THE SEARCH FOR ADVENTURE, 3 NIGHTS IN THE NORTH - E1 Wild Animal Encounter TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT!

John, you might have a bug or two near you. Yeah, I noticed. I also lost my GoPro on that part, Josh. It was a good one. Yeah, it's been a rough day. They're just pelting off of me like rain. Rain that hurts. Rain that bites. Hey folks, how you doing? A real canoe trip with my buddy John from Backcountry Angling Ontario. So we're out here for a few days and we've got a pretty cool undertaking. There's a chain of lakes on the map and we're going to try to make a little bit of a loop out of them. nobody's really been back in there for as far as John knows he's familiar with the area and he's tried to get in there last year I believe it was he was able to get into the first lake so it means there's lots of trail cutting bush whacking and surprises we don't know what what's gonna be on those lakes it could be brook trout could be pike could be nothing could be uninhabitable for us we're gonna go try and find it see how it goes I like this kind of trip it's an adventure we're gonna set up one base camp maybe two base camps type thing explore from there hack out the bush from there make some portage trails and then complete the loop should be a lot of fun I'm gonna have some pretty good weather for the trip too so I'm really excited for it and look how nice that is the contours in here just blow my mind this is some wild country just beautiful it's a great day too it's it's not hot at all there's a breeze I'm all bug shirted up no bugs to bug shirted up no place to go that doesn't well that was a nice big long paddle but we're finally here at the first takeout we have to figure out which way to go if there's any kind of portage or what if I'm not mistaken this is the start of the portage you can see all from john last year and aaron clearing this through yeah she gets a little thick this is just the start of it too so we're gonna take our bags first come back for the canoes walking uphill getting to the top of the hill there's parts of this portage that aren't so bad and parts that are but like i said john and aaron cleaned this last year so this will be the easier one of all the portages oh we're halfway through our portage come across this beautiful little like mountain pond high up here really nice to see it's nice to be out in the open again for a minute bugs are in full force so it'll be nice to get to that to the lake, get on the lake for a little while, hopefully away from the bugs into the breeze getting back into here, better be some good fishing for us, which we think that there will be, and if not a little good hard work is good for you every now and then anyway uh oh well we did it John now this is uncharted territory right? we're doing probably three hours of clearing on that trail thankfully we didn't have to do that today That was no joke that port. No. Yeah, we've done a fair share of ports and it was not an easy one Oh, thank you very much for clearing that last year Those ridges you're looking at the port from the lake right and now we have this we're gonna get out onto the lake and Get into somewhat of the breeze out there and yeah explore look for the next put in for the next Piece of land we find our next lake I can't possibly begin to describe to you the joy that being on the water brings to me right now It's a it's a huge relief bugs are still kicking as you can see But when my bandana soaked in some water put that on to cool down but also do a little Beavis Cornholio type deal and Have my neck protected so I got this rhino skin on which the bugs crawl the black flies crawl up right up through your cuffs and get you got this rhino skin super tough my pants tucked into my socks It should be okay, even though there's a ton of them I prefer it. John's got the bug jacket on, which is great right now, but I just can't get too overheated. So I feel like this is the better option for me right now. We shall see how it goes. I certainly brought my bug jacket too. Look at this though. This is a beauty lake. Oh, buddy. Good signs. Again, we're hoping there's brookies in here. Look at this. Just gorgeous. John's about to pull one out while I'm filming. So I'm in this small little narrows, just checking this lake out a bit i heard i heard a what i thought was a waterfall up here but it seems to be like it's a beaver dam so we're going to check it out but this is pretty shallow water but uh john just yelled to me that he saw a couple small brookies in here so that is super promising i just want to go check out this beaver dam oh this opens up oh this opens up into a big lake over here i think cool that's super shallow where i would fish this but look at this is a two-tiered beaver dam this one and then there's another one there oh yeah that opens right up we'll have to check that out i'm going to go back and talk to john because we were originally going to go going to go the other way on the lake it's a really nice lake we're just sitting here kind of relaxing taking our time fishing and cooling down taking relief from the bugs and starting to stink let's go get back and talk to john here he comes down the pipe That was our first little beaver dam left over, and it was literally two steps behind us. Oh, there's even more minnows in this little pond. There's this one. The days of dry feet are done. Well, John caught a laker on this lake. We're surprised because the lake's not very big, but it must be quite deep. We're about done on the lake now. There's