A Helicopter Dropped Me Alone in the W1lderness Then the Storm H1t
What started out as a backcountry adventure quickly turned into one of the most extreme situations I’ve ever experienced. Over the next 7 days, we were pushed to the limit battling vi0lent winter storms deep in Canada’s wilderness. At one point, we had no choice but to abandon camp and take cover.
We’ve just relocated to our emergency shelter. Well, the helicopter’s loaded down. Our inReach check went through and we are ready to head off into the wilderness. This is a bucket list experience for me right here and for him. Well, you can’t hear a single sound of
civilization and that flight alone was absolutely incredible. Flying over vast wilderness with more lakes and rivers than you could begin to count. And my goal is is to get camp set up before a rainstorm comes in because it looks like we could receive up to 1 to 2 in of rain over the next day. So, let’s get working.
I just saw a moose come out. I was putting the stakes in the tent. I looked up across the bay and I saw a big object just move right into the woods. We have some moose around and we saw one on night one. My eyes are going to be peeled for moose now. Well, it wasn’t long after I got
everything inside and the rain started and it’s been coming down for probably the last 3 hours. It’s about 9:30 right now and I’ve been working my butt off to get this camp all put together, but I think we’re looking pretty good right now. The weather tonight has been absolutely wicked. Torrential rain, high winds.
I have to say I’m very concerned about these ice conditions on these lakes. I knew we were going to get some rain, but I had no idea it was going to be anything like this. I don’t think anyone did to be honest with you. What’s going on, bud? Ali says, “Good morning, everybody.” Well, there’s around 2 ft of slush, but then there’s only about 8 in of ice below that, so it’s not looking very good to be honest, but there’s enough to fish right out in front of camp here for now.
Well, our tip up is out and where I’m fishing in Ontario right now, you only can have one line per person, so that’s the only tip up I’m able to put out. I just have it right out in front of camp, so I’ll be able to keep an eye on it. I’m going to head back and get some coffee going, then we’ll a.ssess our chores for the day.
And here comes the pouring rain again. We have a flag up. Let’s go check it out. Oh, we got a fish on, baby. We got a fish on, baby. Oh, he’s f1ghting, man. He’s going nuts right now. I have no idea what this fish is, but wh@tever it is, it’s pretty decent size. Trying to get a look here.
It’s either a trout or a pike, it looks like. Oh. It’s a laker, baby. It’s a lake trout. Well, the scenery out here is absolutely stunning. The fog is blowing right through the pines right up into the ravine that I’m camped on and we have our first fish of the tr.i.p. This is a beautiful lake trout and this lake trout is native to this area.
When I landed this fish, he spit up a piece of a de@d yellow perch, so that confirms that there are two different species in this lake because honestly, I have no idea what this lake has to offer. Every fish that comes through that hole is going to be a guess, but that’s what makes it fun and that’s what makes it an adventure.
Look at that. Just in time. Well, I was just about ready to go start cutting some firewood and it started absolutely pouring. There’s some big honeycomb pockets that are starting to form on this ice. I can see all the way through the ice almost in this hole. Actually, I can and there are air bubbles coming up.
The creek behind me right next to my camp is starting to flow very hard, so it’s pushing a bunch of water right onto the ice and look at this view right now. I can’t even describe what I’m seeing. Just so much fog rolling right through the ravine here and it’s just forming before my eyes and you can just see Look at it just shoot down like that and it’s just whirling around.
You can just see big discoloration right here in the ice. Look at the current flowing through my tip up hole right now. Not a whole lot of options around camp, but I definitely need to get some firewood inside my camp and it’s only going to last me throughout tomorrow morning, so we’ll have to stay ahead of the game on that.
Well, we are all tucked in for the evening here. I have this fire as hot as it’ll go to get things drying out. I ended up cutting a nice stack of firewood. I had that birch and went and got some other big hardwood logs cut as well, so that should be nice and dried out in about a day when I run out of my other stuff.
