Alone In Algonquin. Day 3 - "BLACKFLIES FOR MOSQUITOES"

I'm spending three nights solo camping. I'm traveling a distance of about 16 to 18 kilometers a day. Three campsites, lots of portages. I need this. I need the solitude, I need the challenge. Come along with me. I think you're gonna enjoy this one. Good morning. Well, that was a fantastic sleep. A solid nine hours. Time to get up, eat some breakfast, and paddle on. I've never slept so good at that. I've never slept so good then at this trip. I've never slept so good as this trip. That's hard to say first thing in the morning. Only got one black fly bite that's pussing, and it's on my arm. Not too bad. What I do before I get out of bed, because I have to empty my sleeping pad air, is just empty it while I'm laying on it. That way my body pushes it all out, all the air out, and I'm not stuck later on trying to force the air out, squeezing it, rolling it down. I can feel it all empty. And you can really feel how much the sleeping pad makes a difference when you're laying on it. And it deflates, then you can feel the ground underneath. Sleeping pad for the wind. 6.30, time to get up and get out of here. Got a big day, big day, big day. Gotta get up, big day. I'm sure glad I went without the tent flap last night. Got a ton of condensation in there still. Got that stuff hanging up to dry. Some of the sounds I heard last night were unbelievable. Sounded like a trumpeter swan to me, but I don't know that they have them here. Sound like a trumpet either way. Maybe that's why I'm thinking that. That mixed with the bullfrog chorus. Man, wild last night. I am super glad that I decided to stay at this site. I would have never chose this site just for the location, the grassy bay, but I'm completely secluded. Got the dragonflies, the bullfrog chorus, tadpoles, the no bugs, the big open campsite, wood i'm blessed man super super uh super happy super lucky to be here just gotta make a quick breakfast and i gotta get out here because i gotta put about eight and a half hours under my feet today i'm glad again that i stopped here yesterday early i kind of got my gave myself a little rest day even though i paddled half the day easier day i don't really want to mess around today with making shavings or trying to find birch bark or anything like that so these are some cotton rounds not cotton swabs sorry cotton rounds not uh cotton balls my wife uses for makeup so i got those with the petroleum jelly on them obviously rip it up a little bit and hit it with the fire steel and that'll go up quick i gotta throw my twigs that i put here last night right in and we'll be good to go just add some fuel there you go goodbye site you're a good one feeling good today nice and rested feeling rested I'm feeling energetic full of piss and vinegar a lovely spider in my boat there you go fishies what a beautiful day on the water by 730 not too bad an hour to get up break down camp eat breakfast get in the water there's a beaver swimming far in front of me can't see it on the GoPro I'm sure look at that flower I've been seeing it all through this marsh almost looks like an orchid style I can't even see me that back lighting so much it's 8:30 i've been paddling for an hour um this grassy bay is very hard to navigate so there's branches that go off in different directions i finally found the way that i need to be going it wasn't that bad but like i said i'm still paddling in this grassy bay and it's been an hour it's 8:30 in the morning and the sun is brutally hot i have my collar flipped up ever since i can remember i've been my color anyways i got my collar flipped up i'm just trying to protect myself from the sun i gotta stop at the first portage lather up on the uh the old sunscreen i have a 725 and like a 510 back-to-back portage so i'll be happy to get out of the boat um but once those portages are done i'm sure i'll be happy to get back in the boat hey listen guys i'm kind of uh kind of nervous about not finding my portage it's supposed to be right at the end of this thing and all i can see is marsh and trees usually you can see the portage sign and in this bay they've put up big signage in the water saying which access is where because it's so uh unnavigable hard to navigate i guess but i see no signage i see no portage sign and i should be right up on it so unless it's past this little patch of alders right in front of me i'm gonna have to backtrack and search to my right which i don't want to do man i really don't want to turn around i wish my luck water's getting quite low oh this is gonna be a lot of it there's another one son of a gun i guarantee this is the wrong way i'm going to turn around i went up to that the second beaver dam right there uh got out and there was a boot print in the mud one boot print which leads me to believe that somebody did the same thing as me got there got out of the canoe to either bring it over to look because you can get a higher vantage point i got out there i walked around i didn't see any more boot prints and i didn't see any portage signs so i'm gonna turn around there's a little little stream that went to the right i'm gonna i'm gonna try that this whole trip has gone off without a hitch there has to be something wouldn't be an adventure if you didn't get turned around once or twice going the wrong way wasn't all bad i'm going back now there's a big moose right in front of me scared if he's still eating oh look he's coming towards me that's good that's what you want to see it's a big animal man he does not care about me at all i'm about 30 feet out now i circled around him i've been talking to him letting him know i'm here he doesn't really care too much which is pretty cool i've not spent this much time around a wild animal this size it's a young bull he's see his antlers coming in i gotta get going i gotta get going buddy see you later bullwinkle well that was about as epic as epic can be the only thing better will be finding this darn portage now i spent a good