The kids and I left September 15 and Matt came home September 23. Matt had some guests in camp right up until he left, but he was putzing around camp while they were out fishing. We have a pretty good closing list, but when you know you only have a week left up there after 4 months, you go a bit crazy...seriously! I did as much as I could be responsible for before I left and Matt finished off the rest. There is a lot to do and when we are not doing projects together, its tough to recall if you did something or not...'Did I drain the oil out of the last leg we put away? or did we run a screw through the lodge door after we put bait in the doorway?" It's those kinds of things that compel us to do another run up to the lodge...that and we miss it dearly the second we get back to reality.
So, Matt and I (and of course Timber) packed a light load and went back in for the first few days of October. We left at around 4:30 and hit LaRonge just in time for Robertson's Trading Post to be open. I love that place...I could spend hours in there but we are always on such a time crunch that Matt is practically dragging me out of there! If you have never been, I highly suggest you stop in there on your way in or out to us. The pictures, my lord, are so amazing....I wish I could spend the day just looking at all the faces in the pictures, analyzing and contemplating their history and life experiences. The taxidermy animals and the furs are absolutely beautiful, there are stacks of amazing furs that were trapped by locals then displayed for sale...a lynx fur will run you about $450 right down to a little white weasel for $15. I always pick up some sweet grass for $5/braid because its a nice vehicle air freshener just as it is...we don't burn it at all. Robertsons has collected many moose hide embroidered/beaded jackets over the years and they have them all on display because they are clearly marked "Not for Sale". The handicrafts are amazing....the attention to detail and the skill is remarkable! I can appreciate those types of things all day long....Matt is there for the beef jerky that they make in-house...once he has that he is done and wants to leave hahahaha! So we stopped for a record 20 minutes, matt got his beef jerky and we were off again for the final stretch.
We arrived in really good time, around 1pm...We walked to check the camp, the campground and the game cameras...not much on them, but there were lots of tracks on the driveway and on the runway...moose, fisher, fox and a lot of wolf. In fact, the next day, there were very large wolf tracks on top of our footsteps on the runway...its not the bears that EVER worry me, its the wolves. So stealthy and so elusive.
We did some chores then got the boat out for the following day. We fished for 2 days and did really well. We covered our hot spots on both lakes, got to the portage and had a trout shore lunch for 2 days in a row. We had a daily campfire and a fire rolling in the cabin for the entire weekend. The weather was fairly decent, +10 but overcast with small breaks of sunshine...no rain which was nice. We caught lots of really nice pike, in the 27-30" range...all generally the same size! Matt caught what felt like a good sized fish, but when he got it up to the boat, what he had really caught was a little 10" but larger 30" pike had ahold of it. As he got it to the boat, the larger fish let go and matt just landed the little one. We had 3 double headers and it was funny because one of us would have a pike and the other would have a trout! In the end, it was a good catch and release weekend minus the couple trout we ate for shore lunch.
Historically, there had maybe been some rodent problems in the lodge, but we found a couple holes this summer and sealed them up with steel wool and spray foam. We laid out a TON of bait inside and out before Matt closed it up before he left. When we opened and checked it, no signs of mice and no nibbles off any of the bait! Fingers crossed we have eliminated any potential access points rodents would have used. I take extra precautions in the lodge anyways, but I still don't like to see any mouse signs. I remove ALL food, that's a given then I remove all dishes, glasses and cutlery from the shelves and put it in totes or bag it, we wrap the stove in a heavy duty plastic and seal with tuck tape then lastly we bait and set out traps all over the place. So far so good, we will see what its like in the spring!
New paint!!! Totally forgot until I looked through the pics from that weekend.....I am absolutely painting the cabins next year! I hope to get 2 coats up, but we will see. I took 3 shades of blue and slapped them up on the side of a cabin but they are not the right shade....needs to be darker for sure! Matt's sister, Arlinda and her husband Stan are coming up next May when we initially go in...at least I should have a bit of help.
Fall is such a beautiful time up here. You don't realize how much Tamarack there is until you see it during the colour change. The shoreline is spotted with Tamarack large and small.
It was sure nice to get away without kids, but any time you spend up there is not enough time. Sure 4 months seems like a long time and its always nice to get back to our house, but as soon as the laundry is done I wish I was back up there. One day Matt and I will be able to call it our full-time residence. For now though, we will look forward to May 16, 2020.
Today is our Thanksgiving Day. We have a lot to be thankful for and we know it. Not a day goes by that we don't count our blessings for all that we have.
Drive or Fly...Adventure North to Davin Lake Lodge
Danica, Matt, Milo, Freja & Timber
PS/My next post will be when I am taking bookings for 2020. Anyone who has contacted me about 2020 will also get an email