a couple options. We see a stream on the map. We can try and walk up the stream, or we can portage across land. The stream would be easier, but there might be a portage made back in the day So if there is then that would be the easier of the two So we're gonna get out of the boats right now and go check out the streams If not, we'll have to hook back around and and cut our way through the bush But yeah, we're obviously looking for the path of least resistance. Well, there's the creek I can hear it. Yeah That's pretty much impenetrable. There's absolutely no point in going that way. It would be more work I went up in the creek seems impenetrable as well. Yeah, there's really I don't think there's any benefit for this Can't be better than the north end. I don't think right and the north end offers a chance at a trail. Yeah, okay Let's try it. Yep. I heard the man back in the canoes we go head down to the lake We have a trail started here or if you find the remnants of one be good If not, we might need to post up on this lake and spend a lot of time Creating the trail because it's quite a distance to the next lake. So Ideally both of us want to get out of here and head to the next lake, but we shall see Well, we're not finding much up in here and see if I can see anything Okay, John's gonna go down check at the very end. It doesn't look promising at all. This looks like the Everglades. Are we in, Florida? Check out all the pollen in the water. Promising. It's better than no. Nice. It's a maybe. Maybe. Maybe. I'm not seeing a trail. Like, nothing is cut with a chainsaw or anything like that, but it's reasonably clear and flat. We could have a place to start, if nothing else. Yeah. I'd say let's take some saws and scout the whole way. Okay. See if it's... Because you don't want to start clearing and get in 100 meters and then you hit a wall. Of course. So... Yeah, no, that sounds great. I'll grab the saws and some snacks and some water. It goes over there up like this this definitely fell across whatever trail right like so it might cross over Oh, no, that's pretty defined Yeah, it is look at that. Well, it's probably the steepest portage I've ever been on but much to our surprise It's pretty well clear other than a few blowdowns. There's a defined trail This is not what we expected at all. So who knows it might that's what John was saying, too Do you want to blaze a trail or do you want to be the first ones in into the other lake? We might have spoken too soon. The trail just stopped. It was a defined trail and then it just stopped. So we're looking. We're looking. This is where we are. We found it again and it disappeared again. It's probably a good idea to be hiking this. Probably a good idea to be hiking this without the gear first. Okay, you want to just make our way down? This is gonna be fun to bring the canoe through. The bugs have found me. all right with that last little bit we've successfully cleared a trail all the way to the pond now this pond is certainly not our destination but uh once we get here we're kind of um into it you know what i mean we're not backing out and going to camp on the first lake so we're gonna go get our gear get back in here and then we'll have to blaze a trail again on the other side of the pond it might take off the bug shirt it's gonna be a grueling uphill yeah that's uh very steep it was hard enough doing it with no gear at all oh man we're gonna be sweating back yeah the one pink lady slipper left don't see any other color other than green everywhere those lady slippers are very pretty well we're lost again john's over there trying to reconnect the two trails i'm trying to hike back up this incline back to where we last knew where we were this is an adventure no doubt well i think we've lost each other i'm making my way back down to water bugs are crazy we cut our portage oh we brought our bags through and now the canoes but just halfway to a pond we still don't know where we're going from there no joke we're gonna actually paddle that pond because it'll save us a couple hundred meter of a portage and i'll take that man it's hot oh man you see the end of the pond we got to get our paddles wet for about two minutes but uh but we'll take it it's a break from the bugs break from hiking in the woods but now we're about to be back to that we're pretty anxious to get to the next lake which will be our campsite our camp lake at least we're gonna have to hack a campsite out but who knows maybe we'll get lucky maybe we'll get lucky and there will be a clearing or a rock we can use or maybe even a previous campsite that would be heavenly so you might have a bug or two near you yeah i noticed i also lost my GoPro on that portage it was a good one yeah it's been a rough day they're just pelting off off of me like rain rain that hurts rain that bites all right this is our last hop from the pond it's uh it was a slog getting through there like john said he lost his GoPro we we turned around quite a few times we cut a lot of trail so um yeah it's getting late too it's like seven i think now yeah it is 7:05 we gotta go uh we still have to make a camp we have to find a suitable spot on this lake for a camp and make a camp so uh firewood and all that fun stuff so we gotta go this portage it's been like half the day on this portage past eight o'clock at night now so we really really are strapped for time with the whole job of building in the camp and everything like i said but ah almost done almost done one of the most grueling portages i've ever done this rivals the