half an hour hanging out with that guy. I have no idea where this portage is. It sucks. I'm going to pee again. Okay, well, I've come into a school group here after my inadequacies of finding the portage. It's 1130, so I've spent all morning trying to find it. Can't find it. These guys are going the same way, so I really hope they're better at canoeing and navigating than I am. So maybe we'll be able to find the portage and not have to backtrack. There's moose number 10. That's the sixth moose i've seen today and he's right in my way this time and he's big i guess i'll hang out here for a second uh since i last seen you guys i met up with that school group there was two leaders and a bunch of high school kids and it took myself and the two leaders two hours to find the portage we found one and it wasn't one petered out um we were walking and it was just rough going went back a bunch of times finally found it so it has taken me six hours to do what should have taking me two hours and my day should have been an eight hour day today so to get to my destination i have some distance to move and there's this big old bull moose where is he right there in my way yeah so this this is a dose of reality i was having too easy of a trip and uh yeah i don't think i can make it to bandit lake today if i do it'll be like nine or ten o'clock by the time i get there and i'm wiped out already it's uh 1 30 i've gone nowhere moose number 10 wow now we're just going to make a lot of noise and we're going to paddle right on past him because it's not rutting season although he is a bull moose i hope he doesn't take offense or an aggressive stance towards me hey buddy i'm just paddling on through no need for troubles you're a good boy i like your velvety antlers and your bell chin i'm just going to keep on talking to you as i paddle on past you because i don't want no problems you're a good boy well that was relatively close within 20 feet and he does not care one bit so thank god for that we need to make some distance that group that group behind me is a lot slower but they're coming up to it too so i hope they do all right with it the mcintosh creek portage to paddle across McIntosh Lake 405 into Timberwolf 845 into Misty 1030 into Muslim 370 into Wonona and then 540 into Bandit that's a full day still it's two o'clock how is that how is that gonna happen i might have to camp on Winona but in all honesty it's only a 540 meter portage away from Bandit so i think what i'm gonna do just finish my little sandwich here um doing water i'm gonna head her man i'm just gonna balls to the wall today uh just drink a ton of water and just paddle my little butt off and i'm gonna i'm gonna get to Bandit Lake there we go i've said it i've made up my mind i'm gonna get to Bandit Lake tonight tonight oh yeah one more thing i've traded black flies for mosquitoes i think everything's gonna be okay i think i'll get to the camp on Bandit Lake around six or seven it's three o'clock now i've done in an hour and a half i've paddled through uh Timberwolf i've paddled through the heck was the other one mac uh McIntosh and i've done three portages uh seven and two fives all in an hour and a half i have not been dicking around and busting my butt drinking water on the go eating food on the go and it's made a big difference so i think everything will be okay feel the burn oh man i'm happily happily single carrying every port still happy about it i just did this big 10 30 kick my butt now i'm into Muslim Lake and all i have to do is scoot across Muslim which is a small lake 370 meter portage scoot across Winona which is a small lake 540 meter portage and i'm into Bandit and there's a campsite right at the end of the portage and one on the the island as well good times approaching my last portage of the day from Winona into Bandit and it's all uphill it's a 540 not too bad the portages have seemed that they're getting longer it's not that i'm still cruising through them i'm just getting tired real tired last portage for the day done this looks to be like the island site to me there's no sign on the tree but that doesn't mean it's not it could be around the other side it could just be gone get in check it out the other one was facing a better direction for sunlight and sunset so if this one unless this one's really good i am going to go back to the other one i think it's nice and open i don't feel too many bugs either oh here we go that's helpful yeah you know what that's a pretty good view i'd say pedal over a log there's the other campsite right through there you know what i think i'm calling it i'm gonna stay here it's uh there's barely any mosquitoes which is a huge plus and the firewood it's a good site so this is it this is home now time to do water food tent breathe it's 5:03 so i made some time man i'm gonna do the calculations later on but rough day he's at the bottom i ate all my snacks all my trail snacks today all the easy stuff on the top of my pack all the waters how do i look how am i looking pretty good or what yeah remember when i said there was no bugs well that was a gross understatement understatement is that a word misunderstatement gross understatement that's the term misunderstatement i think i'm losing it guys i dumped my food out to kind of assess what i have what i can eat what i need to save for tomorrow tomorrow i should be i should only have like a four hour paddle and portage but anyways travel for four hours tomorrow before i get to the car so i know that i'm gonna want well this is my my breakfast is my my oatmeal that's just that's done my supper is for tonight that's done tomorrow i've got three uh two and a half of these pepperoni i can't remember what the heck they're called it starts with an l landjaeger landjaeger something anyways dried uh pepperoni really good so i figure i have one baby bell and one of those for tomorrow would be good also a nature valley would be good a fruit thing would be good and a chewy granola bar would be good so i have