Trying to dry out Ali’s sleeping bag because he did track in some moisture throughout the day getting in and out of it, so want to make sure that’s all dried out for the evening as well as my coat and my clothes for tomorrow as well, so think I’m just going to have little MRE action for dinner tonight and keep it simple. I want to save the good food I brought in case I can’t fish the last few days I’m out here, so we can at least do some good cooking and some exploring, so things are looking pretty good and hopefully the rain pa.sses for a
couple days. We have beef stroganoff once again. Oh, I missed one. Yep. Oh, I missed him again. Oh, got him that time. Got him this He
hit it three times. He hit it three times. That’s a fish on, baby. This has got some decent head shakes. I don’t think it’s a monst3r, but it’s decent. Oh, nice laker, baby. Nice laker, baby. Get up. Get up. Oh, there we go. Nice one. Really nice one. Nice laker. Oh, this is a decent fish here, I think. Oh, there we go.
Another nice laker, baby. Nice. Nice. And we have more groceries. Well, Ali’s getting pretty cold. He’s wet, so I think I’m going to head back to camp and get cooking one. Well, that tent’s about 95° right now,
but our lunch is complete. We have our venison and black and lake trout. And was that delicious? This is a meal sent down from the
heavens. Backstrap off of one of the deer I harvested this past fall. Fresh bread we just made at camp here. I could not ask for anything more right now. Well, we’re all tucked in for the night. I have a nice little stack of firewood here. I’ll be able to reach into the wood stove and load it up when the fire starts to d1e out, but other than that, I think we’re going to get some sleep and we will see you first thing in the morning.
Oh my goodness. What a beautiful morning. We’re going with Goldilocks once again. There we go. Oh, that’s a good fish. Oh, that’s a dr4g screamer. Oh, it’s not a monst3r. He’s just all twisted up in my line. I think he’ll be a perfect fish for dinner. Well, our spot here has been productive so far today, but I’m going to move now and see if I can find some bigger fish or a different species.
There’s fish. There we go. Oh. Oh, taking dr4g, baby. Biggest one yet. HE’S TAKING DRAG. OH, THERE WE GO. Nice one, baby. Nice one. I’m starting to find some better fish here, that’s for sure. There we go. There we go. Nice one. Nice fish. Nice fish. There we go. Nice fish. The Goldilocks spoon is doing work for me today.
You want to go for a walk? Well, that was a great day, but now I have a lot of firewood to cut. I have a few seasonings here. I have some sea salt. I have olive oil. I have lemon pepper somewhere. Not exactly sure what happened to it, but we’re going to use that as well. And I also have an A&W root beer to go with it.
I’ve been saving that specifically for this night in hopes that we caught a trout and were able to cook it over a campfire on a beautiful night, which we have tonight. So, I’m going to get our fire going. I’m going to get our fish seasoned up and then we’re going to enjoy this afternoon and watch this lake over for a moose.
Okay. It’s time to get our trout on. Well, it’s been the most beautiful sunset and the most beautiful afternoon you could imagine and what a unique experience it’s been camping out here in the back country as the seasons begin to change, but our fish is seasoned up, as you can see.
It’s cooking right behind me on the fire here. This is a nice hot fire and I’m looking forward to hanging out by our bonfire here as darkness settles in and the stars come out. First bite of our campfire roasted lake trout. Oh my gosh. Look at that big piece of meat. It is unbelievable. The skin is crunchy. It’s crispy.
The campfire smoke, the tender, juicy meat. I’m going to eat this whole fish right now. And this is all that’s left. Totally picked clean. Well, that was truly an incredible day and now I get to fall asleep to the sound of a flowing stream right outside of our camp. The wood stove crackling. An empty wilderness outside and I’ve also heard a owl all night the past few nights and I can hear them on and off right now. I’m going to get some sleep.
