Massasauga Prov Park—Thanksgiving Warm Up Trip
Oct. 4 – 6, 2003

With Dave, Maria, Ken, Katherine

It was a small but keen group of 4 which met at the Oastler Lake parking lot Sat morning….weather didn’t look great but hey, wasn’t raining (yet)…this was to be a warm up trip, preinspection for Thanksgiving (and an excuse for Katherine to get out of Hamilton with the World Cup Bike Races in town).

By 10am we were on the water, paddling out of Three Legged Lake access point. With a small experienced group we traveled fast over the first portage of 320 m – biggest drawback was the amount of water on the trails – snowed earlier in the week, then rain, plus fallen leaves made for slippery going on some sections. Log bridges were in poor repair, rotting and tipped as well as threatened by flooded streams which had to be forded along the trail.

Immediately after putting into Spider Lake it is possible to ‘sneak right’ through a small cut through what at first glance seems to be non passable scrub bush between mainland and island – but there is a narrow passageway, enough for a canoe to slip through and it saves paddling longer to go left around the island….rounding the point across from campsite 002, we turned to face the blowing west wind - what a WA trip without a headwind?? Everyone was pretty warm and building an appetite after 30 minutes of hard paddling thus we stopped for lunch at wind sheltered 011 – tiny sliver of a beach, but enough to pull the canoes out of the water. Crossing Spider Lake was a challenge as white caps were tossing the boat around and waves were slopping over the gunnels. Hey, this is supposed to be calm inland lake paddling! Fought our way across the winds to a nice protected channel lined by high rocky cliffs and colourful leaves before entering another stretch of open water before the last westward stretch of full force headwinds. It was one those rare moments people were actually happy to portage and give the arms a chance to recover – the last 2 portages were quick hops (Spider Lake to “Frog Pond” portage was 30m) before entering Clear Lake.

Campsite 031 was easy to locate being on the largest island in Clear Lake – quickly it was decided to camp on the east side of the island – although the fire pit on the west side had great views and lots of level camping it was just too darn cold and windy. After much debate, the tarp was set up, wood gathered and the dinner cooked. Rain set in but the happy hour began and the stories began to roll….next morning it didn’t look much better wind wise – Dave and Maria set off in strong winds and drizzle. Sunday continued windy so Ken and Katherine spent the day checking out other campsites as well as inspecting Clear Lake’s nooks and
crannies.

Finally the weather gods began to smile – clearing skies Sunday night revealed a full moon, loons began their lonesome call, a few stars poked out between thin clouds. Daybreak Monday was picture perfect - dead calm and sunny, morning mists swirled off the sheltered bays painting a peaceful fall picture and gentle ending to the weekend.

Submitted by Katherine