4 Days Solo Camping & Fishing in a Beautiful Remote Wilderness Area

It is October 2nd today. Fall is officially here. Leaves are starting to change. The air is crisp. It is so beautiful out here. And I'm very, very happy to be out. It's been a bit of a rough stretch the last little while. We lost our family dog on Sunday four days ago. For whatever reason, the loss of my dog, it just hasn't hit me yet. I don't know. I've just been maybe feeling a little bit disconnected. But the good news is that I have a cure to this feeling of being disconnected. And it is being out here in this beautiful place. I hope that I can kind of, I don't know, maybe release some emotions on my own time. I'm out here alone. Yeah, it feels like the place to be. I'm trying something a little different tonight. I usually sleep in a tent, but this time I'm going to be sleeping in a hammock. I've only done this once before. And to be honest, it wasn't the best sleep in the world. But I'm going to try it again and see how it goes. I'm pretty tired, so I think it's going to be a good sleep regardless. So I'm putting my sleeping pads inside of the hammock. This is going to add some comfort and some stability. But the main reason I'm doing this is so that my backside stays warm. If I were to just sleep in the hammock without added insulation, my butt would freeze. No joke. Nice. So that is going to be pretty comfy, I think. Let's find the right position. I'm a little banana-ed right now. I kind of feel like I'm on a 90 degree angle, but we'll see. I'll figure it out. Okay, I tightened it up and I brought the feet down a little bit so they're not above my head. I think that's going to do. Oh, that's real comfy. That is nice. I can just close up this little cocoon. Oh yeah. I've got an absolutely obnoxious dinner going on right now. It's just straight up ground beef in a pan. The pan's not even big enough. It's just a lump of meat. Alright folks, dinner is served. I've got a beautiful main course of beef with a side of water. Hot water. That's exciting. So I have just found the biggest bullfrog I have ever seen in my entire life. He's so unbothered. He's just in his zone. Nothing can faze him. Just hanging out. He's real cool once you get to know him. Ladies want him. Men want to be him. The only thing he's missing is some style. He just needs a little hat. There we go. Look at that. Alright, I think that is it for me. I will see you in the morning. Good night. Okay, I think it's like probably 4am or something. It's been super windy all night and I've barely slept a wink. I'm going to have to make some adjustments here. My tarp just finally gave loose. So I'm going to have to completely change my setup. Instead of blocking any potential rain, which I doubt is coming because it's a beautiful starry night, I'm going to use my tarp as a wind block. I'm going to bring my canoe up here as a wind block as well. I just thought of that. I'm literally getting swung around in this hammock. Hang tight. I'll be right back. Okay, I've readjusted everything. It's no longer an A-frame. It's more so just a lean-to. And it is not pretty by any means. I just need something to block the wind. I'm so tired. I'm going to sleep. Alright folks, this is it. The time has finally come to announce the winner of this brand new Blue Eddy AC70. You've seen it plenty of times before on this channel. This is a 1,000 watt portable power bank. You can bring it virtually anywhere. It's got all kinds of different charging capabilities. This thing is a beast. I'm so excited to finally announce the winner of this giveaway. Thank you to everyone who has entered. I'm very overwhelmed by how many people actually entered the draw. I think we had well over 400 comments on that video of people saying hashtag Blue Eddy. And thank you for all the new subscriptions. This is super exciting. I can't get over it. Without further ado, let's announce the winner. So in order to pick a winner, I've just googled this random website that picks a random YouTube comment. So I've typed in the link to my video and it is going to load a random comment. Hopefully it is one of the hashtag Blue Eddies. If it's not... Okay, 299 comments. Let's pick a winner. SMartin4362 says, Great video. Hashtag Blue Eddy. Congratulations my friend. You have just won yourself a brand new Blue Eddy AC70. Nice. Cool. Good stuff. So, SMartin4362, what I will get you to do is send me an email. I will put my email address in the description of this video. And we'll discuss details of how we're going to get you this bad boy. All of the shipping is covered. Don't have to worry about any of that. But yeah, congratulations. Send me an email. And for anyone who didn't win the Blue Eddy, do not worry. I'm sure we'll do something like this again in the future. And yeah, they've got sales all the time. So go check it out. There's still a chance for you to get one at a discounted price. These things are awesome. Thank you so much. Congratulations, SMartin. And yeah, now back to the video. Man, that wind was brutal last night. It was just like howling over the ridgelines and just destroying my tarp. There was one point where my knot actually slipped loose out of the tarp. It was my own fault. I tied a bad knot. But that was, yeah, I think it was around 3 or 4 in the morning. I had to get out of my little cocoon and readjust everything, fix everything. But then once I went back to sleep, it was just KO. KO'd. I slept from like, let's say, 3 a.m. to now. It's probably around noon. But I