Solo Camping on a Recursive Island for 5 Days

Today I'm headed for what's known as a recursive island. An island on a lake, within the island of another lake. These so called nested islands are fairly rare, requiring some pretty unique geography to make them possible. To get there I'll need to paddle 30km to island number 1, carry my gear at least a mile on an unknown trail, and then find a good camp to fish and explore from. This trip begins at the mouth of the Nippican River. Not only is it the largest river flowing into Lake Superior, but there are huge cliffs, tons of bird life, and an impressive pictograph site. But there's a long way to go today, so I've got to keep her going. My goal for today is to come out through the Nippican River, out onto Lagrange Island and Vert Island, and perhaps camp there, but if conditions permit, even make the crossing over to St. Ignace Island, where my real objective lies. I'm well into Nippican Bay now, and suited up for some open water crossings. I'm about to head off of Hughes Point, there are some tiny islands. I'm going to cut over from there to Lagrange. Looks like there are a bunch of cormorants, gulls, and pelicans on Jossie Island there. Pelicans do come here, but they always seem like an exotic species to me, especially in the boreal forests, they seem out of place. Coming up to Lagrange now, and even on a drab day like today, the scenery continues to delight. Now before I go any further, there's something important I want to talk about. A few months ago, my life was changed forever. Erin's sister, Kes, was coming over, and she brought some snacks. One of them was dill pickle hummus, and my life has never been the same since. As far as healthy snacks go, it's a delight. Get some good crackers, some veggies, you're in heaven. At the northeast corner of Lagrange now, heading over to Vert, and then tomorrow I'll do the 5km crossing over to St. Ignace, my destination. That 5km crossing should be fun in the morning based on the forecast. A couple of really nice eagle sightings as I carry down Vert Island. A block of cedar waxwings here. What a day on the water. I'm hoping to wrap it up soon though, coming up to 25km and nearing the end of the island. So I just got to the south end of the island at MacKinnon Point, and there's really been nothing hospitable for a campsite. It's glass calm right now, I think I'll just take the chance to make the crossing now. It feels perfectly safe, rather than try and do it at first light and hope nothing kicks up. Seems like this is the play right now. I'm going to head directly across to Cape Nano, and hopefully there's going to be a decent spot to set up camp there. Almost across to Cape Nano, and it looks like there's a respectable little strip of shoreline there to camp on. Let's check it out. Not too shabby here. Panoramic view, pebble beach all to myself, I'm going to get this dry suit off, get dinner going, and get comfortable here. A stiff breeze has kicked up in the end, but it doesn't matter now, it's time for dinner. Well, it was time for dinner a couple hours ago, it's time to eat now. A couple of black bean quesadillas on the way, with all kinds of toppings, including another culinary delight for the day, coconut based sour cream. It's just delicious, we love it on nachos at home, on anything, it's so good. Got guacamole, sour cream, sriracha, and some green onion and tomato. This is way too much food, but got to eat it now. Losing the sun there behind the clouds, but still a pretty impressive sunset. I'm going to get a little spot leveled out there for the tent, and have a look at the map. So here's the rest of this nautical chart, I am around there on St. Ignace Island, second largest island on Lake Superior, so large that it has massive lakes that even have islands within them. So I came in on the Nipigon River, across and down to there, tomorrow I just have a little paddle to this area where I want to look for a trail. I think one exists, but I have no idea where it is, so hopefully it's self evident, and then my goal is to get into McEachin Lake here, looks like a gem, with these big cliffs beside it, I was looking at them from afar today on the water, you can see them standing up there. So that was a big first day in the end, over 30km, so I'm out of gas, going to hit the hay and be up very early tomorrow. Back on my way for day 2, on the water just after 6, got the Swainson's Thrush calling, calm conditions still, it's going to kick up soon, I'm going to let it go, going to cruise along the shoreline while I eat, and look for this trail, hopefully see