Day 13

Esker in Flett Lake - Northern section of Wholdaia Lake

Distance 39 km [242 km]
Portage 0 [12]

On the water at 8am heading north on Flett Lake, we entered Wholdaia mid-morning turning west into a cross wind with big waves when on the open water. It was hard work paddling until we reached a beach about mid-day where we had lunch and spent two hours waiting for the wind to moderate. We set off again mid-afternoon as the wind had dropped but the water remained lumpy and we were back onto a 1:250,000 map just as we needed to navigate through a complex group of islands. Decided best place to find a camp would be on an esker in the main northern section of Wholdaia. We stopped and checked out one beach on route and it had the most amazing amounts of spruce pollen being washed ashore, it looked like thick yellow sludge. We finally arrived at a suitable camp site, a nice beach which even had a “kitchen rock”.

Heading north on Flett Lake

Heading north on Flett Lake

Spruce pollen turned the water milky brown, western end of Woldaia Lake

Spruce pollen turned the water milky brown, western end of Woldaia Lake

The day was still very warm about 30 degrees C and the sun was beating down on us as there was no shade. The bugs were intense so despite the heat we were forced to wear long pants tucked into socks, long sleeves and head and face covering, it was debilitating so we both sat in the water until about 7pm before setting up camp. After our meal we both stripped off and went into the lake to cool off, again the water was surprisingly warm. Both the camp site and the beach we had stopped at had wolf prints in the sand but we saw no other signs of wildlife. It was still warm when we went to bed.

Camp on Woldaia Lake

Camp on Woldaia Lake

Wolf prints on the beach at our Woldaia Lake camp

Wolf prints on the beach at our Woldaia Lake camp