Adventure #4: Starting off the Season in McCrae Lake
As the weather began getting nicer, my itch to get back on the water only grew stronger. It had been many months of no camping, and I was ready to get back out there, finally trying out all the new gear I had received for Christmas and my birthday. Thus, I decided to start off the season with an easy weekend trip with my boyfriend Jeff to McCrae Lake, a section of crown land just off the 400 hwy. We packed up all of our gear, including my new canoe, and headed on our way the morning of Saturday, June 8th, 2019.
We managed to find a parking spot in the very full lot before making a trip with our gear first, and then the canoe, through the first little 100-200m portage to McDonald Lake. Luckily for us, Jeff and I are around the same height and have a similar stride, so we were able to portage the canoe together without much difficulty. As we were loading the canoe with our gear, we saw our first wildlife of the trip which happened to be a water snake swimming past.
We paddled through McDonald Lake at a leisurely pace, enjoying the fresh air and beautifully sunny weather. McDonald Lake was quite busy, with many other paddlers already at camp enjoying the weather. As we approached the small waterfall that leads into McCrae Lake, Jeff and I began looking for the portage we knew we'd have to take to get through, struggling for probably 10 mins or so to find the trail. The trail is marked with a little yellow flag tied to a tree, but greenery has grown around it, making it slightly difficult to find from the water. With it being crown land, McCrae Lake, although having some markings, does not have the same site and portage markings as other parks.
Eventually, we found it though and once again made two trips with our gear to the other side. The portage was similar in length to the first, but was quite hilly and rocky, whereas the first was rather flat. We had a snake cross the trail as we were carrying the canoe which definitely made me jump. We stopped to take a couple photos before loading up the canoe again and heading on our way into McCrae Lake. We passed by a second, larger beaver dam (the first having been on McDonald Lake) as we weaved our way to the lake opening. Having looked at a map ahead of time, Jeff and I had planned out an approximate area that we were hoping to find a campsite, so we set off in that direction, enjoying the scenery along the way. We saw several paddlers on the lake with most campsites being occupied, but as we headed further up the lake, it became much more vacant. We settled on a nice site that looked out on some islands. From our site, we only had two other campsites that we could see that were occupied, so it was fairly secluded.
After unloading the canoe and lifting it on shore, we got to it, setting up camp before making dehydrated chicken noodle soup for lunch. After lunch, we washed our dishes and then spent the afternoon sitting on the rock, fishing and soaking up the sun. Surprisingly it wasn't too buggy out, so we were able to enjoy the weather without being eaten alive. Jeff managed to catch a fish using my lovely purple rod and lure, but unfortunately, that was our only catch of the weekend besides weeds, despite all the fish that were jumping in front of our site. For dinner, we made a Knorr pasta sidekick paired with honey garlic pepperettes, once again washing our dishes after. Jeff also made us a small fire which we sat by for a bit in the evening. We then loaded all our food into a bag, scouting out a tree for a good bear hang. Once that was sorted, we retreated to our tent for the night as the bugs had gotten to be a bit more intense as the sun was going down. All day, the sounds of birds such as woodpeckers, loons, geese, and many others filled the air, with the loons carrying their calls well into the night. It was very peaceful.
The next morning when we woke up, we decided to go for a quick swim just to wake ourselves up. The water was a little chilly, so we weren't in there for very long, but it was definitely refreshing. Our site had this great tree with a curvy branch that worked excellent for hanging our suits and towels to dry in the sun. We then decided to make cookies and cream oatmeal for breakfast, washing our dishes before having a nice little fire. We then began to gradually pack up our site. Our plan was to pack up the canoe and leave our site to do some fishing around the lake as we slowly made our way back to head home. We ended up spending a couple hours on the water fishing before the wind started to pick up, forcing us to focus more on our paddling.
Just before the waterfall, we had a water snake swim right up to the canoe, looking at us strangely before turning away. We managed to make it back to the portage around noon, stopping by the water for some lunch/snacks and a little exploring of the waterfall before carrying our gear to the other side. We then paddled through McDonald Lake to the exit of the lake where we portaged our gear back to the parking lot to load up the vehicle and head home. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, with incredible weather! It was very relaxing and a location that I will definitely travel to again in the future! The only downside was that it was so short. Hopefully, I can get back out camping again soon!