woodland caribou ones with the burn going over the old burn lifting over the trees and through the puzzle and maze of trees oh this way this way here we go i can see john and the lake oh that's a good noise we done portaging i need to know that we have somewhere to sleep yeah we did the glorious glow on the lake super stoked to be here bugs are happy i'm here too so you might be asking why i'm not wearing a bug jacket like john it's just they're not biting me like on on the top or whatever i know if i do get sick from these things you guys gonna be like where was your bug jacket but they're just really not biting me uh anywhere where the jacket would cover they are pestering me and swarming and going inside my eyeballs quite often we'll get to camp and get a shelter set up and take some refuge for a minute or two this is our home i spent a couple nights here well this is cool it was cool yeah it opens up over here nice what it's the worst i looked at i thought for sure i could just skirt through not to be done oh buddy, we were two or three small islands on this lake, we're thinking to grab an island for a camp For the simple fact, it'll keep down the bugs quite a bit with the breeze But there's really no flat land or even flat-ish land at all Not a jot a good put in. Oh man, pretty thick. It's all gonna be like this everywhere There's not gonna be cleared ground anywhere. What? That's about 9:30 now. We decided on a spot Nothing is ideal. It all really is less than than ideal um but we can't wait any longer so I silly, I stupidly brought this big old tent that has a big old footprint but I could have brought my minimalist and been much better off for it but we'll see how this goes, I found the the flattest ground that's possible and it's as you can tell the farthest thing from flat that's something not ideal but we'll get her done I think well camp is made for the most part, John's doing the finishing touches on his hammock a mock hammock, my my tent has seen better days but it's alright we'll sleep we'll sleep sleep well and the fire started well, all is right in the world after this extremely extremely camping day, we're gonna go get these stakes made up, that was a full day, full day of camping canoeing and portaging camping camping camping my brain's gone to mush by now this steak is gonna go down well time much reward much much deserved this will make us feel good yes sir not cooking potatoes though the steak working out for you Jono absolutely exceptional. It's one of the best steaks I've ever had. Nice. A because I'm so hungry and tired but it's really good. Well done. Thank you. Good to hear all the words. All right we're mucking it as John says. Straight sandwich. Oh man it's like um the best thing ever. It's really really really worthwhile. Back to rule. Well we really wanted to have some nice camp life. This camp isn't really going to do it for us we hacked this out of the bush this isn't accommodating at all it's um it's very slopey very very full of shrub shrubbery and greenery and stuff like that so neither of us have the greatest uh pitch for our tent or our hammock but we had to make it work because we ran out of time we didn't get here till after nine so i think tomorrow the plan is uh john misplaced his GoPro and his hat along the way on that those crazy portages we were cutting through and everything so tomorrow he's gonna go, he's assured me he's gonna go try and find that stuff tomorrow and I think while he does that I'll maybe I'll fish around see how the lake is kind of hang out a little bit but then there is a portage into a bigger lake which which potentially would have a campsite or at least a spot that's kind of open something resembling a campsite something not the Amazon jungle, embarrassing I lost my other GoPro no you seriously, at least this one is right here, oh I'm just so tired I'm just gonna blame it on that, no I'm gonna take responsibility, it's my fault, you could always, you could always be like Joe, you're rubbing off on me, blame it on the old Joe, everybody else does where's your fire steel but uh anyways that steak went down real good, we had a beer each, we're gonna save a beer for tomorrow, um go to bed real real soon but yeah again, the next lake over tomorrow is pretty decent size, so we have high hopes what we're gonna do is just scout it out after John's done finding his two GoPros, we're gonna scout it out tomorrow and because we can't stay here we can't stay at this campsite, um that was tonight only so we'll scout out, see how it goes, but uh i think that lake is probably as far as we're gonna get and then maybe if we set up camp there we can explore from there and stuff so about to turn in any minute i'm gonna help john find his gopro here and uh yeah i'll get with you inside the tent i think bedtime pretty heavy dew in the air right now no doubt you know my bags wet over here just sitting here yeah seriously very wet John's rolling the dice tonight no tarp I'm double tarping it all right good night John oh you too man hopefully they're not about a portage well I certainly don't have the best pitch tonight I'm I didn't set this up correctly at all but it is what it is we're on a slant we're gonna we're gonna make deal make do so we're gonna prop up this side that's sloping down with a closed bag you got a bug net down at the feet we're kind of like a soggy hammock or like a banana action here with this whole thing right in my face but we will uh i guarantee i'll sleep i guarantee i'll sleep pretty good actually I got my UG quilt UG