Day-trip to McNorton Lake
I had a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs with breakfast pitas. The weather wasn't as bright and sunny as my breakfast was, for it was heavy with cloud that hung low and there was still lots of snow on the ground. The elders in our group suggested that portaging up to May Lake would be hazardous in the snow and so we heeded their advice and delayed our departure to North Branch Lake till the next day (We hoped).
If we weren't going to get to North Branch Lake, we wondered what to do? The Scarlett brothers, along with Jeffrey, plotted a course that would take us to McNorton Lake, following an old trail most of the way, then bushwhacking the rest of the way to the lake. It sounded perfect, get the blood going - keep us active and warm.
It looked like a good plan on paper and it pretty much was on the ground too, until you walked down the 2200m portage along White Partridge Creek. The trail was riddled with blowdowns, granted they were mainly small trees, but still, it made the going wet and slippery. I'm just glad I wasn't carrying a canoe! The Scarlett brothers decided they would portage their canoe down partway and then paddle a portion of the creek to get to the bushwhacking part of our hike, taking their friend Pete with them. Our venture down to that area of the creek the day before confirmed there was plenty of open water to paddle.
We left camp around 11am, Scott, Jeffrey & I walked down the cart trail to a point where we bushwhacked our way to the creek. There the creek was very narrow with rushing water. Narrow enough that one could hop across the creek and scramble our way onto the portage. The trail (Actually an old logging road) took a downward track as it paralleled the creek, although it moved further away from the creek the further it descended.
Around about 800m (A guess), there is a fork in the road, left is the portage continuing down the creek. Right (The way we went) was a road that crossed the creek, the bridge having long been removed and in its place two steel beams that one could cross on foot. It is interesting that there were two beams instead of one and that they were spaced apart just at about the right width for a pick-up truck.
We arrived at the old bridge at 11:40am and crossed over, meeting the Scarletts & Pete about 60m further down where they had pulled up and joined us on the old road.
We spent the next hour bushwhacking our way through forest (Laden at times with heavy snow) and eventually found a clear animal trail that went up alongside a ridge, working its way up in elevation. By 12:50pm we arrived to a beautiful snow-covered forest surrounding McNorton Lake.
We managed to cross the South end of the lake at a beaver dam located there and worked our way to a point halfway up the lake. John Scarlett had packed a pack fishing rod and invited me to fish McNorton Lake. Despite all the bravado concerning fish on McNorton, nothing was caught, not even a nibble. It could have been the weather though. The winds were swirling on the lake.
We were in the area for nearly an hour and a half and while there we had lunch of gorp and water and pepperettes before making our way back to camp on White Partridge Lake.
Scott and I decided to walk the portage all the way back to the Lake, to get a feel of what it would be like to carry a canoe on it. Near the trailhead on White Partridge Lake, the trail goes through a few ups and downs that were tricky in the snow. We ended walking in shallow waters along the shoreline back to camp rather then circle our way back.
This proved to be disastrous for my boot as the water was too high for them and I got my feet soaked. On top of all this, I got a hole in my left boot and now realized the boot was useless. Later on I put duct tape on it as a temporary measure and found that duck tape on a wet boot doesn't last long.
Back at camp things were melting rapidly, late afternoon turned gorgeous and by 5:30pm the meadow was almost entirely free of snow. It was as if it had never snowed, if you overlooked the remnants of the lonely snow-woman and the edges of our canoes. Click here for a panoramic image of the meadow at 5:30pm that afternoon.
It was a time of relaxation and to gather and cut firewood, most of us just hung around camp. I made dinner for Julian and I and it was horrible: Whole wheat pasta with sauce. I'll never eat whole wheat pasta again, bleh!
Julian went out in the canoe solo, hoping to catch his first ever trout (probably to get away from my terrible dinner! heh heh). Julian didn't disappoint for he returned in the darkness at 9:40pm with a big smile and a nice lake trout in hand. We all gathered around to get a glimpse of Julian's catch and to congratulate him; For one to catch their very first trout is a special occasion indeed. Julian later cooked his fish over the fire and shared it around to everyone. Well done Julian and congratulations!
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