Canoe Trip from 1998 La Verendrye Reserve Quebec

[crazyfingers]

I was looking at maps and photos of a canoe trip from 1998. From 1993 to 2003 my college friends and I would do a camping trip about every other year. Usually Quebec but sometimes Maine and once to motor boat trip to Lake Powell.

The Trip to Lac Carrier to Lac Canimine in La Verendrye Reserve was terrific.



After a few hours paddling we came to the campsite which is that little poke out of the east side of Carrier by and island to the west. Sandy beach. Nice camping area in the woods. The first morning was foggy.


The fog soon cleared and we discovered that the sandy beach stayed very shallow a long way out!


This was pretty much paradise.


One morning some bear cubs came by and were eating the blueberries at the camp site. We were very aware that mama doesn't let the cubs get too far but mama didn't show up so when the cubs bounded off to the island we carried on.


There go the cubs past my canoe.


Fishing. Resting. Start the camp fire.


Dinner and then evening started to arrive


Fishing in the sun set


Next morning mama bear came by. She was very non-threatening as most black bears are. But we decided it was time to move along

 

[crazyfingers]

We quickly packed up camp and headed north to connect with the next leg of the trip

A pleasant day of paddling


After several hours we arrived at the next camp site. An island.


This camp had no beach but good enough landing sites and very roomy camping spots in the woods.


Evening and some fishing





Dinner


These weeks in the Canadian wilderness were great.

 

[ZiprHead]

I've seen seen videos of people coming across black bears in the wild. I've never seen an attack. They usually just give the human a good sniff then move on. But it's never a good idea to end up in between momma bear and her cubs. All bets are off then.

I looked it up. There have only been three documented fatal bear attacks in Michigan. The last in the Porcupine Mountains in upper Michigan in 1978. Usually about one non-fatal attack per year and it usually involves a mother with cubs.

 

[crazyfingers]

Ya I did a lot of reading on canoe camping up north and there was always at least one chapter on black bear encounters. While it's a bad idea to get between mama and cubs, otherwise black bears would rather avoid contact. Basically be loud so it knows you're coming and it will avoid you.

In this case it took almost a whole day for mama to show up. We never saw the cubs again. But we skedaddled anyway.

 

[ZiprHead]

I haven't gone canoeing since I was a kid. My father had an old wooden canoe that he fiberglassed over the outside to preserve it. We always took it on our vacations.

The last real vacation I took was a bunch of friends and family rented a 65' houseboat on Lake Cumberland in Kentucky. Air conditioning, a slide off the roof and a five person hot tub. At night, we'd pull into one of the many coves, gather wood and make a campfire. It was a major blast.