Actually, this is the Kopka River Provincial Park, but it still feels like it is part of our Wabakimi trip. Our camp site is pretty close to the water. But it works. We think it's a new campsite since our outfitters say "nice campsite".
Over breakfast we discuss how lovely the Kopka River section was that we just went through. Nathan wishes he'd had time to check out the falls...so we decide to go check it out before we head further to our next campsite.
But then it starts to rain. We decide to wait out the rain. So we wait. And wait. Until we feel we won't have time to go to the Kopka and back to our future campsite...and the rain is still coming down steady.
Goodbye Kopka! Maybe we can check you out some other year! You are worth revisiting!!
We find the stream that connects the Kopka river section into Wigwasan. It's still raining steady and we pile out of the canoes. Our map says we can line the canoes on the left side.
So all the kids stand on the shore shivering while Dad Mom and Nathan see if we can actually do this.
We keep all the bags in the canoe and work it around the rocks, one rope on each end, balancing on the slippery rocks, guiding the canoes around the rocks that aren't deep enough. It requires some concentration and teamwork since the current is really strong.
After this section the water is a bit calmer. Dad and Nathan hop in the lightest canoe and try paddle it the rest of the way. But it's not as easy as it looks...and the other canoes get "lined through" instead. Eventually we are all back in the canoes, the youngest kids are looking really cold at this point, even Matthew is looking pretty cold! We truck on to find our campsite...that way we can dry out and warm up once, instead of getting two batches of clothes wet. We camp at the portage to Bokemiga Lake. Melanie and I jogged through the portage to see if the campsite at the other side of the portage was any better, but it looks more cramped. So we set up quickly and I help the youngest girls (even a resisting one) to peel of soaking clothes, dry up, and dress in something warm. They pile in their sleeping bags for a while to warm up properly, an excellent choice over crouching under a tarp with the rest of us.
The rain stops and we go enjoy some beautiful sunshine. Hard to remember being shivery cold just a few hours ago!
Lots wet clothes hanging to dry. We hope this isn't a busy portage trail, as we have a clothesline strung right over the portage trail.
The kids explore the campsite. There are lots of motorboats hanging around. Looks like a regular parking place for the locals motorboats. It's definitely a more used sight. Messier. And a big fat mouse crawling around in the day. It was really fat. Maybe it was half rat half mouse. :p
We manage to get the wet wood lit and a fire blazing. Actually some of the kids were smart and looked under the motorboats for dry sticks. And there was enough here and there to get the fire going properly. (don't worry, it wasn't neatly stacked firewood intentionally stored for their future use).
The boys loved checking out all the motorboats and figuring out what types of motors their were and all that. Nathan and Melanie weren't happy with the campsite, so they took a canoe along the portage and went to explore the next lake to see if it'd be worth packing up our gear and moving to a nicer spot for Sunday. There were two sites to check out on the lake. They scoped out the closest one, and compared to this site it was more crowded and had even more garbage and junk laying around. A thunderstorm was racing across the lake, so instead of checking out the last one they raced it across the lake back to the portage trail. I anxiously watched them race across the water...they made it no problem...all my motherly worrying didn't give them any extra speed. :(
It was really cool watching the massive clouds of rain head across the lake. When you can dive under cover if it starts to pour, that is.
This is the only campsite where our food pack got broken into. By a mouse. Probably that massive fat one that was hiding under our lifejackets in broad daylight.
The main part of the storm was south of us, we just saw the edge of it, and it only sprinkled for a few minutes.
And the rain is gone, looks like, for a while at least, we will have clear skies!
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