Bowron Lake Canoe Circuit '11 {Day 5: Isaac Lake}

Zachary packs up the kitchen table.

Isaac and Caleb load the kitchen gear into the pack amidst gear buckets and bear caches.

Peter maneuvers along the slippery rocks at our "picnic" site in the pouring rain on the shores of Isaac Lake.

One of the many awesome waterfalls along Isaac Lake

AJ discusses something important (or unimportant as the case may be) with Zachary.

Day 5 finish line: the very end of Isaac Lake

Group shelter at site #29 contains hundreds of hand-made wooden markers and graffiti messages left by passing paddlers.  A sign in the shelter reads, "Leave Your Mark" and another promises to remove any with inappropriate content. 

Our Bowron Crew warms up by the wood stove in the group shelter after a long, wet paddle.

Being prepared for the terrible weather helped, but divine providence providing a wood stove shelter on the worst night of our trip lifted our spirits considerably.  Our arrival at campsite #29, to a blazing fire tended by fellow travelers, sharing a roomy sheltered space to dry out and relax during the torrential downpour was truly the light at the end of a long day's tunnel.  The community shelter at various times during our brief stay contained:

• a pair of young bachelors from Idaho
• a pair of married "not so old" brothers-in-law from Oregon/Central Washington; (with wives/sisters left in motor homes with wine in Wells) passing around their great "Bowron" book
• a menagerie group of kayakers from Germany, Blaine, and points in between
• our crew of Boy Scouts and adult leaders (us!)
• gear strewn everywhere to dry
• community stories of the day's travels and the previous night's various stormy challenges
• a shared shovel for digging trenches to free the standing water welling up around our tents
• various make-shift kitchens making a variety of suppers
• shared tea time

Remember the lost & found Keens from Day 2?  Tim grabbed them from the beach as we launched onto Indianpoint Lake, assuming they had been abandoned by one of our crew.  Actually, they belonged to a German Kayaker, who was overheard telling her tale of woe, lamenting her lost Keens while in the community shelter at site #29.  Peter was given the role of Keen-returner, and for his efforts was rewarded with a decadent giant chocolate caramel candy bar!

This is the end... of Isaac Lake.

Kakaks approach campsite #29 in the early evening hours of a dreary day on the Bowron Lake Circuit.

Want to see more from Day 5?

• Visit the online album @ Picasa Aug 22, 2011
• Catch the video of the pounding rainstorm or the video of our peaceful approach to campsite #29 at the end of Isaac Lake

Glimpse of Day 5:

7:02AM: awake to a wet-wet-wet day; dark skies, soggy gear

8:49AM: short break from the rain after delicious oatmeal breakfast; final pack-up and loading continues

9AM: kitchen taken down, tarp shaken out; Kimberly voluntarily takes water filtration duty, it's a chore getting water to flow freely with all the sand in the system

9:23AM: nearly ready to shove off and someone jokingly asks, "Did everyone get sunscreen?"

(Unable to take notes during the Day 5 paddle; it's an extremely wet journey to the end of Isaac Lake. Made a brief stop an an inhospitable rocky, mossy alcove for lunch: giant chunks of summer sausage {carved with a pocket knife on a make-shift cutting-board-bucket-lid} and Triscuits.)

2:15PM: huddled in a covered community shelter at site #29, warming by the wood stove

3PM: water boiling on our camp stove on a picnic table inside the shelter; instant soup for everyone (a full bowl of soup splashed on the floor when bumped by the broom being used to sweep up a packet of soup mix spilled on the floor: a comedy of errors!)

3:15PM: One brave swimmer, AJ, takes a quick dip in the lake and comes to warm by the fire; card games, guessing games, whittling, visiting, staying dry in the shelter while the storm rages on with thunder and lightening.

4:48PM: Fleet of kayaks approaching shore; one paddler with a distinctly German accent says, "There might be another group here."  Indeed!

