May 27, 2012,
canoe Touchwood Lake
with my brother-in-law.
I believe this was the first time I had my old gruman canoe in the water this year and this is my first camp out of the year as well. It was might good to get out for a paddle.
At about 9:45 AM
we launched from the Touchwood Lake
boat launch.
Because
the breezes were light, the sky was clear, the weather conditions appeared
stable, and the lake was calm we set our course from the boat launch directly across the bay for the
point of land jutting out from the west shore. Once we reached the point we held to the
shore line on a southerly course. About halfway along the point we heard and
then saw an Osprey. The Osprey appears to have a nest in a high tree at this
place. We proceeded along the shoreline for as long as we could. There a good
‘fair weather’ campsite on the southern end of the point. From the southern tip of the point we picked the
closest shoreline on the east shore and paddled directly for it. By this
time a light wind had picked up and it produced low swells, which our loaded
canoe easily navigated.
The east shoreline tracks almost due south so we were able to hug the
shore line all the way to the Seibert Lake Trail Head. Along this shore Tony
spotted two Whitetailed deer. We also noticed surveyor’s ribbon in 2 places but
we couldn’t determine what, if anything, they were marking. We arrived at the
trail head at about 12:30 PM. The landing at the Seibert Lake Trail Head
has limited space for boats and there is a half metre berm to lift the canoe over in order to beach it. This required that we unload the canoe with it still in the water so wear your rubber boots or be prepared to get your feet wet.
Distance
= 12.6 Km.
Time
= 2 hours 45 min. moving and 11 min stopped.
After
lunch and a rest we did an afternoon walk to explore the trail over to Seibert
Lake at about 300 M
down the trail is a Trapper’s Cabin. The trail is maintained and seems to be
used mostly by ATV quads. The trail would accommodate a canoe or kayak cart quite
well which presents a possibility of portaging a boat to Seibert Lake and doing an extended trip. Seibert Lake
has a long sandy beach. We walked north along the beach to where a rivulet
flows into the lake. As we walked back to the trail we observed a Whitetailed
Deer. The deer was quite a way south on the beach when I first saw it, but as we crouched and watched it moved
closer to us. It was very twitchy and would graze and then move a bit further
toward us. Eventually it bounded off into the woods. We then walked directly back
to Touchwood Lake.
Total
distance = 6.5 Km.
Total
time = 1 hour 46 min. moving and 30 min stopped.
After
supper we paddled the canoe along the south end of the lake to the out flow of Touchwood Lake. We were only able to paddle down the out flow for about 100 metres before we came to a beaver dam. We saw a couple of
beavers.
Distance
= 2.6 Km.
Time
= 47 min.
May 28, 2012, just
as we were about to depart from our camp site we were doing one last walk
through when my brother in law noticed a Black Bear on the trail. I held the dog while it
barked and growled but the bear did not back off. Then Tony we
moved toward the boat. As we moved away the bear advanced. The bear went to
where we had kept our food and did our cooking. Then it moved to the site of the
campfire and next it went over to the tent area. I prefer encounters with bears where the bears run away.
We
left the campsite to the bear at about 9 AM.
The lake was perfectly calm so we paddled directly across the south end of the
lake to the west shore. We held to the west shore as we paddled north until the large point of land
came into view. Then we set our course directly for the point. While we were
canoeing the west shore we saw the osprey fly by. I also noted the location for
the trail to Dabbs Lake.
We stopped at the campsite on the point at about 11
AM. There is a small beach at this campsite which makes it an easy place to land a boat. The site has a table, a bear cache and a
biffy. Once we were around the point we held to the shore until the boat launch
came into view and then we set our course directly for the boat launch. A light wind had
picked up. The wind was mostly at our back so it helped us along. It produced a
modest swell on the lake but it was easily navigated by our canoe. We made the
boat launch area by about noon.
Distance
= 14 Km.
Time
= 3 hours moving, and 20 min stopped.
The
total distance traveled for this trip was 36.4 Km.