some sign of it. I haven't seen any sign of a trail yet, but just arrived at a beach which lies pretty much due north above the lake, which would be the shortest distance to the lake, so hopefully something is going to turn up here. On satellite I could see a couple of structures, some sort of little camp around here, but I didn't see any trails on satellite, a camp location is probably my best lead, well here's the first sign of anything that could be a trail, I'm going to check this out, ok, hopefully this is it, that looks good, some old relics kicking around too. The question now is whether this is going to go to the lake, or it's just some random other trail. You would think this would be it, but it could be a trail to somewhere else, so I'll scout it for a bit and make sure it's going in the right direction first. That's an interesting one, old forestry relic I assume. So it's a great trail so far, but it looks like it might be angling off to the west to Antler Lake, which also looks very interesting, and it's on the other side of that big ridge, hopefully it's going to fork back to McEachin Lake at some point. Here's exactly what I was hoping for, this fork's back in the right direction, so I think I'll go back now, and at least get one load, and then take that over. So it was a kilometre to the fork in the trail, which got me about a third of the way to the lake, so this is going to be a long carry, and I'm going to get a little aerial scout in as well. Usually it's pretty hard to make anything out with the boreal forest, it's just such a tangle, but it's worth a shot. As expected, it's pretty hard to make anything out through the canopy, I can see what looks like a canoe cached at a pond, so I'm guessing there's going to be a brief paddle across that pond, and then hopefully the trail continues after that. Anyway, I'm going to take one load across, I've got the dewy tent drying out, I'm going to stash it in that green bag along with my drysuit, which I won't need until I get back here, and just stash that in the bush somewhere, lighten the load a little bit, got a hammock for the other end. All saddled up here for the first load, second load's going to be canoe and food barrel. Back to the fork, let's hope this leads somewhere good. Here's that pond that I saw from the air, the canoe, and I guess I'll stop here and get my next load. It's pretty banged up. I can't believe the condition of this trail though, I haven't had to use my saw once. Back to the start, cache that bag there, be back for it in a few days. Wind is starting to kick up on the big lake, good time to be heading inland. Okay, the pond's about half way, let's hope there's a trail at the other side of this to continue it. Pretty nice little pond, and I wonder if there are trout in here, and on the next lake. I'm hoping it's a lake trout lake, looks like the trail continues ahead. Smooth sailing ahead, dreamy trail, and I wonder if this was left here, or recently shed. It is a beauty. I think this was shed here, and hasn't been found yet. That's gorgeous. It can't have been here for too long, because rodents chew on it for calcium I think. Oh that's nice, oh I can see the clearing of the lake ahead. When you try to get into lakes like this, sometimes it's worth it, and sometimes it's not. Let's see what we got here, not much of a view yet. On the home stretch here with the second load, tons of moose tracks. Alright, glad that's behind me, and can't wait to get around the corner for a look. Well it's a gorgeous lake, the only thing it's got going against it is the scenery on the other end of the portage where it came from is even better, and the fishing over there can be fantastic too. I'm eager to find out how it is here, but first I've got to make camp. I'm going to try and find something on the east side of the lake so I can have a view of the ridge. The lake opens up a bit here. Coming up to that island, I was hoping to camp here, have a look. Looks a bit scrubby, especially because I've got the hammock now, and I need some decent trees to hang from, but I'll give it a good look. I haven't had any other real options so far. Actually some decent trees in here, I think this should work. There's some exposed rock which is nice, but the birds like it so it's a little pooped up and mucky. So I just made a little bridge here to get out just a bit cleaner water, just to clear. With that done I can finally get my boots off, I'm breaking in some new ones, and my feet are not happy. Oh yeah. This is the best spot for the hammock, it's going to take some clearing though. That's more like