McIntosh Lake

Beavers, sodding bloody beavers.

Today held a promise of wildlife - the best chance of the route apparently, and Ben was hoping for a moose.

Up early and a second attempt at pancakes which fared no better than the first; so nutirgrain bars and
chocolate chips for breakfast, before heading off Big Trout and into 'the narrows', which were considerably wider than most British rivers.

On arriving into the marshland, while the view was great, the path meandered wildly and we battled with a headwind for most of the day. Nonetheless, huge excitement at seeing a family of four beavers close to the boat...little did we know.

As we continued, the reeds narrowed the channel to a metre or two and the beavers had decided this was a good place for a dam...loads of the bloody things. Each dam requiring exiting the canoe and buffeting it over however we could, before rounding the next corner to find another one.

The portages were heavy going too - clearly on a path less well trodden the roots, rocks and inclines made the 800m and 500m portages hard work.

At camp, the day clearly took its toll, both of us feeling rather weary. We made the effort to go for a swim though before a lovely dinner of beef stroganoff and creme brulee, with a cheeky chipmunk joining us.

We made a fire on the point of the site overlooking the lake and the sunset in the evening, and we're treated to another beautiful sunset and some bannock bread, as well as a little froggy visitor.Read more