Day 6: Wawiagama Lake to Sandy Point

The strong winds continued to blow down the lake throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning. The tarp kept most of it at bay and the result was a gentle breeze against my hammock, that rocked me like a baby. I slept like a log and woke up late at around 7:30am, after a good 10 - 11 hours of sleep. I awoke feeling refreshed and chilled. This was the turning point in the expedition, we knew that by the end of today's travels we would have finished all our portaging and there would only be one lake between ourselves and the town of Temagami. Day 6 started late with both Ray and myself completely content in spending just a little bit longer enjoying the luxury of a mosquito free camp. Today was our first attempt at trying pancakes for breakfast, taking a break from our expedition stable of porridge, raisins and honey. Despite our best efforts we were a long way from producing anything that resembled a pancake... however, the warm pancake batter actually tasted pretty damn good.

I couldn't see any lumps in the bag... honest.

Maybe we should stick to porridge.

After drinking all of our pancakes we were well fuelled for another day on the water. The day started with a short 500m paddle before our first portage of the day. At 800m, the portage was not something that we were looking forward to. After walking the portage it was obvious that we were back into civilization. The portage was wide, easy under foot and relatively clear of blow down, with the second half of the trail having already been cleared prior to our arrival. After we had cleared the portage we arrived in Chinaman Bay in the South-West corner of Obabika Lake. Looking around there was a small community of cottages nestled in to the bank. Despite the small settlement this section of the Obabika Lake felt incredibly remote. The lake was mirror calm and we had it completely to ourselves. Not seeing a single other living thing in an area considerably larger than Preston, felt incredible.
The pace of the day was not rushed and on our way north on the Obabika we tried to spot some pictographs that were marked on our map. We were amazed to find that when we arrived at the site, the pictographs were still almost entirely underwater! Ray summed this up nicely by saying it was like getting somebody in to paint your front room and them only going as high up as the skirting boards... I think he was slightly bemused. It was soon after that we arrived at the final portage of the expedition. This last portage, referred to as The Highway, would take us from the Obabika Lake into Temagami Lake, which would become our home for the next 3 days. We walked this portage with a smile on our faces. There wasn't a single piece of blow down or hazard on the path to cause us any trouble. On the third trip down the portage with the canoe I found it very hard to resist running the last 100m down to the water with the 80 pound canoe on my shoulders. It was with great pleasure and of course with a little bit of ceremony that I put the canoe down for the last time. I smile spread across Ray's face and we shook hands, happy that we had made it so far and in one piece.

Lake Temagami. Portages done and homeward bound.

The North - East arm of Lake Temagami is narrow and incredibly scenic. We soon kicked off and we were once again accompanied by a pleasant tailwind. Lunch was served afloat and we ate like kings (I had TWO cereal bars that day!), smiling and enjoying the sun on our faces. The afternoon continued uneventfully and we soon spotted a perfect campsite on the horizon.
Sandy Point is a small spit of land that sticks out from the mainland by about 75m. The last 10m of this was a clear patch of grass! At first ray and I where a little taken aback by the grass as it is completely out of character for the Canadian shield. This meant that for the first time in the whole expedition Ray managed to get all his tent pegs in. The afternoon was spent napping in the boat (as the campsite had an ant problem) and enjoying a brilliant display from a family of beavers playing on the other side of the lake. Its amazing just how quickly time flies at camp even when all you can do is sit and talk and listen.