July 6 – Across Wyclese Lagoon

It rained overnight and was still drizzling in the morning. Everything outside was soaked. I got up around 10 am and packed up.

It was a difficult entry, with a steep rocky slope down to the water through thick alder bushes. This is wide angle so it makes everything look flat.

Looking back to where I put in. I came from the right. There is a road hidden in the forest. And going backwards, the road eventually turns left again and goes back to Mereworth behind that hill. That’s where I came from.

It was good to be out on the water again. I moved fast, at least relatively speaking. It was certainly easier. But compared to bicycle touring, it’s still a snail’s pace. I will never complain about headwinds on my bike.

It was cloudy and calm, a nice leisurely paddle down Wyclese Lagoon.

There was lots of floating woody debris in the lagoon. And the water tasted fresh to me. I did see a seal around here, however.

Paddling along the shoreline was interesting with hundreds of little waterfalls cascading down through the tree roots, fed by all the recent rain.

The opening to the left leads northwards to Smith Inlet. Long Lake is just past that on the right.

Looking back to where I just portaged. That light green line is the road I walked down, from the left behind the mountain. It goes to the right, then hits the junction, at which point I walked towards the camera and crossed over to the left side.

I was getting concerned about finding a campsite since there were no beaches and no apparent tidal variation. This is looking towards the outflow of Long Lake. The lake is just over behind that first little piece of land.

I figured I’d head over to see the lake outflow, and then just go out to the ocean if there were no good spots.

And then I spotted this! A dock! And a road! Things always seem to work out out here.

I set up camp and aired everything out, which definitely needed it.

More hummingbirds

I was wondering exactly what this dock and road were for. Obviously, to get to the lake, but I wondered why it was so well maintained. Tire tracks on the road indicated that people had been here recently, but there were no boats. I was kicking myself for leaving my wheels back at the other end of Wyclese Lagoon. I didn’t have space for them and I didn’t think I would be needing them again. I walked up the road a bit but then got a little concerned about bears so then I came back. It is a kilometer to the lake from the dock.