The clouds broke a bit and allowed the sun to shine through in some areas
I see two people in a canoe coming from Whiskey Jack Lake - the second group I've seen in six days!
The lower level of Paradise Island
I didn’t have much to do so I figured I would spend an hour or so paying it forward to the next occupants of this amazing campsite. I scoured the island for a bunch of firewood and made a really decent pile – which was impressive considering the size of this island, they’re usually picked clean when this small. It was still cloudy out and I was once again feeling a little tired. I decided to take another nap but not before setting my alarm for 6pm as to not waste my night again. Around 4pm I got back in the tent and slept till six – perhaps I was fighting off a bug because I seemed to really need extra sleep over the last two days. When my alarm went off at 6pm I immediately jumped out of bed – I didn’t want to laze around an accidentally falls asleep again. I got out and it was still cloudy. I figured I should get dinner started so I went down to the lake and filled my pot with water. Seeing how I didn’t catch any fish my dinner tonight would be KD Mac & Cheese. Not as good as lake trout but it would do the job. As I waited for the water to boil, I spied a canoe coming across the lake from the Whiskey Jack portage – the second group of people I’ve seen in six days!
I went back to the upper section of the campsite to make my coffee and enjoy it on the bench. I was looking at the fire pit and because of all the rain it was tempting to have a fire – but without knowing if the ban was called off I’d be taking a stupid chance and opted not to. I have been seeing and hearing between ten and twenty fire patrol planes each day – no joke – never have I heard so much air traffic above Algonquin Park. Hopefully all the rain would have extinguished any existing fires in the bush.
As I enjoyed my second cup of coffee a resident red squirrel decided to hold a protest against my presence. He chattered, squeaked and dropped things nearby to try and scare me off – little did he know, I was in it for the long haul and wouldn’t be budging until tomorrow. I was getting hungry and today for breakfast I had pancakes & syrup. I was actually very hungry as it had been a long time since I last ate anything – not on purpose, I just didn’t expect to spend 16 hours in the tent. I wasted no time scarfing down the pancakes and enjoying my coffee. It was still very cloudy out and shortly after I finished breakfast it started to rain off and on again. I was glad to have the tarp so I just hung out under it simply enjoying my presence in Algonquin Park.
Looks like it'll be a great end to the day
By 7pm my dinner was ready and wouldn’t you know it? The sun was ready to come out too! The clouds lifted and provided me a beautiful evening to enjoy my dinner. I mixed up a whiskey drink and grabbed my pot of mac & cheese then sat down on the rocks to eat. As I ate I starting thinking about how awesome this trip has been so far, the fact that it was day 6 and I still had another 10 days of this awesomeness to go. I ate my dinner in full and still felt a bit hungry, so I poked around the food bag a bit more and decided to make a fresh bannock – something I was going to make anyway if I was lucky enough to catch a trout. As I waited for my bannock to bake I kept the drinks flowing – I had to play catch up for all the booze I didn’t drink last night! Lighten the load – always!
tr 20: TOURduPARK I
Dead calm Robinson Lake is begging for a paddle
Heavy clouds make for a very grey day
Sun beaming on Paradise Island
Messing around with a flashlight and camera
By 9:30am the most threatening clouds had moved on and the rain subsided. I decided to take the canoe over to the first island again to see if I could find a grill for my campsite – I didn’t need one, but I found it odd that such an awesome campsite didn’t already have one. I loaded the canoe with my camera as well as my fishing gear – I figured I could try for a trout dinner tonight instead of the mac & cheese that I had on the schedule. I got in the boat and made my way to the other island. When I got there I noticed the entire site was heavily over-grown and probably hasn’t been a campsite for quite some time – I was likely wasting my time looking for anything here – there was zero evidence of a campsite so I got back in my boat and moved on. I decided to troll the south shoreline all the way to the Junco Lake portage at the east end of the lake. I didn’t catch anything but I did have a few strikes – I’m sure I would have landed something if I had worms, I should have kept an eye out for them after all the rain last night. I landed at P645 to Junco Lake and walk a small portion of it. It’s a very narrow trail and marked as low-maintenance. I got back in my boat and continued trolling but this time following the north shore to the west. I spied a campsite sign on the north shore so I decided to pull over and investigate. What a crappy campsite – if I was stuck camping here I would just move on to Burntroot or Whiskey Jack – this site flat-out sucked. Over-grown, no benches, terrible water access and no real view. I was really glad to score the awesome site. Once back in the boat I continued trolling the lake for a couple hours and didn’t catch a thing but that’s okay, I had a good time out there. It was around 1:30pm when I got back to the campsite and had a little snack.
The closest thing to a selfie that I'll take
Exploring Robinson Lake
Robinson Lake can be very scenic
It was a beautiful sunset and the full moon was visible while there was still plenty of daylight left. I spent my time walking around the island taking various photos then grabbed one last drink then sat on the rocks until it became dark. Since I couldn’t have a fire, I decided to get in the tent when the mosquitoes came out, but not before snapping a few more nighttime shots. I spent an hour in the tent looking over the map, retracing the route I had already taken and reviewing the route I planned to cover over the next 10 days. It was 10pm when I finally crawled into my sleeping bag and dozed off for the night.
Sun shining through the tree on Paradise Island
Looking east across Robinson Lake - Paradise Island in the distance
Day 6: Vacation Day at Robinson Lake
I was awake and ready to start my day at 6:30am – a full 16 hours after entering the tent yesterday. I must have really needed the sleep, but I didn’t feel off or sick so I guess I was just exhausted. It rained all throughout the night and it was very wet outside – I hoped this would be enough to call off the fire ban, as I really wanted to have a campfire! I put the pot on for coffee then sat down on the rocks while the water boiled. It was a clam but damp morning and I loved every second of it. The air smelled of fresh forest from all the rain. Today was a scheduled off day and my only plan was to fish and explore the lake a little bit.
Almost all the clouds have finally lifted
TOURduPARK
A misty day on Robinson Lake
The pine-clad shoreline and crystal clear water of Robinson Lake