it. Pull up the backrest in here, this is my ultralight drama, so you can even see through the material. It's pretty awesome. And it has this bug screen, it's my favourite bug material, it's just really tough and fine, nothing you can get through, it zips around the outside. My god that's comfortable. Well I conked out there for a while, the wind is up so it's not a good time to be in the canoe anyway. Tomorrow will be my fishing day here, and it's time to get some food going. Non-calzones on the way tonight, red onion, bacon bits, sriracha, and barbeque sauce. Well it feels good to be settled in here, it's a stunning lake, I'm on an island, on a lake, on an island on a lake, which is pretty cool, got a bunch of stick fuel ready for tomorrow for breakfast, and hopefully a shore lunch not too long after that. Taking a little evening stroll around the island, pretty cool spot, moose poop all over the place too. Maybe a cow came here to calve. A flock of swans has arrived. Ah, sunshine at last, 4 degrees this morning, so it feels good, getting some falafel going. A young beaver has arrived for breakfast, good morning, hi, that's so close, that's amazing. Falafel, crispy jalapeno pieces, crispy onion, some of that dill hummus, tomato and sriracha, it should be delicious. Falafel is just seasoned chickpea flour, and it's become an instant staple this season on canoe trips. Mmm. Well that was a delicious breakfast, and a beautiful start to day 3, that cold north wind is kicking up again, so I better get out there and get some fishing in before it gets too windy. So yesterday I only paddled about a quarter of the shoreline of this big lake, and then ended up on that island, roughly in the middle, I'm going to head back up the lake a little to where it narrows, and then drift down along the ridge, and make a loop back. Took no time to get the first bite, it was small, I'm just really curious what species it is. Ah, it's a little pike. Surprise, surprise. Pop that off here. Cute. So I'm back to where the lake narrows, and I'll start a drift here, and start with a white tube jig. Great for lake trout. Oh, I think there's a moose swimming across the lake. Yup. That's awesome. All the animals seem to really like it here. What a great start to the day. Another fish on, and another pike. Yup. Shucks. So, here's a good way to handle a fish. Get it into a rubberized basket net, keep it in the water. It's a single barbless hook, so it already fell out. As soon as you release tension, it often will. I've got my extraction tools ready, namely long nose pliers, if I need them. My Vulcan stick, handy if I want to dispatch the fish and keep it, just to put it out of its misery. And if I want to handle the fish for a photo, get my hands really good and wet so it doesn't rub the slime off of it, grab it under the belly, knot in the gills, quick show, and release. That's it. Another small pike just hit the boat, and it has my leader in its mouth, so I'm going to net it. Yup, he really gorped it, but cleanly, not bleeding at all. Thank you. Another pike. Oh, actually hooked in the belly. Give it some slack, try and let it come off. It's actually legal to keep fish that aren't hooked in the mouth, even if it was an accident, because that's just how people snag fish, right? And that's not cool. Thank you. Well, I'm only finding small pike here along the shoreline. It's still early in the season, when trout can still be found shallow, but that's not happening, so I'm going to try a little deeper. Well, that immediately got a fish. Pull up, keep tension, reel down, pull up, and it's another pike. Small pike. If it was a decent sized pike, I would keep it, but the small ones are just full of bones. Thank you. Well, maybe this isn't a trout lake at all. Is that a perch? Look at this. There's a perch in here, and it went for this lure that's almost its size. Hand nice and wet. Wow. Thanks, buddy. Little bites for a little while now. Coming up to the south end of the lake. So the lake drains here down the Brook River out to the open lake on the south shore of St. Ignace, and it's not a significant river, it's short. Paddle down it for a bit. I could hear this little waterfall from afar and couldn't resist checking it out. Also, I was curious if there was a fishable pool beneath it, but it's super shallow and it's just a tangle in here, so it wouldn't be easy to make a cast. Nice to see, though. Well, I could see at home on my satellite scout that there was a small camp here at the south end, too. Some lucky person has this lake all to themselves, but not easy to get to. Another moose