I CUT ALL MY LONG HAIR OFF WITH A BELT KNIFE

I want to cut my hair off right now. It was a lot tougher than I had thought. When they said cut it off. I wasn't playing. I meant to. 是的。 It's showing up right. Is very close. Nice day, I can't see any smoke that way anymore. So. Seems good to me, and I can't smell any. Probably not. No concern. Probably. We're getting a little better every day, you know. Not burnt this time at all. Nice, nice. Scissor. Scissor. Oh, chocolate chips. Look at the chocolate chips. Oh my God. I'm hoping by the end I can put some blueberries in one, so I'm definitely saving one for the end. Oh boy, with his own little dipping pool. Feel like I'm donning my battle gear at this point. Whenever I put this rhino skin on. As much as I don't like taking it off and putting it back on, I do really, really like. The protection it gives. Uh, my body's not beat up at all. My just my face, and they do actually have a hood. I'm tucking everything right in. Sometimes even into my boxers. Depending on how bad it is, so that my shirt doesn't ride up, and they don't come in my small my back. I do have a couple. I do have a couple. Wow, but next morning, I'm gonna take today as it goes. With all like the uncertainty, mainly that I built up in my own head last night about the. Fire and wanting to be on big lakes and. Maybe not sticking around here too off too too too much. Get making some distance. Two. No smoke today. Feeling good. No worry on the in reach. Today is today marks. The longest date I've ever been out by myself for. 12-day solo trip like four years ago here in Wabakimi. I got picked up on the twelfth day around noon, and today is the twelfth day. So today marks an anniversary for me. Sounds like a portage. I think I'm finally back on the track that Kyle and I were on a month ago. I'll be on that same track up until. Uh, later on today or tomorrow. And he provides things. Keep happening to me like this. Keep happening to me like this. My backpack was found the other day that I lost in Thunder Bay. I think I told you guys that. If not, well, my last trip with Kyle. And look what I just found at the end of this portage. You're not going to believe it. A pair of sunglasses. What did I lose and have been dreading and been missing and needing, sunglasses? And they're right here. Right here, like this, blew up and everything, so I could see them perfectly. What? How about it? Are they me? I don't care. They're Polaroid. They're polarized, Polaroid. They even come with a lanyard that I'm going to affix to it. Better, so I don't lose them as well. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. There's a couple very unusual things that happened just there. And disregard me if you don't care, but. I want a relationship with God. I've been trying my whole life, basically. I never really got it. I'm starting to, and he's showing me things every now and then. Maybe just take his happenstance before, but like literally right. I'm already struggling today a bit because Isaac, in the morning, writing about him and stuff. And. I've had experiences these past couple trips with yellow butterflies, and just did meaning something to me. Too much to talk about, but anyways. I haven't seen any in a while. Maybe first day of this trip, and it's like day twelve. I need a little, little pick me up, a little. Little boost here, and I'm like, God, like. Send me something so that I know I'm not alone. Like I'm talking to Isaac too. Like I don't know if that's sacrilegious or whatever. I am Isaac or Jesus, come be with me. Or send something to show me that I'm just not alone. I feel feel alone today. And. Yeah. To that portage, which I wouldn't have done normally. There's two, there's two right next to each other. One says maybe line. One is a definite portage. You you know me. I would 99% of the time take the the maybe line one to save me myself some portaging. I just didn't. I was like, screw it. I'll just go do the portage. It's not like me. And if I wouldn't have done that portage, I wouldn't have found these glasses. You know, these were the one thing that I lost on this trip, and the one thing that I need. It's it's moved me a bit. I was born and raised with a born-again Christian mom. I know everything there is to know about the Bible. Could probably preach to preachers. Yeah, I still live the life I live, and have lived the life I've lived. But I think maybe it's time to change that. I'm not saying I'm a bad person. I just don't live the way I should live, probably. Whole life, I haven't had a dad, but maybe I really have. It's been a big contention