A Brisk Wind Follows

Once we were on the lake, we could see that a storm was heading our way so we didn't dally. We kept an eye on the clouds to measure how fast they were moving and when the worst of it might arrive.

Little Cedar Lake through the west part of Cedar Lake is fairly narrow and therefore protected from the south-west wind. We had no problems through this part and passed several canoes and groups that were heading out. They all had the "start of trip" focus, so there was no stopping to chat. We all smiled and nodded and continued on.

There is a definite difference in perspective between the start of a trip and the end. We were probably pretty focused on our first day too, seeing the stark difference was a great reminder about why were out there. We were paddling away from a storm, but not in a particular rush — we would have been happy to chat in the middle of the lake.

A Note on the Photos

Katherine had fun with her camera at the Bug Lake site, but then forgot to remove the special filter. We wound up using her camera for most of the day without noticing the special mode. Although it was unintentional, the style wound up working well with the stormy weather that we experienced.

Paddling Home

The weather finally caught up to us around Gilmour Island. We stayed really close to the island, going so far as to cut between their swim rock and land. Once around the island we were able to use it as a wind break to get to the northern shore of Cedar. As on Day 1 we kept fairly close to shore, following it around several bays. This made a safer trip, even though the distance was longer.

The wind was coming almost directly from starboard, which caused some tricky paddling. We did some zig-zagging to keep the wind between our starboard bow and starboard stern. Zig-zagging while following bays along shore is probably the longest of all possible routes — as mentioned, we weren't on a time table we were just happy to be out.

Stormy Seas

Despite our nonchalance we did keep a close eye on conditions. The storm reached us close to the time that we predicted, but it was only wind and light rain. We wore rain gear so that wasn't a problem, it wasn't a headwind so that wasn't a problem either. Lightning would have been trouble, but there was none. The only sign was the bit of distant thunder that startled Katherine earlier that morning.

At one point the wind and waves picked up enough to force us to shore, where we took a bit of break. In retrospect, I think we were dealing with reflected waves rather than increased storm intensity. The bay that we stopped in was more shallow than other places. I think that the shallow water caused stronger reflections and there was nowhere for that energy to go. Something to keep in mind in the future.

The shore in this area was a wall of loosely piled large rocks, I think for erosion control from when the rail line ran right along the lake. The kids got out of the boat and sat the rocks, while I stood in the lake to hold the canoe away from the sharp rocks.

After about fifteen minutes, conditions improved enough for us to get back to zig-zagging our way down the lake. The light rain lasted only about 30 to 45 minutes, but the wind kept up, getting stronger for the entire trip.

The End of the Trip

Algonquin Outfitters is in the village of Brent, which is in a bay on the north shore. Both sides of this bay have a bit of a point of land, although the western one is much more pronounced than what William and I noticed to the east during the previous year's trip.

The lake is fairly wide and the wind direction meant that there was about 3km of open water for the waves to build up. Turning around the point meant being broadside to the 2-3 foot waves, and this took some doing — getting stuck in swells like that would be bad news for us. We were only about ten feet from the shore and timed our turn to avoid the worst of it. This was definitely a condition yellow, everyone paddle, kind of moment.

The plan was to get around the point and then take a moment to recuperate. We were pretty sure AO was in this bay, but didn't know where. There was also a chance that we had not yet gone far enough. Taking time to check things out would give a chance to point in the right direction.

The kids did great on the turn, that was no problem. However, after getting around it we found a canoe already sheltering in the lee, I think to calm their dog who looked about ready to jump out of the boat. I noticed them crossing Cedar from the Nipissing River, that must have been quite the adventure. They had their hands full, so instead of stopping we just continued on.

Everyone Likes Cedar

We could see the campground parking lot now, and it was quite a different view from when we left. Back then it was nearly empty, but now it was overflowing with cars. When we were driving out later, we could even see cars parked many hundred metres down the access road. That really dispelled my ideas that Brent is quieter than other parts of the park. The weekend after labour day (like William and I used the previous year), might be a better idea.

At the park landing we noticed the family that we had met portaging a few days previous. Glad to see they made it out, even though we didn't get a chance for more chatting.

Surfs Up

We could see the park landing, but had not yet found the landing area for the Brent store. William and I had a similar problem the previous year — the shore has several docks and buildings, which block the view of the few landmarks that we could remember. Next time we'll look for the store's Canadian flag, because it is at shore and seemed to be the only one along this stretch.

By this point the waves had built to about four-foot swells and they were coming directly from the stern. If we picked the wrong landing place, it would have been nearly impossible to get back out. We also weren't even certain that the store was in this bay, so we kept our options open by heading toward the point at the western side of the bay. If this was the wrong bay, then we would still be able to get around to the next one. And would be able to angle into the store if we did spot it.

Because of the rain I wasn't wearing my glasses, and neither was William. Eagled-eyed Katherine spotted the store's canoe racks, and we turned in to them. With the huge waves directly behind, we surfed right to shore. This was a lot of fun, and meant almost no paddling, just a bit of strong steering.

We landed at about 3:30pm, so our day's paddle was just 2½ hours.