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So for the long weekend we decided to go for a short lake base camp canoe trip with the family, that would be me my wife my 11 years old daughter, my wife sister her husband and there 12years hold daughter. We picked a lake I know really well since I go hunting moose there every fall for the last few years or so.
So Karine(my wife(we are not married so I guess it makes us common law partner...)) had a day off on friday, she teach outdoor ed so she was just getting back from a trip and had a comp day, so we decided to leave earlier than the rest that were stuck at work and in school. It's a 3hrs for drive on the Alaska Hwy south. then to a couples of lakes connected by a narrow section so no portage for that trip if no one is on the lake before us... Sometime if there is other people we go up river and then portage to a lake and up that lake to an other portage that brings us above a set of rapids to the up part of the river where it is pretty dang nice too!! But not this time!
Anyway, we get to the put in and loaded the canoe and made our way up he lake for five ish km and reached our camp spot within the lodge pole line trees on a nice spit of land! We set up our campfire tent at the usual spot(I'm the only one who has been there before) and started on fire wood and camp set up to get supper ready. Had some wine(was my BD after all) and chewed the inreach for a message from the rest of the group that was supposed to meet us later that evening... They ended up getting to the put in lat so they decided to stay there and camp for the night.
Next day we paddle back to the put in to meet with them and made our way back to camp! The girls were paddling together there own loaded canoe, it was awesome to see them!! We had a easy relax afternoon and an early supper then, I decided to bring them up to the portage trail to the second lake. we played around that area a bit and then made our way back to camp as the sun went down.
Next morning I was up early cause I left the back windows open on the cam fire tent and rain had started and well, water came in the tent so I had to deal with that... In the mean time my brother in law was up and started his day going down the lake back towards the put in to see if he could find a moose.... I staid in camp to take care of the north end of the lake, glassing in between camp chores, fire, boiling water, glassing, glassing.... and then 8am, 3 consecutive gun shots... I recognized the sound of my brother in law canon of a rifle 3+km from camp... Woke up every one got a thermos of coffee and some food, and started our way down the lake to find him!
We found him an hour after the last gun shot on the first lake 3+km from camp working on getting a young bull moose from the water onto the bank... So we went to work all 6 of us after the congratulations and a good look at the young male!
Field dressing isn't a big deal to us anymore, but we had the girls with us and wanted to get them involved as much as they wanted so it took a bit more time, but 4 hrs later we were back in camp cooking a huge breakfast and drinking coffee!!
We all agreed earlier that we wanted to stay one more night and leave the next day, monday! Would have been easier to leave the same day.... During the night the wind picked up gusting to 50-60km/hr. So around two I woke up and decided to make a round of camp to see if everything was secured and all was fine, went back to bed and in the morning the wind was still howling, we had breakfast of bannik and crow berries( on saturday the girls and the wife picked up 15 pounds of it) and coffee, then started to pack up and getting ready to leave hopping the wind would die in the mean time! Not so much so we hit the water in a bit of whitecaps and made it to the narrow where the second lake was a bit rougher yet so we waited 2 hours, had such and naps... Left in still lots of head winds but the lake wasn't to bad, especially the further we got from the shallows. we stayed together and all went really well. Loaded all the gear and moose in the trucks and back home we went!!
P.S. as usual the pictures don't up load the way I wanted but hey that is life!!
So Karine(my wife(we are not married so I guess it makes us common law partner...)) had a day off on friday, she teach outdoor ed so she was just getting back from a trip and had a comp day, so we decided to leave earlier than the rest that were stuck at work and in school. It's a 3hrs for drive on the Alaska Hwy south. then to a couples of lakes connected by a narrow section so no portage for that trip if no one is on the lake before us... Sometime if there is other people we go up river and then portage to a lake and up that lake to an other portage that brings us above a set of rapids to the up part of the river where it is pretty dang nice too!! But not this time!
Anyway, we get to the put in and loaded the canoe and made our way up he lake for five ish km and reached our camp spot within the lodge pole line trees on a nice spit of land! We set up our campfire tent at the usual spot(I'm the only one who has been there before) and started on fire wood and camp set up to get supper ready. Had some wine(was my BD after all) and chewed the inreach for a message from the rest of the group that was supposed to meet us later that evening... They ended up getting to the put in lat so they decided to stay there and camp for the night.
Next day we paddle back to the put in to meet with them and made our way back to camp! The girls were paddling together there own loaded canoe, it was awesome to see them!! We had a easy relax afternoon and an early supper then, I decided to bring them up to the portage trail to the second lake. we played around that area a bit and then made our way back to camp as the sun went down.
Next morning I was up early cause I left the back windows open on the cam fire tent and rain had started and well, water came in the tent so I had to deal with that... In the mean time my brother in law was up and started his day going down the lake back towards the put in to see if he could find a moose.... I staid in camp to take care of the north end of the lake, glassing in between camp chores, fire, boiling water, glassing, glassing.... and then 8am, 3 consecutive gun shots... I recognized the sound of my brother in law canon of a rifle 3+km from camp... Woke up every one got a thermos of coffee and some food, and started our way down the lake to find him!
We found him an hour after the last gun shot on the first lake 3+km from camp working on getting a young bull moose from the water onto the bank... So we went to work all 6 of us after the congratulations and a good look at the young male!
Field dressing isn't a big deal to us anymore, but we had the girls with us and wanted to get them involved as much as they wanted so it took a bit more time, but 4 hrs later we were back in camp cooking a huge breakfast and drinking coffee!!
We all agreed earlier that we wanted to stay one more night and leave the next day, monday! Would have been easier to leave the same day.... During the night the wind picked up gusting to 50-60km/hr. So around two I woke up and decided to make a round of camp to see if everything was secured and all was fine, went back to bed and in the morning the wind was still howling, we had breakfast of bannik and crow berries( on saturday the girls and the wife picked up 15 pounds of it) and coffee, then started to pack up and getting ready to leave hopping the wind would die in the mean time! Not so much so we hit the water in a bit of whitecaps and made it to the narrow where the second lake was a bit rougher yet so we waited 2 hours, had such and naps... Left in still lots of head winds but the lake wasn't to bad, especially the further we got from the shallows. we stayed together and all went really well. Loaded all the gear and moose in the trucks and back home we went!!
P.S. as usual the pictures don't up load the way I wanted but hey that is life!!