Until the next adventure,
- Megan
We managed to find a parking spot in the very full lot before making a trip with our gear first, and then the canoe, through the first little 100-200m portage to McDonald Lake. Luckily for us, Jeff and I are around the same height and have a similar stride, so we were able to portage the canoe together without much difficulty. As we were loading the canoe with our gear, we saw our first wildlife of the trip which happened to be a water snake swimming past.We paddled through McDonald Lake at a leisurely pace, enjoying the fresh air and beautifully sunny weather. McDonald Lake was quite busy, with many other paddlers already at camp enjoying the weather. As we approached the small waterfall that leads into McCrae Lake, Jeff and I began looking for the portage we knew we'd have to take to get through, struggling for probably 10 mins or so to find the trail. The trail is marked with a little yellow flag tied to a tree, but greenery has grown around it, making it slightly difficult to find from the water. With it being crown land, McCrae Lake, although having some markings, does not have the same site and portage markings as other parks.
Eventually, we found it though and once again made two trips with our gear to the other side. The portage was similar in length to the first, but was quite hilly and rocky, whereas the first was rather flat. We had a snake cross the trail as we were carrying the canoe which definitely made me jump. We stopped to take a couple photos before loading up the canoe again and heading on our way into McCrae Lake. We passed by a second, larger beaver dam (the first having been on McDonald Lake) as we weaved our way to the lake opening. Having looked at a map ahead of time, Jeff and I had planned out an approximate area that we were hoping to find a campsite, so we set off in that direction, enjoying the scenery along the way. We saw several paddlers on the lake with most campsites being occupied, but as we headed further up the lake, it became much more vacant. We settled on a nice site that looked out on some islands. From our site, we only had two other campsites that we could see that were occupied, so it was fairly secluded.
After unloading the canoe and lifting it on shore, we got to it, setting up camp before making dehydrated chicken noodle soup for lunch. After lunch, we washed our dishes and then spent the afternoon sitting on the rock, fishing and soaking up the sun. Surprisingly it wasn't too buggy out, so we were able to enjoy the weather without being eaten alive. Jeff managed to catch a fish using my lovely purple rod and lure, but unfortunately, that was our only catch of the weekend besides weeds, despite all the fish that were jumping in front of our site. For dinner, we made a Knorr pasta sidekick paired with honey garlic pepperettes, once again washing our dishes after. Jeff also made us a small fire which we sat by for a bit in the evening. We then loaded all our food into a bag, scouting out a tree for a good bear hang. Once that was sorted, we retreated to our tent for the night as the bugs had gotten to be a bit more intense as the sun was going down. All day, the sounds of birds such as woodpeckers, loons, geese, and many others filled the air, with the loons carrying their calls well into the night. It was very peaceful.
The next morning when we woke up, we decided to go for a quick swim just to wake ourselves up. The water was a little chilly, so we weren't in there for very long, but it was definitely refreshing. Our site had this great tree with a curvy branch that worked excellent for hanging our suits and towels to dry in the sun. We then decided to make cookies and cream oatmeal for breakfast, washing our dishes before having a nice little fire. We then began to gradually pack up our site. Our plan was to pack up the canoe and leave our site to do some fishing around the lake as we slowly made our way back to head home. We ended up spending a couple hours on the water fishing before the wind started to pick up, forcing us to focus more on our paddling.
Just before the waterfall, we had a water snake swim right up to the canoe, looking at us strangely before turning away. We managed to make it back to the portage around noon, stopping by the water for some lunch/snacks and a little exploring of the waterfall before carrying our gear to the other side. We then paddled through McDonald Lake to the exit of the lake where we portaged our gear back to the parking lot to load up the vehicle and head home. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, with incredible weather! It was very relaxing and a location that I will definitely travel to again in the future! The only downside was that it was so short. Hopefully, I can get back out camping again soon!
- Megan
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