point for me. Maybe I just haven't noticed. I have lived a really good life. I've been very blessed. I've had a lot of things. Thrown my way, I've had a lot of opportunities that I was able to capitalize on, and I didn't die when I was supposed to die. They got. They all told everybody, "That's it for me. Pack your bag, kind of thing." Prepare for the worst. Get his funeral ready. And I bounce back three weeks later, and I'm a year later. I'm on the biggest trip of my life. Busting my nuts every day. Nothing happened. Why me and not other people, though? Why me and not Isaac? You know why not? Why not other people who get the short end of the stick? I don't get it. My mom always told me God had a plan for me my whole life growing up, and it's just yeah. My mom said stuff, whatever. Starting to think she's right. Who knows what it is? I don't. Maybe it's being a fisher of men. Hey, mom. Anyways, I'll stop now. Until I'm until I'm sure myself, I'm not gonna preach at you. I'm not trying to be holier than thou by any means. Don't look at me as a Christian man example way to live. That's for damn sure. For damn sure. I'm just using a spoon, a little Cleo that I had on previously. Let's see what happens. I haven't taken my rods from their places on the boat in. Three days. First cast. Oh, I lost him. Some good fish in here. Hey, Kyle. We didn't do very good on our trip, as I was saying. Hiking guy, my second cast, second fish. So we'll see what it is. I think it's a walleye this time. Feels different. Little tiny tiny tiny, the smallest guy, ever. I'm going to obviously let him go, and I'm going to get on my way. And. Yeah, that's cool. Two casts, two fish. I'm good for that. Even though they're not right home about. I wasn't keeping them, anyways. I'm traveling a little bit. I think I am going to stop at this campsite I have marked on my GPS up here from last time. We didn't stay there, and I'd like to. So we'll have to pull out before the end of this river. We'll put into a stretch and not go down the waterfall. That's the best case scenario. Oh, I can hear it way down there. You can see and hear a drop right there too. So I'm going to look for my exit anywhere now. Kind of dicey getting over to it. I think it's right there. Makes sense now. Starting to all become familiar a little bit, just a little though. According to my GPS, that's that site is right up here. There's a waterfall coming right behind me, or rapids rather. It looks like there's others around them, and this like. Open pool part, it's kind of tight as far as bugs. Not very big and breezy, but. I'm gonna go check out the campsite, get a reminder of it, and make my decision. Then, it's only. Eleven, eleven. So that. Kind of deters me from stopping a little bit, but I do have the time. So let's see. Well, folks, that tiny little nothing island is what I have marked as a beauty camp spot and an amazing fishing area. There is a camp spot up there, but it's a very tiny island. It would be very buggy. I do have another thing marked on my map, or my GPS rather. A couple, uh, clicks down that says. spectacular area and crazy walleye deep at waterfall. And the crazy walleye deep at waterfall one it matches up with a campsite on my map that Bruce wrote as good. So I think I'm actually going to go down to that one instead. This area is beautiful. Rocky and tight. So I like it. Can I just run this? I'm just gonna run this. I'm running this. I'm running this. Thread the needle through these guys. Look at this! Look at this, guys! Look at this! Not one. Not three channels coming in from different rapids. It is three, but three channels coming in from different rapids. This looks, oh my! I want to camp here. This is this is the spot I'm camping. I'm finding a spot close to here. And that's it. I'm posting up. This is epic. This is freaking wild. Update! Couldn't finally spot the camp there. It's all rocky and jagged. So now I'm doing one more puttage over to hopefully the campsite. I want to fish the bottom of this waterfall. This is where I had that crazy big water walleye last year, last month. And I will keep that fish I get. I will get a fish. I'll keep it until the next camp and eat it up. No, there goes some. Good old boys from Mississippi. Every time I'm up here, the only people I see are American. Which is awesome. Like Canada, we got all this right in our backyard, yo. You know, come on over. Anyways, good group of guys. First people I've seen in. Quite some time. They were fishing. I'm getting onto a big lake now that has a lodge on it, and this this waterfall is a popular spot for fishing for them. They