Day 19 – Northern Pikes

It’s a little bit frosty and foggy in the morning now, at least compared to the first week of hot weather.

But the fog lifts soon enough, looks like another beautiful day.

The sky rapidly turns blue!

Unfortunately, we have to leave this really nice camp, it’s back on the river then.

Not a lot time passes, when we see an eagle just sitting on top of a tree. More than enough time for us to stop on the other bank and observe.

A little bit later we stop on a sand bank to check the maps. The course of the river does not really fit with what’s on the map in this part.

As our first exploration of a former channel of the river was really fun we decide to try another one – turn right!

The channel gets smaller and smaller until it’s nearly covered with plants. According to the map this arm should be a lot bigger, it might actually be as leaving the canoe is not possible here, the vegetation is only water plants and the river is actually quite deep.

There should be a lake at the end of the arm, but at one point the channel is completely covered with waterplants. It’s really thick with plants and I even can get out and make some steps by really stepping on the plants (It’s not possible to get far however). I can see the lake know but impossible to get there at this water level.

At the beginning (photos on our way back) the arm is bigger but it’s not easy to get out here because of all the plants.

We try fishing however and with success: Pikes for dinner! Actually my dad got the first one nearly immediately when we entered the side channel.

Looking back where we came from when leaving the arm.

Not long after leaving the arm we hear some voices – there is a canoe that’s following us. Not that close but we can hear them quite well, while discussing if we should let them pass – we spot something in the river – quite pointy ears a wolf? No it’s actually a black bear that is crossing in front of us: Amazing.

We let them pass not long afterwards – turns out our stop to let them pass is actually a good camp and we decide to stay here.

We find a small lake with crystal clear water (and really cold, might be groundwater pushing upwards). The tree just next to the small lake is perfect for installing our filter.