I’ll always all tucked away. We’re exhausted. We’ll see you first thing in the morning. Oh, look at that sun shining through the tent right now. Oh my gosh. Oh, good morning, buddy. Oh my gosh. Incredible. Let’s go get them. We’re going with Goldilocks once again. I’m going to start off right where I I found those bigger fish yesterday and we’ll see what happens here, but I can see some clouds moving in and from what I saw in the forecast coming, we could have some freezing rain or snow rolling in at some point today. So, I’m going to
get enjoying the sunshine while it’s here. Oh, just missed one. There’s one. He was looking off into outer space. I felt this fish hit and he came back and hit it a second time. We got some head shakes. We have some head shakes. Oh. I think that was the biggest fish I’ve h00ked this tr.i.p yet.
I didn’t think it was as big as it was. I caught a glimpse of it right below the hole and then he popped off right at the hole. No. There we go. Head shaking bacon. Not a monst3r, but a pretty nice one. We’re going to send him home. Fishing’s getting hot. Oh. Feisty little guy. That guy’s a little football. BACK TO THE BOTTOM. OH, BEAUTIFUL FISH.
I’m going to get this guy back, but I think this is my biggest one of the day so far. Totally la.ssooed him. Oh, that fish smoked it. There we go. Nice fish. Well, there is a ton of current out here right now. My line is blowing underneath my hole at about a 45° angle and it seems to be increasing by the hour.
Now, yesterday when I fished, there was about 10 in of black ice and maybe about 15 in of white ice on top of that, but today there’s only about 5 in of black ice and maybe 10 in of white punky ice on top of that. So, this will definitely be my last day out here fishing and I’m very glad I didn’t venture out to some of these bigger lakes and some of these different arms on this lake where there would be more current.
Although, I probably would have found some bigger fish, I’d also be risking my life. I’m very happy with what I’ve got and how we’ve handled this situation. Little guy. There’s one. Ridiculously good.
Hard earned meal right here. Now, for dessert, I’m going to make up some donuts. Now, we’re going to hit them with their cinnamon and sugar. They are puffing up. I made enough for tonight and to go with coffee the next couple mornings, but these are everything I hoped for. It just got real, man.
I’m going to read this for you. Orange warning freezing rain. Severity severe. Significant threat to life or property. Ice build up up to a half to 1 in possible. Beginning tonight or early Wednesday morning and lasting through Wednesday or Wednesday night. Well, let’s buckle in, folks. I have plenty of firewood.
I’m going to use it sparingly. I’m going to go get a little more drinking water right now. I don’t even know. I don’t know what to think right now. I’ve never been in a storm like that before. That was not showing up on the forecast at all throughout the week. Ice storms in the winter are nothing to play with and if I would have known this was coming in, I would have been out of here today getting picked up.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried right now. What I’m seeing right now is they’re predicting we’re going to have a half inch up to an inch of ice. Now, to put that in perspective, where I’m from in northern Michigan last year, there was a ma.ssive ice storm this time of year which produced a half inch to an inch of ice and it totally decimated millions of acres of beautiful hardwood and pine forest.
It ruined thousands and thousands of people’s homes, properties and they’re predicting that storm is coming in tonight and could last for the next 24 hours. We just big lightning crash. Well, it’s starting to happen. Trees are starting to explode and crash. I just heard a big tree not too far away from me absolutely explode.
I need to get out of the shelter. I need to go set up my emergency shelter. I’m going to go set this up. Look at all the ice right here. Oh my god, the the trees have a layer of ice. Look at this. Coated in ice. We got to move. I’m going to set up right here. Camera’s off. I got to I got to move quick. Come on, bud. Let’s go. Up up in. Up in this side.
Good boy. We’ve just relocated to our emergency shelter. Branches and trees are starting to explode everywhere. We are away from them now though. There were just a couple ones I was real concerned about near our tent camp where we were, but we’re okay here now. We’re just going to have to ride it out, baby.