6PM: Peter and Judah prepare Chicken Yakisoba for dinner; community shelter takes on the feel of a hostel.

9:50PM: A bit of noise still coming from the shelter, now only inhabited by Boy Scouts, who have hung a few hammocks and put Thermarests on table tops, table benches, and the cement floor for a night's sleep under a real roof.

Day 5 Quote: 

"This is the creepiest camp out I've ever been on!" 

~by Peter, during the intense raging rain with thunder & lightening storm.

Bowron Lake Canoe Circuit '11 {Day 4: Isaac Lake}

Sleeping Scouts, about to enjoy a fine oatmeal breakfast and break camp.

Tim and Peter prepare for a rainy 12 mile paddle along Isaac Lake.

Anticipating the rain on Monday (based on a weather report posted at the Bowron Lake ranger station) we found ourselves getting doused a day early as we awoke Sunday morning to drizzle which soon gave way to full showers.  Prepared for the weather, we donned our rain gear and cinched up our dry bags as we began our 12 mile paddle up Isaac Lake.   It fairly dumped on us for over an hour and a half, then the rain let up a bit and the head winds and white caps picked up.  An exhilerating experience, this stage of our journey was also exhausting and occasionally somewhat frightening.  Staying close to shore allowed us to navigate in calmer waters, as well as keeping us all within earshot of our buddy boats in case rescue efforts were needed.

Zac anchored in the back, Peter airborne in the front, in the battle against Isaac Lake.

Swapping a few paddle partners helped with recovery from exertion and as a creative cure for boredom.  Hours on the lakes and trails, though scenic and demanding, can also become quite monotonous.  Having a new canoe partner can lead to new topics of discussion, or new role playing or guessing game possibilities; a new rhythm.  For Zachary, having Peter as his new partner (in my place) meant he had a full time paddler rather than a part time paddle/part time photographer.  For my new canoe partner, Tim, the opposite was true, but the miserable weather put a damper on my artistic endeavors.  The photos I did manage to capture don't accurately convey the cold, wet, windy, grind of a journey up Isaac Lake.  But the video makes it all seem a bit more real to the outside observer.

Map deciphering at the lunch stop; just how far are we from our campsite?

Navigation with the Bowron Lake Provincial Park maps provided at depature left quite a bit to the imaginiation, as the topography was fairly vauge and the distances hard to accurately figure.  On this rainy Sunday, we desperately wanted to know, "Are we there yet?"  At our noon lunch stop on a sand bar we enjoyed bagel sandwiches with smoked turkey and cheese, with a cookie for dessert.  After about another hour of paddling, the sandy beach at site 21 welcomed us.  Once we landed and set up camp, we immediately began to enjoy our new home on Isaac Lake, despite the on-again, off-again drizzle.

Rainy campsite 21 on Isaac Lake; playing Caveman Game under the tarp

Joseph on the shores of Isaac Lake, campsite 21

Scout sandcastle building team

Isaac, Judah and Zac shove off for fun and games on Isaac Lake

Crew canoe play on Isaac Lake

Bridget and Kimberly at tea time (also Via time)

With a pit toilet known for its fantastic view, site 21 on Isaac Lake is a must-see.



Want to see more from Day 4?

• Visit the online album @ Picasa Aug 21, 2011
• Catch the video of Zachary and Peter fighting the whitecaps on Isaac Lake.

Glimpse of Day 4:

7:45AM: head cooks not rousing, so AJ starts breakfast for the crew

8:15AM: packing up quickly as rain begins to fall

9:00AM: paddling begins, in full rain gear

12NOON: lunch stop on sand bar not far from campsite #21, our destination

2PM: camp all set up; sand/beach play

2:26PM: coffee/tea break for adults while Scouts head back out on lake for canoe play

3:20PM: fire blazing, warming wet Scouts

4:30PM: fire still blazing; card games under a tarp on the beach

5:45PM: some join a "Scouts' Own" Sunday worship around the camp fire with Bible readings, prayer

6:30PM: dinner served ~ beef stroganoff (thanks to Caleb's family) prepared by David & Isaac

9PM ish: bedtime for most

Bowron Lake Canoe Circuit '11 {Day 3: Indianpoint Lake to Isaac Lake}

Kimberly and I with my Magnificat; guys hauling cargo to the canoes

Zachary, Peter and Tim paddle into the wind on Indianpoint Lake. (Perhaps Zac prefers I pick up a paddle rather than a camera?)