cow this time. It's really hard to use this lens when the canoe is bouncing up and down on the water, so I just tucked in to shore so I can get some decent shots of her. She is chowing down on these aquatic weeds. Oh, there's another one! The two moose here! No way, that's three for the day! Oh, and it's another bull. The funny thing is, the camp right over there, I'm pretty sure, is a moose hunt camp. They've got some stuff for hanging moose to bleed them out after they've been killed. Wow. I would bet that every time that cow goes down, she comes up with like three pounds of weeds and just downs it. I can't imagine, she's probably going to eat like 30 pounds of weeds right now. Looks like the bull is getting in on the action, too. Well, I sat here and had a good watch. I'm going to move on. That was fantastic. You're okay. Keep eating. I wouldn't come back around this camp in fall, though. Oh my goodness, there's a third one over there now, behind the first cow. That's another bull. That is incredible. Three moose in one spot. Uh-oh. Other bulls coming right to me. That's not a good feeling. You're okay. I'm leaving. They're huge animals. The other two are just chilling. Oh, this is amazing. Well, I got to enjoy the wind on the way down. I'm going to have to fight it now. Well, that wind got pretty nasty. It was a battle to get back up the lake. It's a relief to be back at the camp. Fishing is on pause for now, but I've got a hammock and a book, and I'm on an island on another island. So, that's not too bad. Well, the wind kept up, and with no fish, just doing mac and cheese for dinner. As beautiful as this lake is, tomorrow I'm going to head back out to Nipigon Bay and enjoy that scenery. And in the bay, there's every species of freshwater fish imaginable. So, I'm going to give that a try, too. It's about 5 a.m., and I just woke up to a grunting sound. There's a moose very close. Right across the bay. Well, I lost the moose somewhere in the mist. I can still hear it once in a while. Friendly little beavers back. What a morning to be alive. The stick stove is rocking with coffee on the way. And I like a good hefty stick stove like this, not little tiny ones. I can cut these bigger pieces, and that'll anchor it for quite a while. Make some coals. What a morning. This is joyful. It continues to be a cold spring. It was just about freezing last night. But that's keeping the bugs at bay, too. Two years ago, Aaron and I were on the side of Nipigon Bay, and the bugs were just off the chain. Same time of year. This is peak bug season. Must be a huge relief for the moose, too. I'm curious how deep this lake is. And a little trick. If it's calm and you can let your lure fall straight to the bottom, and you know how much line each rotation of your spool brings in, in this case, it's 35 inches. Let's call it 3 feet. Then I can count the number of rotations to the surface and get a height measurement. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. So only about 27 feet. Might not be that deep of a lake after all. Almost back to the trail. It's feeling a lot harder to move on now that the lake's glass like this. Hopefully it's going to be glass on the other end, too. Fishing was nothing special in here in the end, for me. But everything else was incredible. Hidden little waterfall, bird life, and all those moose. An island on an island. Completely worthwhile. Alright, back to the trail. I couldn't bring myself to leave it. I've been thinking about it the last two nights. It's just the most perfect antler I've ever seen. On to the second leg of the trail. All these carries feel like a breeze compared to day two. For one, I'm going down 200 feet in elevation instead of up. It was never steep, but you can certainly feel the difference. Two, my new boots feel much less painful today. And three, most of all, I know where I'm going. No scouting or anything like that. Oh yeah. That's good to see. Got my little gear cache. Well, conditions are looking great for a crossing. I'm going to get my dry suit on and gun it back to MacKinnon Point, five and a half kilometers from here. Looks like it'll be a good day for it. Oh, that was awesome. It feels really good to be done with those trails. Back on the bay. Let's hope conditions hold on here. Need about an hour. This is actually a pretty shallow area for Lake Superior. The depths here on the nautical chart are marked in fathoms and feet. So the big number is fathoms, and each one is six feet. So three, three is six times three, plus three, so 21 feet. What was without saying, there's a lot of risk to doing open