needed that so bad. I feel so good now. Still a bit groggy, but I feel good. I completely forgot I should be wearing this orange vest at all times while I'm out here. It is hunting season, so this is a safety precaution. It's high-vis, so people can see me easily. And hunters will know that I'm not a moose. I've been eating this exact same batch of oatmeal all summer. In the springtime, I made about 50 portions of this. And that's lasted me all summer. Every time I've gone camping, for every breakfast, this is what I've had. And I definitely reached a point where I was sick of it. I couldn't even stomach it some mornings because I just had it so much. But I haven't had it in about a month now. And these first few bites are pretty delicious. I don't know if it's actually the taste of it, or if it's just the reminder of how epic that summer was. Literally, this tastes like those first few trips in the springtime on Lake Superior, the Pick River, Woodland Caribou. Like all these places, this is the flavor. This is what it tastes like. It's pretty sweet. Look at this. I just found the cutest snake ever. Okay, so I just finished a pretty crazy climb up the top of this hill. And I just found the most unusual thing that I would never expect to see at the top of a portage. It's a big old snapping turtle in the middle of the woods. What's he doing? Gorgeous spot. Oh, it's a bass. Yes! No! I had him, then I lost him. I thought it was a big trout, but it was a smallmouth. Just got myself a beautiful little smallmouth. He's not big at all, but he's really, really healthy looking. This lake is crystal clear, and these fish are pretty. I'm really excited to see what else is in here. Okay, I've got to make a decision here. I've got to make it quick, because the sun is setting, and I only have about an hour left of daylight. I really, really like this spot to camp. Because it's got a nice view of this high ridgeline behind me, south facing. It's the south ridgeline. But I think I'm going to cross the lake and camp on that shore so that I can look north. Because there's a high chance of aurora borealis, northern lights, tonight. And of all the nights I've ever spent camping, I've never, ever, ever seen the northern lights. So, I think I'm going to cross. Yeah, that makes it easy. If there's a chance to see them, I'm going to cross. Now that I've paddled out into the lake a little bit, I can see that there's a ridgeline on the north side of the lake, the good side, that's even prettier than the one I was looking at. This is good. This is awesome. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything on that south shore that was super ideal for a camp. So, I found a great spot on the north shore. Just means I won't be able to see the northern lights, but that's okay because it's pretty overcast out here. I don't even think that I'd be able to see anything anyways. Ooh, this is really, really not good. I just ripped my tarp. I was tightening it up and the seam just gave way. This is, yeah, that's concerning. I don't think it's going to rain tonight, but it's my only tarp. Uh-oh. Okay, I'm not going to mess with it. I'm going to take this down. Okay, I got the rip all patched up and I switched up the loop that I was using, so now it's an A-frame like I had last night, but I'm just going to make sure it's all properly secured, which I didn't do last night. That is nice and cozy. So, as per usual, my dad set me up good for this trip. I stopped in at their place on the way up and he told me I could grab anything I want from the freezer. We just made some honey-glazed ham and he freeze-dried it, or not freeze-dried, vacuum-sealed. I always get that mixed up. This is going to be delicious. It's all pre-cooked. I just have to warm it up. The only problem is it's like, that is so much ham. Like, that is the size of my head. That's a good pound and a half. I'm going to see what kind of damage I can do to it. We've got quite the warming operation going on here. I think this is going to be good. This is very, very good. I think it's going to be a mission to eat all of it, but it's possible. We're getting there. I've also made some rice to go with it. I'm probably going to save most of this for the morning because that's just an insane amount of ham. I do not wish this amount of ham upon my worst enemies. Dad, I'm sorry. I've let you down. You provided me with more than enough sustenance to survive. And I've made a mockery of your gesture. I can't do it. I just can't finish it. I'm wasting the last two pieces of ham. It's fish food now. Thank you. I will see you in the morning. This is very casually one of the most beautiful places I've ever camped. It's stunning here. The ridgelines are just jaw-dropping. That's my favorite is big high ridgelines like this. I love it. Okay, I think I may have found something really, really cool. While I was flying the drone over those ridgelines, I noticed what looks like a crack in the side of the cliff. It's almost forming a slot canyon like what you'd see way down south. I'm going to have to hike up there. I don't think I'm going to do it today, but tomorrow I'm definitely going to pack a little day bag and hike in. I have no clue really where it is, so I'm probably going to have to use my GPS as well as the drone. I'm going to have to put the drone up a couple times and kind of scout out the area as I'm making my way through the bush. There's going to be quite a few little climbs and no trail at all, so it's going to be a mission. I've got my fishing