Adventures while Kayaking Eye Lake - July 9/13

Today was a busy day but a fun day. We camped at an unmarked but very well used campsite at the entrance to Eye Lake. Abby was up early so she and I explored our new campsite despite the hordes of mosquitoes. There is a lot of space that has been cleared under the trees and several trails to explore and there's nothing Abby loves more than to go on an adventure. Then I taught her how to play tag and we ran around until 8:30 when I decided we must have some breakfast.

After we had eaten and cleaned up I packed a picnic lunch and some snacks for our kayaking adventure. We had 'camped' here because I was interested in exploring Eye Lake with Abby and more than an hour and a half in the kayak gets to be a bit long for her. I also wanted to hike the portage trail into Devil Bay. My plan was to have our picnic there and I hoped that it might be a nice spot to swim because our campsite had a pretty dirty bottom for wading and splashing in.

We had a nice paddle and I continue to be amazed at how well Abby sits in the kayak. She must really like it since she doesn’t complain at all when she gets the occasional bonk on the head. Of course I can’t see her face either so maybe it bothers her more than I think but she really doesn’t fuss about it all.

Eye Lake isn’t very big and I was surprised to find a cottage hidden on one of the islands. Abby wanted to check out all of the beaver huts along the way to see if there were any minnows at them so that took our adventure to several little bays we might not have explored so closely. There were at least five beaver huts along the way but only one of them seemed to be in use right now.

Some of the giants' stepping stones

Mike wanted us to make sure we saw the giants' stepping stones across the back bay of Eye Lake and they really were quite interesting. The ‘grain’ of the rock is on an angle and it looks as if they were placed in a row by a giant long ago.

We found a bed of white water lilies which was beautiful. They bloom later than the yellow water lilies and these are the first I have seen this year. That may be because the water is warmer in Eye Lake than in the larger, deeper Lake Temagami.

In a sea of water lilies

Abby was fascinated by the wild rice and wanted to paddle through it whenever we could. I saw something unusual flying around as we glided through the rice but didn’t get a good look at it until we were almost back to our houseboat. As we paddled through one last patch of rice I finally saw one at rest on top of a green stalk of rice. It was the most beautiful ruby red dragonfly I’ve ever seen. Once we’d seen one we saw many many more and we spent a while hunting  them down just so we could get a good look at them. Of course Abby wanted to pet them but we were never that close. Unfortunately the Gopro wasn't on anymore when we were dragonfly chasing or I would definitely share pictures of our discovery.

Devil Bay in the background looked beautiful and made me want to explore the lake here too.

Our hike to Devil Bay was nice. It’s a well used trail and the first half of it has no rocks. It’s an easy hike with no steep inclines We saw several groups of canoeists head that way in the short while we camped here. However, I learned a valuable lesson. Don't bring more than can be put into a backpack when hiking with a two year old. I had way too much stuff with me and only a small backpack which contained our long pants in case the bugs tried to carry us away. I also had our small cooler with our picnic in it and a largish waterproof camera case. The portage trail is just over 500 meters long so it wasn’t too long with a two and a half year old Abby except that she had a little tumble early on and was tired and hungry. Soon I was carrying a little girl on my shoulders and had hands full of cases to carry. I will definitely do things differently if we go hiking like that again.

If you just want a trail to hike on to burn some energy this is a nice length for younger kids and not too difficult. Unfortunately there is no clearing at the other end. The bush was hot and buggy and my hopes of swimming once we reached our destination were not realized because the trail ended in a pile of smelly pollen. A bit later in the season or with the wind in a different direction the pollen would not have been an issue and we may have been able to get cooled off a bit. As it was we went just a little way off the trail and had a bit of a picnic lunch because we needed to eat. The bugs knew they were in for a treat as well and feasted on any part of us that wasn’t covered. Abby’s bug jacket worked great. I unzipped it and put it on top of her head so her neck and most of her head were still protected but she could have some food to fill her little tummy . Her ankles and hands didn’t fare so well but she barely complained about her bug bites she was having so much fun.

Getting cooled off!

We had a little splash when we returned to the kayak because we were so hot but there was lots of tree and leaf matter on the bottom that stirred up as soon as you disturbed the water so we didn’t play there long. We had a better swim at our campsite but then needed a ‘bath’ on the back of the houseboat to get really clean. All in all we had a fun day and it was definitely an adventure to remember.

Too small to kayak you say?

