“Chasing Waterfalls” Fall Canoe Trip 2024 - Part # 3 Algonquin Park

Previously on Tapley Outdoors part 2. Good morning from Algonquin Park it's a little foggy a little cool out today we do have a day trip planned we're gonna go to a neighboring lake do a whole lot of fishing. Morning everybody we're on Shell Lake this is a power cut, not bad. First Shell Lake pike but yeah we caught her, it's not bad eh? No not at all. Hey bear! Hey everybody so it's Sunday evening we had a pretty good day we paddled up to the north end of Crotch Lake plan was to check out some campsites along the way to do some fishing. The Crotch to Shell Lake portage because there was a dam, waterfalls, that was pretty cool. We got some wood along the way and yeah we got some cut dinner, decent sized pike. So stick around part three is coming up. It's Sunday it's another foggy and cold morning. Gonna get some breakfast going, nice cup of coffee, wait for this to dissipate and do a little bit of fishing. One thing to note, it's foggy every morning and the fog doesn't lift till 9am and the fog kind of sits on the top canopy of the tree so it almost sounds like it's raining when it's dripping so something we've never experienced before either. Just gonna have a little lunch here, ham, cheese and honey mustards on wrap and then back to Bay Bay, head up to the north of Crotch and check out the Shirley Lake. So today we're gonna check out, I'm gonna head north, check out this 1050 meter portage into Shirley, apparently crossing a logging road, didn't really remember or was aware of that, see what that's all about. We're on our way to the north end of Crotch today for a day trip, we're gonna check out the Shirley Lake portage, there's some falls up there so it should be interesting. Looks like I got mama and her youngin' right there, looks like a juvenile roon. There you go, there the baby goes and mama shouldn't be too far gone. Gorgeous day, warm. So we're at the portage, going into Shirley, nice little landing here. Go for a little day hike. Hi mom, hi dad. Road crossing, probably an old logging road, just may go back to the access point. I'm gonna stop and smell the roses here, check things out. I think there might be an outhouse around here. All right we did it, Shirley Lake, awesome landing on both ends, beach like, emergency, you could camp here. Shirley is a decent lake, old ties, metal pieces or what such. On the way back, we explored the Shirley Creek Dam. Look at that makeshift bridge. These are the dam, the rapids that go in from Shirley into Crotch. Probably over a hundred year old spike right there, had better days. This old dam in between Shirley Creek and Crotch Lake was built by the Booth Lumber Company in early 1920s. Following its construction, Shirley Lake was raised a full seven feet and this eliminated the very narrow passage during the Splang floods. This dam also featured a plank spillway and this sped the logs beyond the dam and over a small falls below. Like most dams of this era, flow was controlled using stopped logs which filled a gap between two wooden cribs on each side of the creek. Eventually, in 1974, a new dam was constructed further downstream. As a productive outing, we got a whole canoe full of wood and we're gonna head back to some fishing and little afternoon services. Damn! Along the way, I had to do some fishing. Oh yeah, we caught some cut dinner, decent sized pike. We got ourselves a little pike, we're gonna have that for lunch, a little short lunch and it's a good size. It's an old school five of diamonds. Nice. No sense to keep the pike that we've been getting because we wouldn't eat it. I've laid my pike, that's ready to go. Got a little onions and mushrooms, I'm gonna put it in some batter and deep fry them. Mushrooms and onions. So that's what's the result of the fish, onions and mushrooms. Grease got ugly. Not bad. Nope, not at all. So one of the goals on this trip is to do some fishing, something we both enjoy. In Crotch Lake, there's lake trout, bass and pike. I'm pretty successful at finding the pike. Unfortunately, no bass thus far, so that way I take more time. On an average, every outing we go on out fishing, we average one pike. Some of them have a pretty decent size. Except for that one this afternoon that we got, it was good enough to find for both of us. Yeah, so I mean it is a lot of fun catching pike. It's a big fish, they're aggressive, it takes a lot of extra effort to land them. You know, kind of hoping for bass, I do like bass fishing as well, just got nothing from them. But again, I'm not going to complain because it's a pike. Catching fish are fun. Yep. So one thing we do when we check out campsites is do a 360 google maps. Yeah, so I've got an app on my phone that allows me to do like the 360 street view pictures. And so then I, when I, you know, get back into civilization, I'll actually load those up on the google maps for everybody and anybody to see. You can find them under MJ. Just look for the tragically hip emblem with my pictures. Yeah, and check it out. It's pretty cool. So our last night tonight, you know, we had gone to that portage, picked up a ton of wood from there. As a productive outing, we've got a whole canoe full of wood. So we've got a nice big fire tonight. Okay, we got our wood for night three. All set to go. And enjoy a little bit of life. Whiskey last night. We eat everything up, drink everything up. Hopefully we're able to get out of here at a decent time. It's that time of the evening, seven o'clock. Turning up the fire. Sitting around a warm fire is something I value more as I get older. The conversation consisted of reflecting on the last three days on Crotch Lakes and reminiscing on past trips. The campfire is where we learn to appreciate the simple things in life. The warmth of the fire, the beauty of the stars, and the company of good buddies. Life is definitely better around a campfire. Good morning from the park. It's Monday. Gonna be breaking camp soon. Definitely not as foggy as it was the last two mornings. But you can certainly hear the road noise. Problem with this lake is you're really close to the logging roads. So you've got the trucks coming by in the morning. Hopefully we're able to get out of here at a decent time. All right, ready to get out of here. Breaking camp. That's a pile of wood for the next group of person that's here. You're welcome very much. She's all packed up and ready to go. Hey guys, thanks for watching my video so far. Hope you've enjoyed it. This fall 2023 canoe trip to Crotch Lake of Algonquin Park, Canada. Cheers, everybody. Thanks for watching part three of my fall 2023 canoe trip. I think there's still gotta be something in that. But I better be honest. If not, the producers will extract me from the game. Oh well, we'll worry about it when we get home. I just think you need to suck it up there, buttercup. It's 9.05 and the light weight's already passed it. Yeah, I mean it is a hell of a lot of fun catching pike. They are pretty aggressive. Say it again. What am I doing? So it's 9.30. Had a fire going for the last two hours. This is where we're at with our wood. We had a huge pile before. And Brent's pretty much ready to go to bed as usual. So it's about 10.30. The wood pile's getting low. My father-in-law Larry says, boy, you guys burn a lot of wood. Well, gotta keep warm, Larry. What the? There's two of me. There's two clowns. No, it's not. It's 11 o'clock. The fire's still going strong. And Brent's still awake. I'm still awake. Meg says to know my role. So I got the fire started. And Meg's job is to keep it going all night long by Lionel Richie. So I don't touch it because he gets a little irritated. He gets a little agitated. Because he flip it off. Oh, beep. Damn. God damn, the pusher man. On this fall 2023 canoe trip to Crotch Lake. And over at Legompton Park here. Cheers, everybody. Hey, guys. If you're still watching at this point, hey, kudos to you. Appreciate the support. I'll see you next time.