The first evening of our trip had passed, bringing the first morning of my 40s, but that was OK because Christina and I had been having a great time on our trip so far and there was more fun to be had. There was some rain overnight and it was still sprinkling a little in the morning as we crawled out of our tents, but that didn’t bother us. We had no set plans for the day, but we knew there would be more fishing! If you missed it, click here to read about part 1.
Sunday September 2nd
Since there were thunderstorms predicted in the weather overnight, we had brought the canoe to higher ground for protection. She sure does look pretty sitting on the site upside down.
Christina had made all the meals for the previous day, on my birthday, so now it was my turn to make the food. Breakfast was eggs on English muffins and bacon with a hot drink to warm us up. It’s great having a tripping partner that enjoys the same food as it makes for easy planning.
Our morning plan was to try some fishing to see if we would be lucky enough to catch anything for lunch, or even an afternoon snack. I had tried a little that morning on the shore, but it just wasn’t going well and it was still overcast, so we waited for the weather to clear a bit before heading out in the canoe.
Once the weather looked like it would clear we headed out on the water to try our luck. It was a rough start as we both managed to get our hooks stuck on sticks and caught nothing but weeds. It started to feel like we were not going to catch anything until Christina suggested we try dropping a line by the big rock next to our site. That seemed to be secret spot since I quickly landed a bass. Yeah! I have caught bass before, but this was the first one that I planned to clean and eat, and I wasn’t sure how that would go!
We headed to the far shore so that we wouldn’t stink up our site with fish guts and I proceeded to clean my catch (with guidance from Christina). In the end I was successful and ended up with 4 pieces of meat ready to be fried and eaten back at camp. The timing couldn’t have been better because it was early afternoon and we were getting hungry. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect since I have only ever eaten cod and salmon before, but my little fish was a yummy treat!
We had both brought our own lunch and quickly devoured those meals and then headed out to the rocky shoreline to soak in the afternoon sun. The weather was definitely in our favour this weekend. We had been hearing about rain and thunderstorms from random people when checking social media (when we could get a signal), but so far the rain was over night and left us with sunny days to enjoy.
As the evening rolled in, it was time to try the Margarita flavoured Pocket Cocktail that I had taken with me. It was something new to me but coincidentally, Christina had tried one of these the weekend before. Directions on the back say to mix three parts water, one part tequila, and one package of mix, but I didn’t have tequila so I used some of the vodka that I had brought on this trip. Since there are 4 packets in the box, there was enough for both of us.
With cocktails in hand, I proceeded to make supper, which was pizza on naan bread. This is a staple for our family trips and they are super easy to make and can be cooked over the fire.
As the evening sun set to the west, my birthday weekend was coming to an end. The weather was unpredictable for Monday, so we agreed that if the sun was shining in the morning we would get up, pack our things, and head back to our vehicles to hopefully avoid the bad weather. For now though, we sat and enjoyed the campfire one last time.
Monday September 3rd
On our final morning we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise, but there was still bad weather in the forecast, so we packed up our gear, had breakfast, cleaned up camp, and headed out on the water. Before we left though, I had to relocate a little frog that had decided to take cover from the weather overnight in the canoe.
We knew that there would be no river adventure today since we had to get ourselves back to shore before the weather turned. We said goodbye to the site and paddled towards the first and longest portage. The good thing today was that it would be mostly downhill (or so we thought, seemed mother nature played a trick on us and flipped the portage!).
When we arrived at our last portage into Upper Marsh, we had a heron stand and watch us.
We both agreed that we would stop at our little 5 meter lift over and sit in the falls if the weather was held off. It is a great way to cool down and the water running under our bodies felt so nice. From this point we had about a 15-20 minute paddle back to Wren Lake access point. It was time to get moving, but we both agreed that we didn’t want to leave. Yes, we would go on another adventure soon! As we laughed and took some final videos we joked about tripping and agreed that both of us are “trip-worthy”.
We loaded our gear back into our own vehicles and said our goodbyes. It won’t be too long before we will hang out again.
Be sure to check out Christina’s YouTube channel where you can watch videos from this weekend. (Part 1 here, and Part 2 here)
Glad the weather held off so that you could enjoy the whole weekend doing what you love! Great 40th memories.