Canadian Summers
by Elaine Seavey
Excerpt:
The following excerpt is from Chapter III of Canadian Summers. This story
took place in Saskatchewan.
Leaving our trailer in Lac la Ronge, we drove 150 miles on an unimproved,
heavily rutted dirt road to Reindeer Lake. Then, we took our 14-foot boat 20
miles up the lake to Deep Bay. Here, I tell about the days we spent camping on
an island and fishing lake trout:
Returning to the store, we stocked up on groceries. The man who owned the
store said to leave the truck there, and he’d keep an eye on it as it wouldn’t
be safe at the campground. So, we packed the boat for a camping trip. Rodger
spread the tarp out in the bottom of the boat. On that we piled the tent,
sleeping bags, fishing gear, stuff sacks with extra clothes, camping dishes,
ice, food enough for five days, and headed up the lake 20 miles on our way to
Deep Bay.
Finally arriving at Deep Bay, we found an island in a little cove that had a
wonderful wide white sandy beach. It was a perfect place for a camp. Indians had
built a substantial camp on this island at one time. There were ruins of some
older buildings and two half built log cabins. It appeared as though the site
had been long abandoned.
We set up our tent a short ways back from the beach. Rodger built a sturdy
lean-to between two trees using the tarp. He made a make-shift table out of
sapling poles under the tarp on which we could put our coolers and supplies. The
tarp came down at an angle at the back of the work table and extended straight
out in front enough so that our lawn chairs would fit under it if it rained.
On a walk along the beach I found a driftwood stump with many roots on it and
a flattish top. Also a piece of plywood roughly 18 inches square. Back in camp,
Rodger nailed the plywood onto the top of the stump, the roots served as legs,
and it made a dandy table! (Nails are a part of our regular camping gear as we
have found so many uses for them.) We set up a lawn chair on either side of the
table, and made a fire ring in front of it so we could sit by the fire and cook,
eat, or just relax looking over the calm water of the cove. It was a wonderful
camp!
That evening we sat outside by the fire until midnight. It rained in the
night, and the wind came up. I lay in the tent listening to the wind hitting
against the rocks on the shore behind us. On our side of the island, there was
just a gentle lapping of the waves on the sandy beach with the wind murmuring in
the tree tops above us. In our tent we were nice and cozy as usual.
The next day it rained on and off, and the wind continued, so we just enjoyed
our campsite. We walked to the shore behind us, where we watched the waves
pounding on the rocks. Then we walked in the opposite direction, crossing over
to another island on a connecting sandbar. Here we were surprised to see two
boats pulled up on shore. There were four men from North Dakota, with two Indian
guides, who were busy preparing a shore lunch of fried northern pike! I think we
took the wind out of their sails a bit, when, thinking they were at the end of
the world, they discovered the two of us camping on the other island in a tent,
having arrived here in a small aluminum boat, catching and eating lake trout!
It rained in the night, but our tent was so comfortable we slept late. The
air was damp after the rain, but before long the sun came out, it turned out to
be a gorgeous day, and we had good luck!
First, I caught a three pound lake trout on a red spoon with an ounce of lead
attached, in order to reach deeper water. Then Rodger had to show me up and
catch its “twin”! He was using a dare-devil lure and fishing deeper than I had
been. Then I hooked on to what felt like a “whopper”! It weighed three and a
half pounds. Since we had no refrigeration and only a small amount of ice, we
had to stop after catching those three fish.
It was a calm evening, and the lake was smooth as satin. At 10:30 PM it was
still light out. Rodger had been saving driftwood roots for our evening
campfire. They made a lovely crackling, smoke free fire. We kept a stash of wood
under the lean-to so it would stay dry. It was so relaxing and peaceful sitting
there looking over the lake. Fortunately, we had been bothered very little by
mosquitoes.”
We had fallen into a morning routine. Rodger would start the fire from wood
he had gathered the night before. He also put on the coffee pot, and carried
water from the lake to heat, for washing up and doing dishes. I did the cooking
and the dishes. We had a metal rack with legs on it, which could be set right
over the fire. It made a good cooking surface and was great for toasting bread.
Being another lovely day, we went fishing. Most of the shoreline consisted of
rocky cliffs, many covered with colorful lichen. Rodger got another 3-1/2 pound
lake trout. Since we hadn’t eaten the one from the day before, we came in early.
That evening, I made a bread dressing and stuffed the lake trout. Wrapping it
in three layers of aluminum foil, we placed it on the rack over the fire, and
cooked it for an hour and a half. One hour would have been enough, but it was
delicious.
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