Fifteen Days To Burntroot and Back - Summer 2009
by - Stephen Molson
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Day Four
The winds had picked up during the night and the next morning we were wind-bound for over half the day. Another mayfly dance, this fragile beautiful spinner takes a moment to perch on Mark’s hand.
Day Five
The next day was another being wind-bound as the gusts exceeded 30 km/hr. So we spent time swimming, reading and lazing about.
Day Six
Day 6 was our move day from Merchant, so after packing up and spending a few hours on the lake we headed for the Big Trout portage by early afternoon.
Wood sorrel (Oxalis sp) ground cover on the portage to Big Trout.
Yummy dwarf raspberries (Rubus pubescens) along the portage – a succulent and sweet treat.
Many pink lady slippers (Cypripedium acaule) were found growing closer to the landing on Big Trout.
Landing on Big Trout (creek).
After navigating over a small beaver dam the creek opened up a bit. There was no shortage of moose in the extensive marshy flats bordering the lake.
It was fairly windy on Big Trout so we settled on an island site about ˝ way up the lake. The laker we retained from Merchant from earlier that day was used for dinner.
Spicy Thai baked peanut-sauce char with Pad-Thai noodles.
The water visibility in Big Trout was much less clear than the previous lakes, which was somewhat expected due to its lower elevation and position in the watershed.
Day Seven
The next morning we quickly packed up and headed to Longer Lake. On the way to the portage caught a fat 13” brook trout, which was kept for a meal.
A 23” lake trout was caught and released a few minutes later.
Once on Longer we selected the first campsite, setup and cooked up for dinner the brook trout fish’n chips (potatoes/yams) style.
Day Eight
We had brought our fly rods and decided to wade the river next to camp. Mark in his Orvis gear.
We caught many brookies and a few fallfish from her waters, all were released. Later on we explored and paddled the lake and returned by dinner. A thunderstorm came through that evening so we hung around camp the rest of the night.
Day Nine
Next morning was more of the same, this time retaining two brookies caught fly-fishing the river and releasing those caught in the lake.
Brookie dinner with pasta and mashed potatoes.
Day Ten
We packed up and made our way to RedPine Bay of Burntroot lake in the early afternoon. It turned out to be one of the nicest days of the trip – mostly blue sky, cumulous clouds and no wind or rain. Many groups were encountered at the portages, including a pair of kayakers.
Frog enjoying a break from the current amongst some rocks by the river’s edge.
Once on RedPine Bay we selected a nice point campsite mid-lake area. This part of the lake was very picturesque. However like Big Trout her waters were heavily tannin-stained so visibility was poor.