Like ducks in a row, three canoes navigate the shallow, marshy region at the end of Indianpoint Lake.

Awake hourly through the night in pain, I wished I had taken a preventive dose of vitamin I (ibuprofen).  Sometimes getting used to sleeping on the ground (Thermarest) takes a little time, and after a day of great physical exertion, the comfort doesn't always happen.  As the boys finished the washing and packing up after breakfast, I prayed morning prayer from my Magnificat in the sunlight with a cup of Via coffee + powdered milk.  Time for quiet contemplation after breakfast? I really am on vacation...

Zachary tries gondola style in the shallow end of Indianpoint Lake after hopping out of our canoe to retrieve a suitable stick for the purpose.

Warned about extreme mud at the end of Indianpoint Lake, a few of our canoes were wrangled up the steep, dry bank at the rangers' pier rather than at the quagmire.  The rest of our fleet paddled in and pulled up the canoes right through the thick muck.  So deep and sloppy, sandals were sucked right off; barefoot was the only way to go.  The going was tough, but once the canoes were landed, the boys hopped back into the mud pit for fun.  After all, what boy can resist a giant mud pit?  The fun continued as several Scouts opted to hike the portage barefoot (like AJ, who lives barefoot). 

Tim and Canon pull a canoe onto the shore through an extreme mud hazard at the end of Indianpoint Lake.

One messy portage...

Peter, knee deep in the muck

Tim's shoes: almost lost in the goo

Spectacular view along Isaac Lake

Setting out on a glassy Isaac Lake under broken clouds, the afternoon paddle to campsite 21 invited a casual pace.  Some paddled more casually than others, and soon we had a set of four buddy boats in the lead, and a pair of slow buddy boats as the caboose.  I found myself a hostage of the Lingering Flotilla (two canoes lashed together, getting nowhere fast).  Not that I minded the leisurely pace, in fact we might have missed the deer skeleton in the sandy shallows if we had been seriously paddling.  Plus, the glassy lake photos are impossible to take in a swift moving canoe.  By the time we arrived at camp, Joseph and Judah were already about to head out to the nearest wood lot to collect firewood.

Co-captains of the Lingering Flotilla, Zac and Isaac

Isaac Lake: like glass

View from our room at campsite 14 on the shores of Isaac Lake

With camp set-up accomplished, or mostly so, the canoe play, swimming, whittling, reading, plotting gigantic funeral pyre, and hammock relaxation time began.  A few odd ideas about two tents sharing a tent pad meant for one were squelched along with the whole funeral pyre idea, much to the dismay of the clever and creative Scouts.  Not to be outwitted, they opted to sleep under a tarp like sardines (forget the tents) for the night rather than on separate tent pads.  The more the merrier, and the later the bedtime!

Cooks Joseph and Judah add instant rice to boiling water under Zachary's watchful eye.

A delicious chicken fajitas dinner, pre-cooked and frozen at home, prepared at camp by Joseph and Judah, hit the spot... and then kept hitting the spot well past the point that most of us were full.  The late afternoon snack had taken a bite out of the usually predictably large appetites, and for our Leave No Trace clean-up, we generally need to consume all that we prepare.  In hindsight, we could have tipped some of the left-overs into the garbage bucket; but instead we force fed the Scouts until almost every bit was gone.  Most vowed to never eat chicken fajitas again, and we also decided that afternoon snacks should not be served after about 3PM.

A few Life Scouts tried to convince us that they would sleep just fine inside this tent. 

