Un-named Lake 'F' - Bompass Portage
Distance made good – 23 km [63km]
Portage 1 [7] [460 x 7 = 3.220 + 43.3 = 46.520 km]
The weather gods are really smiling on us as today was another beautiful sunny day with a little high cloud and though the forecast was for 25 degrees C the cool wind and cold lake water kept the temperature down and made for very pleasant paddle.
Again we were on the water by 9am for a short paddle as we could see the portage entrance from our island camp. The portage was 460 metres long, it was relatively dry though rough underfoot with a difficult rocky exit. We were through and on Chipman Lake by 10.30 am.
South end of portage out of un-named lake ‘F’, Day 4 camp was on the island
Chipman Lake is long, really just a broadening of the Chipman River, and 1 to 2 kilometres wide in parts with many arms however it did have a number of narrow sections where we had to paddle against a moderate current. After lunch the lake became very narrow but we were blessed with a tail wind [a rarity] which balanced out the strong current and we made great time up the lake and back into the river. We found an excellent camp site at the south end of the Bompass Portage. After a dearth of camp sites over the past four days we were heartened to see many excellent spots in Chipman Lake from the narrows on.
It has been a good day and we feel we are making progress at last. It has been great to be paddling and not just staggering under heavy loads. The only complaint we have would be the numbers of bugs which increases by the day.
View of the rapids from our campsite at the end of Chipman Lake
Campsite at extreme NE end of Chipman Lake