water crossings in Superior, especially in an open canoe. So I highly recommend never doing it. I've got the right gear, and just as important, plenty of experience that builds up to this. Don't recommend it. Home stretch. Final kilometer. Ah, here at last. I'm going to take a quick break with some peanut butter and honey wraps, and then continue on the outside of Vert Island. Based on the contour lines, it looks like it should be pretty scenic. Beautiful red rock here. Hence the town of Red Rock in the corner of the bay. Yeah, it sure is beautiful in here. That moose woke me up very early this morning, so I'm starting to look for camp. This section is quite a beautiful paddle. It's hard to do it much justice because it's all backlit right now. But there are all these multi-level stones. They're like staircases leading right up onto the island. Beautiful. Might be some possibilities for camping here. It's good work. Yeah, I think I'll take it. Incredible sunset view. Good water access. There's a bench there from an old 8x8 or something like that. And there is like an abandoned... I assume abandoned cabin back there. It was randomly turned up here. You can't see it on the topo map or a satellite or anything. Unless it's like a secret grow-op. This place is creeping me out. It's pretty sus, really. No door, all sealed up. Based on the lichen growing on it, I'm pretty sure it's abandoned, so it should be fair game. And just look at that rock. There are a million skipping stones here, too. Not too shabby here. Well, I got a little bit sunbaked today, so a fire didn't sound too appealing. Just had granola and an electrolyte tab for dinner. There was a sad little fire pit and a grill here, so I just rebuilt that a little bit. Fire ready to light in the morning. And it's supposed to be close to freezing tomorrow morning, so that'll be nice. What a view. What scenery on this trip. Loving it. So today I came out from a kitchen across to Rhode Island around this side. And I'm camped around there. Another beauty out here to start day five. Calm conditions, great for paddling. Just made up some falafel. Tomatoes or dill hummus this time, but it'll still be good. And then I'm getting on my way. Well, that was a great camp. Probably my favourite of the trip. Jeez, quite the lake. Crossing over to La Grange Island and do something on. I can almost guarantee it's a trout based on the way it's rolling. What is it? Oh my goodness, it is not! It's a whitefish! I have never caught a whitefish rolling, nor on anything other than a jig, I don't think. They're beautiful fish. Covered in silver scales. The scales fall off if you handle them roughly. Thank you. Back to La Grange, and this time I'm going to go around the south shore of it and make a figure eight of these islands. Looks like an old dock here. There are relics all over the place, some superior from commercial activity in the past, namely fishing, logging, shipping, and mining. Well, I was seeing my rod tip dip back and I thought I was tapping bottom with my crankbait. I got the lure back to the boat and there was a coaster there. It nipped at my lure but didn't get it. Coasters are huge brook trout that are renowned in this area, in Nippican Bay in particular, Nippican River. In fact, the world record brook trout was caught at the Nippican River about 110 years ago. 14 plus pounds. This one was probably four pounds, which is enormous for a brook trout anywhere else. Oh, it was beautiful. Beach of a day, isn't it, boy? You having any luck? Oh, nice. I had a coaster follow to the boat but I didn't catch it because I'm a pathetic loser. Yeah, I should be executed. Okay, tight lines. Crossed over back to the mainland. It's chopping up a bit. I'll be turning the corner into the mountain of the Nippican River soon. That's the beautiful little town of Red Rock on the far shore and to the right the Nippican River. Well, I got to see them on the way in but to get to see them with the light shining on them is even better. It really brings out the colour. Orange is a lichenized fungus called Xanthoria. It starts with an X and it's perfectly natural. Well, I couldn't have scripted a much better trip if I tried. Perfect conditions. The weather, the bugs, even the trail conditions into McEachin where I got to camp on an island. On an island. Saw tons of wildlife. The four moose, beavers, pelicans, eagles galore. Even get to take a big moose souvenir home. That flawless antler. And next winter when I'm wanderlusting over all the lakes on the map, I've got one fewer to obsess over. Only about 250,000 left to go in Ontario alone.