TOURduPARK
Looking down over Brigham Chute on the Barron River
Barron River to Opalescent Lake
Again I was not in a rush, but the winds were coming down the canyon with a lot of force – I was really tired by the time I got to the first portage. It was that 440 m around Brigham Chute, followed by a 100 m portage into Brigham Lake. The 440 m portage was a little rough, just as I thought it would be. Easy going, hard coming back. Steep and rocky – like everywhere else in this area. I passed it, and the 100 m portage into Brigham Lake. Brigham is a small lake with three campsites, and I wouldn’t mind staying there one day. I crossed Brigham to the left and took the 770 m portage to Opalescent Lake. There is supposed to be a site at the end of the portage on the Opalescent side, but it was removed and instead one was added at the Brigham end. There was a small trail off of the portage that leads to a smaller peninsula and a campsite – I was happy because I didn’t have to load my canoe again, but worried because there was a lot of standing water behind the site and the bugs may wreak havoc on me. I chose this site anyway and was all set up by 5:30 p.m. Not bad for a portage-connected campsite. I made an afternoon campfire to keep me company, but the wind was eating up my firewood too quickly. So I made a wind block out of three large flat stones.
Brigham Chute on the Barron River
Great view down Opalescent Lake
Opalescent Lake campsite
Tarn 3 on a sunny Opalescent Lake
Not much privacy on this site if someone is camping across the small bay
tr 17: Barron canyon - greenleaf lake
More logs cut and ready to go!
Swift Pack Canoe 13.6 on Opalescent Lake
Upgraded the fire pit for wind protection
I decided to kill some time by going back to the portage and clearing a few fallen trees that were blocking the path. They weren’t massive or too obstructive, but nonetheless, I didn’t mind clearing them as it was great firewood for me. I spent about 1.5 hours processing fallen trees. I wanted to have a nice fire as I planned to get a little reading done tonight. As the sun was setting, the rays of light were striking the trees all the way down the narrowing lake. “What a pretty lake,” I thought. It was around 8 p.m. when I had my dinner of beef stew and bannock. I am really glad I learned to make bannock – I love that stuff. I noticed another fire down the lake and when I looked a little closer I could see a yellow tent. It was kind of nice to know someone else was enjoying this beautiful lake. After dinner, I threw a few big logs on the fire and read about 50 pages from Joe Lavally and the Paleface. I was intrigued from page 1. What a great read. I added logs throughout the night while reading with a mug of green tea. I eventually went to bed, not too sure what time but I’d say somewhere around midnight.
Day 3: Barron River to Opalescent Lake
Awake at 10:30 a.m. – pretty late by my standards at home; very late by my standards in The Park. I didn’t hustle much this morning. I started a fire and made a quick breakfast of bacon on an English muffin. I was getting a little restless by noon. Although it was a nice day and I had a cool site, I had the itch to move. I justified it to myself that because of the 22 km day I would face tomorrow, perhaps I would complete 7 km today to make it a bit easier. This would be the first time I’ve ever gone off permit. It would also be a key decision in the events tomorrow. I picked Opalescent Lake because it has a lot of campsites (and with it being the middle of the week in mid-May, I highly doubted my occupying a site there would leave another canoe tripper high and dry). I packed my things and was on the water by 3:00 p.m.