Tuesday, May 1st, 2001

The day begins in the early morning in my lab, where a huge pile of work awaits me. Today I have 5,5h to get my stuff done. Around 1pm it's done, now I only have to get back to my apartment. There I meet Sabine, who is still packing her stuff. Some hours later - but still good in time - we get started. We pick up Peter and head for Toronto airport, where we meet Sabine's mom Christl. After a warm welcome we head for Sudbury without any further detours. We pick up Rob and go for a pizza before we leave again for Killarney Provincial Park. Late in the evening we get to George Lake where we set up camp. Some minutes later we are all in the tent or the bivy bag respectively. Shortly before we all fall asleep a fight with at least one squirrel involved evolves. The screams are really nasty....

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2001

Early in the morning we wake up and have a breakfast feast. Sabine neglects tradition (having oatmeal with fresh fruits) as she had that for some consecutive days while living on the remaining food during the last days in the CLTs. But I still like it and the others too ;-))

However, while Rob gets our park permissions we get the paddles and PFDs at the outfitters some kilometers down the road. The canoes are already at George Lake and we get the keys to unlock them. At 10am we load the canoes and get started on George Lake, heading northeast. There is no wind at all and our canoes are the only things that break the smooth surface of the water..

We pass the small island on which we had a lunch break when we were in Killarney Park the first and get to the portage that we only had a look at, at that point of time.

We have to carry the canoes for only 50 meters to get onto Freeland Lake. Only a couple of hundred meters ahead we get to the north-eastern end of the lake, which is normally connected to the next lake by a portage only. But recently the snow was melting up here and the water is high enough to push the canoes trough that swampy Kakakise creek in front of us. At least in the beginning, later on we have to conquer some beaver dams ;-))

As we paddle on the sun appears in the cloudy sky and shortly later it burns down on us.

The brighter the sun shines the more odd the huge blocks of ice look like that still cover some of the waterfalls around the lakes. At the end of Kakakise Lake we get to the 1.5 km long portage which we took on our last canoe trip in Killarney. Again we don't want to walk twice and so we take our backpacks and a canoe additionally.

1500 meters can stretch really far, especially if the trail is hilly. On the other end of the portage, right at Norway Lake, we have our lunch break.

On our further way we meet one of those "wild" animals ;-))

An hour later - fresh and relaxed - we get going again to finally arrive at our campsite. We chose the island on which a group of the Outers club of the University of Waterloo camped last fall and which we like very much at that time.

This time we do have for our own.

The tents are pitched quickly and so we paddle to the opposite shore to grab some firewood. Just like waiting for us we find to dead trees which provide us with good firewood.

Back on the island we have something to drink and prepare the fire. Then we start once more to climb on a nearby hill from where one has an awesome view down on Norway Lake and our little island.

Tired and hungry we head back and shortly later we sit around the fire and cook pasta and vegetables. Jumping into the water just before that was pretty refreshing not to mention that it was deadly cold. Now we have feast on the pasta and as always there is more than we can eat. While were still eating dark clouds show up and only minutes later the first raindrops fall down on us. Fortunately it's only some drops, so that there is nothing that prevents us from an evening around the campfire and well prepared we even have smors ;-))

We are all pretty exhausted and go to sleep soon after.

Thursday, May 3rd, 2001

I wake up around 6am, when big raindrops hit my bivy bag. But we are lucky again and the rain doesn't last long.

The sun is standing still pretty low above Norway Lake and drenches everything in a fascinating light. I am the only one awake and so I lay down again for some more hours of sleep as this trip is thought to be relaxing, too ;-))

Around 8am everybody is up and after breakfast we pack our stuff and get into the canoes, but only for another 100m as the next portage comes up right away. Even here we can short-cut and get onto a little trail that leads us to a even smaller creek. This time we manage not to drain our hiking boots but instead have to fight with other difficulties. High water from the snow melting has transported a lot of trunks and branches down the little valley, which blocks our way every now and then. In most cases we have to get out and list the canoe over the obstacles.

Finally we get it done and leave the creek and get onto Killarney Lake. The following two hours we paddle down the lake and pass the campsite on which we stayed during the last trip. This time we take a short-cut back to Freeland Lake.

Here too, we think we are smart and don't take the portage but lift the canoes down the first waterfall. But only few meters later a roaring sound announces the of this short-cut. A sloping, slippery rock with only little bit of water makes it impossible to go on. We carry the canoes back to the portage and walk the remaining 400m back to Freeland Lake. In order to bring the canoes into the water again we have to step in 20 cm of stinky mud, at least those who don't stay in the canoe and let themselves drag across ;-))

As we get back to the 50m portage we decide to stay for another lunch break as we had a short one in rain on Killarney Lake. Now the sun is shining and so we lay down and relax.

Around 3pm we get going again and paddle back to the campground at George Lake.

After we loaded the van and dropped off the canoeing gear we head back to Sudbury where we go to the Pizza-Hut, again stinky and exhausted ;-))

We drop off Rob at his "new apartment" and Peter and I are being dropped off in Parry Sound from where Sabine and Christl head for Algonquin Park. As Peter and I get back to Waterloo by bus at 1am it's still 21ºC, an awesome night for a night hike to my apartment. Once more we spent a hilarious weekend in Killarney, survived adventures and enjoyed nature. Maybe there is another chance to get on a trip like this during my research project. Somehow I am sure there is.....;-))