rod in one hand and I'm frying up bacon with the other. Last night when I was paddling around the lake looking for a potential spot to camp, I found over in that little bay over there, there's a whole bunch of downed trees and they're all creating a whole bunch of structure in the water. And that is prime habitat for any fish, but especially smallmouth bass. They love kind of just hanging around structure. It gives them a place to hide. It's also where their food, aka minnows and frogs and stuff, that's where they like to hide as well. So it's just an excellent habitat and I'm going to go see if I can't catch a fish there. Oh man, the shelter looks so cool from here. I love the look of the A-frame with the hammock inside it. What a beauty spot. Okay, I think I'm going to start out a good distance away from this fishing spot and launch a few casts in there so that I don't spook anything. If you get too close you might just scare all the fish away. Let's see what I can do here. Since we're into October now and the air and the water, everything's getting a little bit colder, all the fish are starting to slow down a little bit, so I really have to slow down my approach. And kind of just let the lure sit there and do its thing. The fish are lazy this time of year. They just want to stare at it and make sure it's an easy meal before they chase it. Here we go. Oh! Okay, come on baby, come on. Oh, this is a nicer one. Yes! It feels good to get on the board. Again, it's not a big fish at all. Right on it. Thanks dude. Oh! This might be the spot. Yep. I don't know what's going on, I can't keep him hooked. Good to know they're in here though. There he is again. Oh, that was a big one. That was a big one. Come on. Come on baby. There it is. Yes! Oh, this feels nice. This one feels nice. Oh! I'm snagged. Yeah, it feels huge. It's literally like a chunk of planet Earth. Here we go. I think this one's a bit bigger. Oh yeah, that's a nice fish. Not a monster again, but kind of a football. Nice, thanks buddy. Just rocking a small tube jig. Seems to be working okay. I haven't figured out these fish yet. I just dropped my camera in the water. So I've got it drying out here. I've opened up all the compartments, like SD card slot, the battery. I don't know if there's much more I can do. There is a ton of moisture and condensation built up on the inside of the lens. Alright, I've got everything drying out in the sun. There's nothing more I can do. I'm going to drive myself crazy just staring at it waiting for it to dry. I think I'm just going to head back out fishing. I'm not going to be able to film much, but if I catch anything memorable, I'll whip my phone out and take a little video or something. I don't know. Oh, that sucks. Seem to have found the fish here. I'm running low on storage on my phone, so I'm not able to... Alright, so I've managed to free up a bunch of space on my phone here, so at least I can capture what's going on. I'm just sitting here. It's the next day, I'm just munching on some chili. I'm just kind of been hanging out monitoring my camera here. I've got my lens in a bag of rice. This is the little bit of rice that I have left. That's okay, I brought enough food that I'm able to sacrifice that rice. I've got my camera body just sitting out in the sunshine here. I don't know if this is good or bad for the camera. The smart thing would have been to just go home, go straight home yesterday as soon as I dunk the camera, but I really, really, really still want to go see that big crack in the side of the cliff that I saw on the drone yesterday. This is not a very well-known area that I'm in right now, and I'm not going to claim that I discovered this crack, but I don't think too many people know about it. Anyways, I am going to do some hiking today. I will capture everything on my phone. Luckily, the drone still works. That didn't go in the water. I'm definitely going to be filming some drone shots around that area. It looks so cool. I will catch you while I'm hiking. I'm on top of a huge school of smallies here. Watch this, every drop I'm getting one. Let's see, come on. Watch, now the camera's rolling. They're not going to go after it. No, I'm not going to catch one on camera. There's no way. Right on. I finally just caught a big one. Yes. That is a beauty. Look at the belly on her. Awesome. Got another nice one here. I love how crystal clear this water is. You can see them perfectly. All right, I'm going to land this guy. Not quite as big as the last one, but I'll take it. Got another pretty decent one on here. Oh, yeah. It's a bit smaller than I thought. Not bad. Anyone who's ever seen my YouTube channel knows how much time I like to spend fishing. And that I'm always rushing against daylight. And I really want to do this hike. But, yeah, it's getting late in the day. And this terrain is absolutely bonkers. It's just straight up. You can't even really tell on camera. This is nuts. This is just the beginning. This is what I'm most worried about. Is just getting cliffed out. And not being able to get past. I'm not climbing stuff like that, right? So, I'll have to go around it. Like I said, don't have tons of time. Holy crap. This terrain is insane. I so badly wish I had my good camera. Oh, sorry. I'm going to stop walking. This is gnarly. This is tough to do a justice of how crazy this hiking is. Okay. I've made it to the top of a hill. Some of the most insane hiking I've ever done. I can't even catch my breath. But look at this view. Okay, I got to keep