Marsh at the west end of Sandy Lake
It was another nice though cool morning as we took the canoe across to the far side of Sandy Lake. The wind was from the east so it was behind us and with the long open sweep of the lake built to become quite strong by the time we were on the west shore. It was nice in the sheltered marsh and I tried to photograph some of the ducks. I didn’t have much luck with ducks as they flew away before we could get close but I did get some good photographs of both male and female red-winged blackbirds.
Just as we were about to leave and so I was putting my telephoto lens away, a number of otter stuck their heads up out of the water not far away. Unfortunately they were gone by the time I got the lens remounted. Though we could hear them snorting in the weeds, we couldn’t see them again.
We stopped at the island to eat lunch and to wait and see if the wind would die, since there were now whitecaps on the lake. Just as we were finishing lunch we heard a loud slap of a beaver right in front of us. Shortly after the beaver appeared and swam back and forth as if it wanted to come ashore. It swam to just a few feet from us but then finally swam away.
Loons
By now I had the camera set up so got a couple of pictures of the beaver. There was also a loon which we could see just around the corner behind some brush. Finally it swam in front of me so I could get its picture. A second loon joined it and the two swam back and forth diving just off shore and calling to other loons out across the lake
We stayed on the island for almost two hours while I took a lot of pictures, then we started back. It was quite rough at first as we headed straight into the wind and the white caps. We cut across to the northeast shore to try and avoid the wind. It may have helped some, though by now the wind seemed to have decreased, at least some of the time, though we still got some strong headwind gusts.
Not long after we got back to shore a young man who was backpacking stopped very close to our campsite and set his pack down. A few minutes later he asked if the water in the lake was safe to drink and we told him, “yes,” but that it needed to be boiled or filtered. Since his accent showed that he was clearly not local we struck up a conversation with him, learned that he was from Germany here in Canada for about three months of hiking and wilderness travel. He had hiked across to the west side of the park and back and was planning on hitch hiking a ride into Waskesiu later on today.
We found that he had met several people we know here and in Waskesiu. After a couple of hours visiting and sharing experiences with him we offered him a ride into the town. Daniel W–, who had just finished his first degree, couldn’t understand why the park was so undeveloped and the hiking trails so underutilized. I think he found it amazing when we told him how few people live in this area. We shared a lot of common interest though in wilderness and it’s beauty and solitude.
After driving to Waskesiu and back we built up a campfire in our neighbor’s (who left earlier this afternoon) firepit, and roasted sausages for supper. Enid took advantage of the fire to also roast some marshmallows, so now we really have been camping!