quilt UGQ top quilt A little bit of scotch I'm going to sleep good tonight So this is rated to What's up? 850 It's rated to negative 6 Negative 6 Or 20 degrees if you're American Alright guys, that's it for me tonight John's already nice and comfy in his hammock I'm going to lay down in here Tomorrow is another day We'll see what tomorrow brings It'll be an adventure Hopefully some fish hopefully john finds his gopro and hat and maybe we get into that other lake and there's actually a flat spot or maybe some open spot where we can camp regardless we're camping now i'll see you in the morning good morning my knees are hurting i'm feeling pretty good other than that john's gone he left at like six or seven in the morning i heard him leave i was still in bed i called out to him and he's gone to go find his stuff i gave him till about noon before i come looking for him It's 9 now. I'm just getting up. I'm sure he'll be fine I'm sure he'll be back here in a little bit but it got cold last night and a lot of condensation in my tent just because a Because I think the temperature changed and B because it was hanging off each other The inner tent was hanging hanging and draped on the outer tent So I don't know we'll see lots of lots of wetness in there though. That's what I was afraid of last time I'll show you here one I could feel the sun on my back already there's trade-offs about being in the north no flat ground for one but look at this I can just grab twigs off a spruce tree break them put a lighter to them and they're gonna go up it's almost guaranteed so while birch bark isn't even readily available in this specific spot where we are I don't see one birch it's not needed get a quick fire going as you can see the smoke from this fire is gonna keep these bugs down because starting to come up pretty heavily now nine in the morning put wood on there it's a beauty day all right because this was a crown land trip and we were double carrying i brought a lot of food yesterday i was cursing the fact that i carried i i packed heavily but i believe that we're in through the thick of it as far the worst is over even if we go into the other lake which we probably will with our gear the worst of the portaging is over or at least i am told so and hope so but I brought some extra goodies for breakfast and for eating so I got some eggs the way I did it because I cracked them and put them into a into a jar I brought them and then I brought a English muffin to go with it but I fear I might have forgot them in the fridge, wouldn't be the first time, nope I found them, look at that, didn't leave the my home after all, now to find out if they are still edible, it's pretty hot yesterday, mmm that doesn't smell too bad, I'm gonna call that good, we're gonna eat that, we're gonna eat that, nice, the fire really does help with the bugs, whoa fresh not too smushed, what more can you ask for, a little steak, yank on your knife in the morning, I hope John finds his stuff, it would, it sucks to lose a camera, like for real because the money and the potential footage for the rest of the trip you're gonna not get, but the footage that he's, wait, that he got and that he might lose, that is really the kicker, that really sucks, I can attest for that, all right, I'm gonna toast these up on my grill next to the fire, I'm gonna fry those eggs up in a frying pan and put the eggs on the little breakfast sandwich dealio that's funny, even all the way out here I can hear a float plane, Joe today, have you found the GoPro, play me over there, no flames, no flames all the smoke, oh yeah I can cook on that, see if I can build it up a bit to put a uh just so i can set my frying pan on something a little bit brought oil this time plenty for all the fish we're gonna eat there's something right over there i sure hope that's i sure hope you can hear that that's a weird noise man i better get to cooking but that's weird there's something right there like a low moaning and then like a weird noise after that sounds big here's the moment of truth so that works out pretty oily pretty pretty oily maybe i put too much oil i'm sorry i missed the flip missed the flip on camera there we go that's not looking too bad is it trying to squeeze a little bit of oil out talk about a breakfast right there boy that's not so bad we got it we're gonna get it okay nice and done i'm gonna put some butter on this because you know not enough oil on the eggs already i'm gonna get out and go fishing after this i think if john's not back um yeah yeah i'll go see what's in here maybe he trolled on the way there i'm sure he probably did it's hard not to last night we didn't just because we were dead to the world man it was it was a real day it was a brutal day we got back in here it took all day it was uh yeah more than we both thought it was going to be but happy to be out here now and it's gonna be easier going back out we have to go back up the same way but it's gonna be easier because we won't have to cut trail we will know exactly where the trail is because we were very familiar with it yesterday okey dokes look at that I've never heard anything like this it's so strange it was like deep donkey and then cheers folks I'm kind of weirded out by that my backs to it like i can feel how big it is by the noise hello hey get out of here you guys can hear that right like it's right there it doesn't care about me at all get out of here it's getting angry dang out of here go on you hear it i was gonna set my tent up back in there i'm sure glad i didn't GO! Hello, Simone.