left. I'm gonna fish now. I was tying up my jig the whole time, so here we go. Gechi sun, they said. Gechi sun, I'd love to be out there for three weeks. Say, well sir. I am ready to see my kids. To be honest with you, you married. You got a good wife, yes sir. I'm not trying to make fun of him by any means. I like, I like. Quite a bit, and I told him that. I cannot catch a fish here to save my life. I got the song 1994 by Stephen Wilson Jr. playing in my head right now. Normally, songs do play in my head all the time up here. That is the one to come on. Go check it out. I promise you won't hate it. Paddling past an old burn here. I ended up stopping and eating a sandwich. I still had some meat left, so I figured. Can't be bad to get that done, anyways. No fish for me. Maybe tonight. Maybe not at all today. That'll be four days without fish. I'll put the effort in tomorrow if that's the case. Beautiful in its own way, just like this guy. Coming out to a big lake here. I'm on it just to be fishing. Islands that create some nice dead water for me. Coming up for some wind. Wind in Waikiki. I said, let's do it by ear, and we did it by ear. Completely, made a decision today. I was gonna go down the east channel of a big, big lake, going north to south, through a highway through through the park. That's how I think of it. You have to take it to get where you want. It's very windy. Not that most pleasant of a paddle all the time. It can be. I decided to. Take the West Channel. Just as windy, but I didn't have to pass. West to east, up at the top. To get there, and that would have added time and distance and. I would put. It's been a long day. I started at what nine at the latest. It had to be five. So now I'm off the map. I don't have this part of the map. Anyways, that was my point. I do have it on my GPS. I mean GPS doesn't tell me where the campsites are, the porches are, where the rapids are, all that stuff. The maps do. But that's fine. I've been here a couple times now, and I feel pretty confident. Some soft moss there. To my home. My front awning that allows me to have ventilation and will protect my. Stuff from the rain. Have my screen door, no bugs inside. Sometimes. Good morning. 7 a.m. I had the worst sleep that I've had this whole trip. I don't know why. I realize it's raining. In the middle of the night, had to shut my tent up and stuff. Anyway. I very well may be staying here today. I don't feel like getting up and getting wet for no reason. It's not hot, so I don't mind just laying in the tent. What a day for a rest day, though. Just let rest day in a spot that I didn't even know was here. But it's all good. It's a decent spot to have a flat lay. This is better. Better than the world class site the other day. Anyway, so. I'm gonna start my ass some writin. How's my face looking? Any better? I haven't looked at it yet. My camera is not shattering, so. That's how the hat's doing. Things on six percent left now. All I need is my phone and my InReach. My GoPro is almost done, but I still have five batteries for the big camera. I've just been doing a lot of moving, and I don't want the big camera out while I'm moving. But for this next last week or so. I don't have to move a lot. I don't have to move a lot each day. I can post up a little bit more, and I'm just going to use my big camera. I'll still use my GoPro until my. My my three batteries have like thirty percent left or something like that each, so I still have enough. Um, it's been good. I potentially should have maybe brought a solar panel, but they're bulky and big, and I already had enough gear—a ridiculous amount of gear, more gear than I've ever brought. If I ever do something like this again, longer or this duration, maybe solar panels. Uh, in need, but we'll see, and I'll research and get the smallest one possible. I just been charging myself the stuff. Looking at the maps. I haven't written today, to be honest with you. I journaled last night. I didn't write the book last night. I journaled a lot. But I still have a lot of time and almost done, and I don't want to be done too early with. Nothing to do. So. The birds have started to sing. It doesn't seem like it's too windy out there. I think I want to make my way down to Spaghetti Island, which is a few kilometers, maybe ten kilometer down the the lake. Not even eight. And and set up there. Well, we have a lull in the weather. I've been there with Mike, so there's there's these trips that I've been on before, and I come back and I see the same things, and it's very reminiscent for me, and I like it. So that I remember them, it's I