Rediscovering Blue lake – Kirkpatrick – final chapter
The plan was simple enough. We were to finish the trip where we had begun — Blue Fox Lodge — and get flown out in the morning, after a night of hot showers, a sauna, a fancy dinner and a cozy bed (all at the reasonable cost of $125 per person). But when has a plan ever been perfect on a canoe trip. This is one of the most frustrating but, later on, the most memorable parts of traveling in the north.
A cold rain pelted the window of our cabin in the morning and I announced to Ashley, my canoe partner, that there was no way a bush plan was coming to get us in this weather. So we enjoyed a good breakfast, great lunch and a then a fantastic dinner while we waited for the weather to improve. But it didn’t. We paid up for another night at the lodge and all phoned home on the camp’s satellite phone to let family and friends know that we would be delayed; then went for another sauna.
In the morning I awoke Ashley with the bad news it was still raining and told him there was no way a bush plane was coming to get us in such poor weather, once again. So this time we spent the time waiting by taking in the surroundings. Jay and Jeff went west of Kirkpatrick and canoed a series of small lakes in hopes of catching Walter — a legendary over-sized brook trout that Jay had caught and released a number of years ago. And they did. Walter weighed in at over 8 pounds. An absolute monster. Ash and I, guided by lodge employee, Chris Moose, went east of Kirkpatrick Lake to fish for Blue Lake region’s legendary rainbow trout, stocked in the 1940s and self-sustained since then. And we caught them, as well as a few speckle trout and quite a few lake trout — all on the fly and all an incredible extension on what had already been a fantastic trip.
In the morning I awoke Ashley again, but with the good news that it was no longer raining. Then I told him it was now snowing, and there was no way a bush plane was coming to get us in such poor weather, once again. So this time we spent the time waiting by playing X-box. Yes, we played X-box in the wilderness. When Ashley found out that Chris Moose had an X-box system in his cabin and by simply paying for the extra gas for the generator he’d let him play a few games of Tiger Woods Golf 09 and NFL Football, my canoemate could care less if the plane ever came in.
We returned for a fish fry, and Chris even turned the generator on for Ashley so they could play a few games of X-Box Tiger Woods Golf.
Let’s just say it was a sad moment when the weather improved.
