I have paddled up the west arm of the lake and set up camp here on the lake shore. Tomorrow I’ll portage the canoe in to the creek and spend the day fishing and exploring.

I woke up at sunrise and used the low morning sun to get some pictures of the wolf tracks I saw when I arrived yesterday.

After stripping the canoe down and packing lunch and some fishing gear, I shoulder the canoe and head off down the portage. The trail starts at the end of the beach where the sand meets the rubble of volcanic rock that lines the shores of this end of the lake. Not far from here is an extinct volcano that erupted between 3,000 and 10,000 years ago.

The trail heads away from the lake and in to the forest. There are a few split log boardwalks along the trail, some are covered in the wet decaying leaves of skunk cabbage, making them slippery and treacherous. The underbrush is dense and wet with dew, even on a warm sunny day.

After 1.5 kilometres, the trail opens up to a grassy bank by the creek. The water is calm and deep here, but not far downstream it cascades through a series of rapids down to the lake. The roar of the rapids can be heard from the put-in.

Paddling upstream, the scenery is incredible. The local residents start to appear; bald eagles, mergansers, river otters, and beavers. There are moose here too, and now during the fall rut their calls can be heard up and down the valley.

About an hour upstream a fallen tree blocks the way, but there’s a nice grassy bank to unload the canoe and drag it over the barrier.

Finally, about 4 kilometres upstream from the put-in, I reach the gravel beds where the kokanee salmon are spawning. In the pools below the spawning beds, rainbow trout lie in wait for the salmon eggs that occasionally wash downstream. I have a great time catching the trout on a fly rod.

This is as far as I’ll go today. After a bit more fishing I’ll head back downstream, leave the canoe at the put-in, and hike back to camp for dinner by the camp fire. Tomorrow I’ll come back and spend another day fishing and exploring this wild place.