remember being there with certain people and the trip, and it's good. All right, camp's all packed down, ready to go. Check it out. I left my boots and socks out here to dry last night. You think that worked? Goodbye, impromptu, decent sight. Those bugs were already getting very bad. Not even nine, and. Oh, in Chileo and. Oh, behind my ears is all. One big mass on either side. This might be. Other than getting black fly fever, one of the worst times for bug bites for me, but it's okay. It's not really affecting me too much. So. On we go. Exercise. Turns out I just lipped them, so I let them go. I threw my deep diver in, CC shad. It's colorful on a gray day. I don't know. We'll see what's happening. We'll see what we'll see what happens. I would like a fish day or tomorrow though. I'll get one tomorrow for sure if I don't get one today. Mark my words. Trolling has not been the name of the game for me this trip. I barely have been doing it, and when I have done it, it hasn't really turned out. Which is opposite from normal. If you've ever seen any of my videos. I was trolling. I put on an orange and gold Lenny Thompson, Lenny T. I lose it. I just lose it. Oh no! I didn't. No, I didn't. Oh boy, what a. What a mind screw. Anyways, and I knew I was gonna catch something by this island, either a snag or a walleye, and I said it out loud. So this is gonna has to be a walleye. I'll take a lake trout too. I'll even take a pike, to be honest with you, but it's a fight, it's a big one, and it was out. Far. Oh boy, be a Laker, be a Laker. Because if not, that's definitely a pike. There's Lakers in this lake. Monster Pike. All right, pardon my exaggeration—not monster, but. Good size for eating, for sure. We're gonna eat this guy up today. Probably a couple times today. We're getting there. I can see Spaghetti Island in front of me, and it's not not any time too soon. I hate this lake. I really do. It's like a highway. Like I've said, it's just necessary to get one part of the park to the other, but like. It is just non-ending. Always wind against you, no matter what way you're paddling. It seems going on like four times. It's always bullshit, but I've done most of the lake with yesterday, today, and then tomorrow I have. Like another eight k. Get down it, and then off of it. But I'm certainly done already. It's only almost eleven, so we'll get there, set up, have lunch, hike lunch. Do you say something? Until it's white. No wallet. So that. Trying to conserve a bit of food now. Two pike today. That is a sign. So maybe not too hot. I'm poached. It's just about one o'clock. This is how fast I have to do things to get into my tent before the black flies get in, and then there's still. A ton that get in. I only open the bottom zipper. Throw everything in. Deal with all later, but then I still have to sit there and kill, like. Ten black flags. It seems every time, at least. If I don't, they eat me alive while I'm sleeping. I open that top one. It's just like a free for all. Sure, I'm glad I brought this tent. It's big enough to have. Everything I need in there with me to keep me comfortable. It's not hot today. It's not sunny, so it won't be a sauna in there too. Those are all on the outside, but that's what I mean. I found a treat. It's been since day eight or nine that I saw any ripe blueberries, and I've been looking. I saw lots and lots of blueberry plants. But uh, no ripe blueberries. But look at it, look at look at the score. To cut my hair. Am I still in frame? If you could see or feel or look behind my, see if you could see, if you could see or feel behind my ears. It's a mess, all black headlights. I still have a week left. Part of me thinks it's because I have my hair down when I'm wearing a hat. Hair's down, they're getting behind there, and it's all. Dank like fur for them to get in. I don't want to wear a bun when I'm wearing a hat. I want to cut my hair off right now. Which has been well over a year before I got my accident. Contemplating it, then you can kind of call it a symbolic type thing as well. Oh, people do. It's a lot tougher than I had thought. Hair is a lot tougher than I had thought. When they said cut it off. Playing. I'm answer. Holy crap! What do you think? Not so bad, eh? For a knife. It's good not having that mop up there. I'm not gonna regret it. Time to lay down. Good day. Tomorrow. We will travel. To smaller lakes. Fishier sections. Potentially more bugs. It's only about roughly a week left. I'm. I had a good point in the book. Amazing trip, life-changing even. Lots of time to reflect. Lots of time to think. I knew that was going to happen.