the north. On the way there, some green ribbons on trees are spotted but a search for more only turns up a long pointed rock marking the way. The rock is on top of needles and moss so it had to have been placed there. Using this as a start to my route back to Moose Lake leads me to open travel ways on good rock. 250 meters from Moose Lake some brush was encountered but then opened back up again and came out on a point that had already been checked out as a possible route to South Simeon. With a little more exploration, it would be a fine route to Moose Lake.