Our little Abby has been dying to go in a kayak ever since the 'big kids' came down to visit a few weeks ago. She sees other people going by in kayaks and she excitedly points them out. Mike has been working on  a kayaking fishing video for his Fish Temagami project and she loves to watch it.
The last few days Grandpa has been letting her sit in one of the kayaks in the morning after their daily Rhino ride. She loves it. She sits there and asks to please go out on the water.
Tonight was finally her night. Mike got out his kayak and put her on his lap and away they went. You can see from the picture that she was just a little excited as she and Daddy paddled away.They kayaked along the docks and over to the big rock near the island across from us. 
It was a very exciting end to a hot, busy day.
Thank you Mitchell for capturing the moment on video and in pictures for us!

A peaceful day on the Tetapaga

One of our favourite spots to stop on our way home from a houseboating vacation is at the mouth of the Tetapaga River. The campsite marked on the map is quite shallow and rocky for houseboats but there is an unmarked campsite on the mainland which is perfect for several houseboats to tie up together. We have stayed there with my parents in their houseboat, a pontoon boat, a 14" fishing boat and Mike's bigger service boat all alongside and been quite comfortable. The shoreline is nice to troll for pickerel at night and there are some nice weed beds to check out for northern pike and smallmouth bass. If you are there at the right time of year there are lady slippers blooming just behind the campsite. It is fairly well protected from the wind making it an all round great place to stop while houseboating. In fact my parents like this spot so well they stayed there for almost two weeks last summer relaxing, fishing and watching a loon chick grow up and learn to dive.

If you are looking for a nice day trip with your canoe or kayak the Tetapaga is the perfect place for you. It is a shallow narrow river which in the middle of summer can be less than two feet deep in places.

I've been up the Tetapaga several times. The first spring of our marriage we spent an enjoyable sunny day in a 14' steel fishing boat. We traveled as far as we could and explored the shoreline at the other end. It was my first time to see wild rice and I was quite taken with the uniqueness of this special spot. It seemed like there were ducks at every turn as well as a great blue heron that seemed to keep just ahead of us. Mike humored me and took me down all the little trails through the wild rice to see where they went.


It was also my first experience boating in such shallow water and needing to watch for potential hazards in the river. I have to say I was more than a bit nervous that I might not notice a rock but as I watched the bottom there was a special surprise. I was excited to see moose tracks on the bottom of the river! I kept my eyes open for the rest of the trip but didn't actually get to see the majestic creature that had left its mark.

The cutest painted turtle was sunning himself that day, the first I had ever seen in the wild. We watched each other for a while with curiosity and then Mike and I left him alone to enjoy his spot in the sun.

We followed the turns in the river past this cute little island and pulled the boat over a fallen log before we reached the end of our journey. We had a lot of fun exploring the shoreline. I wanted to hike through the bush to Tetapaga Lake but it was really too late in the day so we checked out the remains from early logging days and then headed for our houseboat. All in all it was a beautiful, peaceful day on the Tetapaga.

Our week houseboating

July 3-8 was our week to enjoy some time on the lake. I don't think we've ever been out when it was so warm. In fact the weather was HOT: but the lake was great for swimming. Mike always likes to go to Cross Lake to 'his' campsite. It's a nice spot but in the past I've been cautious about swimming there because there are some big snapping turtles around. This week Mike didn't try to lure them in with fish remains until later in the week and we didn't see them (although I'm sure they were there) so I told myself it would be fine to swim. I still have all my toes and 'apparently' the turtles are not normally aggressive when in the water.

We went out with my parents and they parked just across the bay at their own special spot where it's deep enough to catch smallmouth bass off the back of the houseboat. We had a nice time, sharing suppers together, playing some games, fishing and even my parents went in the water.

The fishing was good although it was windy at times. We caught a little bit of everything: some lake trout, some smallmouth bass, some northern pike, some pickerel and a whitefish.

It was great weather for resting and reading. The bugs were not bad at all...until the sun went down that is! Then you had better hope you were inside because the mosquitos were hungry after not being able to eat most of the day ... poor little things.

On the way home we stopped at the opening to the Tetapaga River. Even though it was windy I really wanted to put my kayak to use and travel at least part way up the river. I've been up it by boat but there's something about travelling by kayak: you get to see so much more. I saw what could have been a black duck with six ducklings. They were a little way off as I was entering the Tetapaga so it's hard to be sure exactly what kind of duck they were. I followed a great blue heron for a while. I'm sure he thought I was chasing him but really he just kept flying a little way ahead of me. I also saw a muskrat minding his own business. I was downwind from him so I'm not sure he ever noticed me. He took a small 'stream' off the main course through the wild rice. I also saw the cutest little flowers. They looked like they were growing in a patch of grass on rocks that would have been covered by water last year at this time. They were yellow and probably less than a centimeter across. I wish I'd been able to take a camera with me but even though I've never tipped the kayak I didn't want to chance getting the camera waterlogged!