this for tomorrow for four hours which should hold me over you know what let's live a little we'll bring we'll bring the raisins as well so that's gonna go in this bag here so i know that i can't eat that oh what else do i have what else do i have bear bag and toothpaste that doesn't help at all so so tonight oh this is for tomorrow too tonight I can eat those pepperonis those chips those M&Ms that bar and one thing of raisins oh and I have my Frank's red hot and like two shots from a Florida Creek i think that's good i think that's perfect because tomorrow that'll be gone tonight that'll be gone I'll go home with no food at all looks like I plan that out all right I gotta get these shoes and socks and pants off They're all full of danky mud wash my feet wash my socks wash my shoes Put the shoes and the socks out to dry Somewhat dry. I don't have good Sun access at this site, but whatever I'm not trying to not trying to get all 100% I just need to dry up a little bit my feet arrow That's the main thing. Yeah, I just have my hair like this from now on is this like and bring back the 90s kind of thing yes that's not that's not that i'm literally picking sticks up off of the ground not even sticks little twigs stuff like this she looks nice and nice and done we'll see if the gravel has rehydrated or not well that worked out pretty good i um i let the water boil i got the water from the lake let the water boil and after it had boiled for a couple minutes i just poured the dehydrated food into that while it was still on the bush buddy and then that way it was the bush we was out or going out it was still a little residual heat there and it worked really well actually probably maybe 15 or 20 minutes total and it's all plumped up let's try the gravel piece really tested it not bad I've had worse so last night so I don't have to be stingy on the Franks I'm getting racked by mosquitoes right now you know what I thought I might do it will only take a couple I thought I might cut up a little bit that pepperoni because I have two left maybe it'll only take like that much of it cut up thin put that in there as a little bonus as I'm eating smell that Frank's I just started another fire and that bush buddy bugs are getting real bad the mosquitoes so this is okay I might have put a touch too much Frank's in there pepperoni pieces are nice it's almost 8 now I think I'm gonna go take a little paddle this water bottle doesn't have a wide mouth on it so it's not that convenient or quick to to fill but there we go always dump out a little bit so that's definitely less than a liter that way the drops are going to work for sure today was a perfect canoe tripping day i had a little bit of everything i was on i was on the go for 10 hours today 7 30 to 5 30 hard work too after uh after finding that portage i really really put the move on and got where i needed to go really quick surprised and it was a good good test to see how far how quick i can go tomorrow i'm gonna see how quick i can get back to the car i'm gonna push it get up real early just bounce so i got a big drive ahead of me and all that stuff too so again tomorrow i'll be able to see and i'm going real light on the portages tomorrow like i have no food left and there's only like 1600 meters 1600 meters worth of portages left good day i wouldn't change anything it was it was an awesome day this has been a great trip i love solo canoe tripping there's nothing there's nothing that i've done that compares to it everything is so flammable out here literally a lighter on twigs the specific gear that stood out to me on this trip was in good terms was number one the canoe i couldn't do this without that that type of canoe um the bush buddy again killer the axe was well more than i needed it was uh it did everything i did my shavings with it my limbing with it my bucking with it my felling with it my splitting with it great axe and my shoes my morels my morel shoes um dry out real quick soles dry out real quick super lightweight uh ventilated yep those things made this a lot easier made it more enjoyable and i will use these things again on future trips i think I'm gonna hit the hay soon Probably do a little check up with you guys. Check up with you guys as I'm in the tent, as per usual I'm down to two bars left on my last battery, out of four batteries, but one is garbage the one I got from Kyle I'm not complaining though. If I'm being honest, I'm excited and bummed out both to be going home tomorrow. Excited because go home, see the family, edit this video be able to watch it all back, bummed out because i'm just getting into my groove and i feel like i could do another three or four days and be happy with that there's always next time i think the fall will be a good time for something like that this is a good uh good campsite my favorite campsite of the trip was last night on Grassy Bay unexpectedly but this was good nonetheless when i hit the hay it's about 9 30 not even 10 o'clock yet and i'm tired so i'm gonna get up if i get up at five i'm gonna get up at five get up and packed out all that stuff real early in the morning i am being serenaded by sounds of the forest this is my 23rd night out this year good night guys i'll see you in the morning good morning there is beautiful sunrise reds and purples and pinks all in the sky it is 5 20 i got up at five ate some bars and got in the water i'm almost at the highway now I've been driving down this dirt road for about 20 kilometers I've seen nine snapping turtles a red-eared slider and a turkey all on this dirt road it's pretty cool so the realization that I'm done now is finally kicking in I really enjoyed my time alone in Algonquin I'll definitely be back I saw 12 moose total a bunch of birds a rabbit which is really strange a bunch of animals mid June is the time to come to Algonquin if you want if you're trying to see animals I hope you guys enjoyed this I sure did thank you very much for watching I'll see you soon on another adventure goodbye