Want to see more from Day 3?

• Visit our online album @ Picasa Aug 20, 2011.
• Watch a video of the muddy fun.

Glimpse of Day 3:
9AM: oatmeal over; all gear nearly packed, not yet loaded; wash-up begins
9:41AM: paddling into a headwind on Indianpoint Lake
10:30AM: arrive at muddy portage; slip and slide canoes out of the water through mud onto carts
11AM: mud play over; portage begins
11:41AM: portage ends at shores of Isaac Lake
11:59AM: underway on Isaac Lake
1PM: gorgeous glassy lake views; two canoes strapped together making very slow progress, but having fun
1:45PM: final slow canoes reach camp; sandwiches made, lunch by the campfire
2-4PM: set up camp; Scouts' plans to assemble and light a funeral pyre (massive floating fire) squelched by adults; hammock time; swim time; water purification
4:30PM: afternoon snacks distributed (soon to interfere with dinner appetites)
6PMish: chicken fajitas dinner cooked by Joseph and Judah, enjoyed by all
9PM: bedtime for half
1AM: Scouts sleeping out under tarp finally call it a night

Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit '07 {Day 6: Isaac Lake}

Isaac Lake, Bowron Lakes Provincial Park, BC, Canada

Isaac and Bryant chllin' along Isaac Lake

Floating by 7:50AM today, with a bright sunny Isaac Lake before us.  We enjoyed watching a river otter swimming and peeking at us near a creek mouth; paddling close to shore we stopped to visit a waterfall up close.  Bald Eagle flying overhead, miles of silence and solitude... this section of our journey gave us rest and refreshment for upcoming difficult waters and portages.

Peter and Bridget at the foot of a waterfall along the shores of Isaac Lake

Bridget and Joseph ride the rapids at the end of Isaac Lake.

After camp set up was complete, we played in the currents of the river at the end of Isaac Lake.  Floating feet first wearing our PFD's, we rode the 'chute' in the freezing water.   As the day of play drew to an end, our planning and mental preparation for negotiating the river currents in our loaded canoes began in earnest.  In a few boats, new pairings were needed to have each canoe 'anchored' by a stronger, older Scout for better handling of the canoes in the rapids.

Bridget sipping a cuppa on the beach of Isaac Lake.

Joseph, the hopeful fisherman

Sunset on the shores of Isaac Lake

Goodnight Isaac Lake!

Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit '07 {Day 5: Isaac Lake}

Isaac Lake, Bowron Provincial Park, BC, Canada

Our planned departure for 7:15AM became 8AM without any trouble at all.  The Scouts' first destination as we headed out was to a nearby woodlot (marked by a large red W visible from the lake) to collect firewood to haul along to our next campsite.  The paddling along glassy Isaac Lake was trouble free and a day's break from portaging!  After a 10 mile stretch, with a break along a rocky beach for pita PBJ for lunch, we arrived at campsite #21, the best yet.

Eddie and Bryant approach campsite #21 along the shores of Isaac Lake.

A whittling competition initiated by Ron, the same one he remembered from his trip, gave hours of carving pleasure around camp.  Two hammocks hardly ever left empty; Peter and Joseph played together for hours on the sandy beach.  Older Scouts take one canoe out a short distance from shore for the fun of swamping it on purpose; shrieks filled the air as they tipped into the icy lake.

Casey, whittling away

Peter whittling by the fire

Canoe swamp into the frigid Isaac Lake

Zachary and T cooked the evening meal under Patrick's close supervision: macaroni and cheese with meat and broccoli.  We saved portions for Ron, Bryant and Joseph who visited the opposite shore near a stream outlet for a (successful) fishing expedition.  Their mission successful, fresh trout cooked over the fire was served up with s'mores for dessert.

T and Zachary strain the pasta dish with Eddie's assistance.

Tim at the water's edge

Bryant, Joseph and Ron return triumphantly from their fishing expedition across the lake.