going. Okay, so I just put the drone up to do some scouting around the area. And it turns out I'm much closer than I thought I was. I just have to get over this mini mountain. And unfortunately, unlike the drone, I can't fly. I have to go down the mountain that I'm on. And kind of in and out of valleys. I keep calling them mountains. I'm in Ontario for crying out loud. They're good enough. They're like cliff faces that if I fell off of, I would certainly die. That's what I'm going to go with. Just made it down into this little hardwood valley. And it is such a treat to be walking on this flat ground. I've been going uphill for like a good 45 minutes. And this is just much easier. Even though I'm making all kinds of noise talking to the camera, I'm keeping my eyes peeled for deer. I feel like in these hardwood valleys, that's where they mainly hang out. Especially this time of year. They're fattening up with all the acorns and walnuts, etc. Deer, they have no reason to be on top of these big quartzite cliffs. So I assume they kind of get funneled into these valleys. Holy crap. This area is nuts. I'm being super, super careful walking across this section. Because some of these big boulders are super loose. If I get my foot caught under a 200 pound boulder, there's no way I'm moving it. Let alone triggering a rock slide or something. I don't know. I've made it. This is insane. I'm not there yet. Almost fell on my face. Wow. This is spectacular. Whoa. The audio is just so wild in here. Sorry. Wow. That's like... I don't even know what to say. Okay. I have now ripped my tarp. I've dunked my camera in the water. And third time's the charm. Just crashed my drone in this canyon. Oh man. How we doing baby? How we doing? Oh my god. Is this thing fully intact? Oh my goodness. Gimbal looks like it's still working. I don't know whether or not to be relieved yet. See if it flies. At least there's no arms broken off or anything. That's a win. That's a huge win. Hey Mr. Porcupine. What's up buddy? Dude's flying like six feet above me. Give me a break. Found another little canyon in here. This one's a bit smaller. Much tighter. Feeling a little bit claustrophobic going through this one. Wow. So cool though. I'm checking for rocks above my head because one of my favorite movies, believe it or not, is 127 Hours. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. Super cool rock here. I wish I knew literally anything about geology or rocks or minerals. Not sure what's going on here, but it looks cool. Okay, I made it back to the lake. My canoe is still here. Nothing messed with my food. And I've decided that if I can catch a nice enough bass, I'm just going to cook it up for dinner. That's what I'll do for a meal tonight. Wish me luck. Alright. Just caught myself a perfect eater. This is probably around the 14 or 15 inch range. That's going to go in the pan just perfectly. Nice. Okay, I'm going to take him out here and probably start making my way back to camp. Just got one more here. But I'm going to let this guy go. I've got more than enough. Look at that pretty sky. Mmm. Listen to that crunch. Mmm. So good. Tonight is supposed to be the best night to see the northern lights. It's a super clear sky right now. So I'm thinking about waking up at like midnight. It's about 9 p.m. right now. I'm thinking about waking up at midnight and then staying up for a couple hours to see if they come out. But at like 2 a.m., there's going to be a massive storm sweeping across Ontario. It's like, it's kind of the outskirts of hurricanes that are currently hitting Florida. And there's supposed to be like 20 millimeters of rain in two hours from like 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. So I'm like, do I even bother waking up? If the northern lights are out, it might just be cloudy. It might just be storming. But we'll see. I think I'm still going to wake up because I live in the city and I don't always get to see a clear sky. So it's going to be worth the risk. I made my way into the hammock here and the wind is already starting to pick up pretty good. I'm actually excited for this. There's something special about being all cozy in the hammock, knowing that I'm going to stay dry as long as my tarp holds out. But this is a good tarp, so it will. But I love it when there's like just terrible weather, but I'm all like protected and cozy. There's something about it. I think that's it for me. I bet you my hair is terrible right now. But yeah, I'll either catch you in the morning or catch you at 2 a.m. looking at some beautiful northern lights. Good night. It is 4.30 in the morning. I have not slept at all. This wind has just been crazy. It's actually starting to thunder and lightning now. And I'm sure the rain is going to be here in no time. But the wind has just been pushing my tarp all over the place. I've had to readjust it a hundred times. And yeah, I'm just feeling a little exposed now. I knew it was going to be some heavy rain, but I wasn't expecting the high winds and thunder and lightning. Anyways, I'll keep you updated. Okay, so that storm has passed. It is a gorgeous day now. It's still a little bit breezy, but that's okay. I'm almost packed up here. And yeah, I'm just going to hit the road. Well, I have to hit the portage and then the lake first. So I've still got quite the day ahead of me. I'm heading home. Camp is all packed up. Just beautiful out today. That's usually the case. It's usually super beautiful the day you're leaving. So it keeps you coming back for more. Yeah.