 I found out about Temagami from my boss
Rob. He loved it up there, and had a long history of visiting the magical area
5 hours north of Toronto. He was a happy owner of a new cottage, on one of the
many islands right on Lake Temagami. While the area is called Temagami, Lake Temagami
(the biggest lake) is only one of the thousands of lakes in the area -- some of
them only accessible by carrying your boat through yards or miles of bush. Maps
have the "portaging trails" identified. Unfortunately i missed the cottage
get-together because i returned late from my vacation -- 1997-07-29_East
Coast Canada. However, the first chance i got i was in Temagami.
Peter and I rented a canoe in Temagami,
got a map too, and set out on Rabbit Lake. The lake was not wide, but the map
showed its length being at least 5 miles. Neither of us knew much about canoeing,
but we brought a lot of toys to play with, like water filter, propane stove, axe
for wood... It was awesome -- just the two of us on the water, on a sunny day
with only a breeze of a wind. We stopped at the docks and went swimming
We found a very cool camping spot. A
little opening in the dense bushes, a circle of rocks for fireplace, and room
for tent. While setting up the tent, a curious squirrel came to visit us. The
size of a chipmunk, she moved very quickly and looked for food before running
off into the woods. With the sun setting we had a magnificent view.
Around 7am the squirrel was back.
As i found out later, she's a "red squirrel" -- a common sight in Temagami.
It was nice of her to come, but she was after something we didn't want to
share -- muffins. As a bear precaution, we put all our food into a bag and
tied it to a tree. No it wasn't 25feet above and half-way in between trees,
which is the right way to do it. Even there the curious squirrel would have
gotten to it. The noise of biting through the bag and plastic muffin-container
woke me up and i got out of the tent. The squirrel ran away, and i went
back to sleep. Or so i thought. 10 minutes later she was back. At least
this time i knew who it was. I took out my camera, and took pictures of
her, then chased her away :-). I believe in keep wild animals wild -- feeding
them hurts them in the long run.
It is the squirrel I have to thank for
the morning fog pictures -- beautiful. Already last night's sunset was enough
to show what a great place Temagami is. This was our last morning at Temagami,
our short weekend trip was over. However, it was enough to inspire me to come
back 3 more times that year. The next time was 2 weeks later with Peter. In October,
we brought my friend from college Jason - 1997-10-10_Canoeing
Temagami white-caps.
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