Look at this tree. Totally covered in ice. About a half inch ice. Strap in, cowboy. This is an extremely severe situation. I’m hearing trees and branches explode and fall all over the place and it is just pelting freezing rain right now. I just stoked up the wood stove in the tent before we left, so hopefully it will keep deflecting and melting the freezing rain as it hits the tent because so far it’s been doing a real good job of that and it’s standing firm.
There’s a freshly exploded tree and there’s one all Look at the big tree right up there. That thing has just cracked off. Unreal. These trees are all on the verge of falling or collapsing. My tent camp’s right there and that’s why I had to make bold and decisive action in the middle of the night once I started hearing branches and trees exploding because if one of those big branches up above us there fell, it could totally crush us.
I’m going to work quick. I’m going to be efficient. I’m going to try to get my shelter down here just so I can set up a basic shelter out of the canopy of trees. Did you hear that one? Exploded. Oh my gosh. That ma.ssive pine just exploded right there. You can see they’re still shaking. Well, camp is all reest4blished here and that was uh quite the experience.
The whole time I was moving, trees were cracking, collapsing, but there was one moment when I was shifting, setting up camp, that was one of the most meaningful spiritual experiences I’ve ever had in the outdoors. I finished packing down an area with my snowshoes, and in that moment I was feeling intimidated.
I was a little frightened, to be honest. But then I looked up and I saw a golden eagle soaring through the ravine just above the tree line, and as I looked at him, a tree collapsed right below him, and I saw his whole body flinch, and I could see the fear in his eyes. And then he looked at me and we locked eyes.
He soared down and did five slow, wide circles right over my head, about 10 20 yards above my head. Felt like I could almost touch him. I have never been that close to an eagle in my life. But it was like in that moment we were telling each other “We got this. We can do this.” Just every now and then, man, in the outdoors you have one of those experiences that just really fr3aking touches you, man.
It’s just like that tree snapped. I saw his whole body flinch. I could see the fear in his eye. I’ll remember this experience and remember that experience the rest of my life. Once again, I forgot a can opener for my tomato sauce, but we’ll improvise. We’ll get that baby open one way or another. A little burger for all. Well, this wood stove’s cranking.
It’s getting hot in here, but our biscuits are done. So is our sloppy joe. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, does that taste good? Had to fuel up just in time for the next storm. I’m exhausted. Well, I didn’t even fall asleep and it started pouring freezing rain again. Well, I just took a nap for about an hour, woke up.
It’s about 6:00 right now. I figured I’d come outside and just check how things are. And right now it just seems to be rain, but as you can see behind me, there’s three sisters, and it looks like they could go at any given minute. Well, I was really hoping to go on a hike today so I could show you a little bit more about the landscape and just how beautiful the scenery is in this area.
And I’m not going to do it right now because there are big chunks of ice falling out of these trees. But on this side of the bay here, we have the beginning of the northern boreal forest, which is made up of mostly pine and spruce. It’s the most nutrient rich forest in the world, and it stretches all across Canada and up into Alaska. But over to my right here, we have the Great Lakes St.
Lawrence hardwood forest, which is made up of mostly oak, maples, and other hardwood trees that thrive in more of a southern style climate. And then we have a stream that splits the difference in between the two, and we’re also on the Canadian Shield right now, which is the oldest rock formation in the world, and it spreads all across North America.
Now, you can see the shoreline is filled with ma.ssive boulders that stretch all throughout the forest as well. And then on the other side of the stream, we have a big rock face, and these were all carved out millions, if not billions, of years ago by glaciers. And like I said, they’re the oldest rock formations in the world.
So it’s just very unique and very powerful to be standing here right now where all these different landscapes collide. Well, it’s been pretty hard to get any sleep at all tonight. Everything’s been so loud. But I just made up my last piece of bread here. My stash is officially dry, so worked out pretty well on the last day. I think this might be the best piece yet.
You couldn’t ask for a more beautiful morning. With the icy covered pines, the light snowfall coming down, the sunrise, the snow blowing across the lake, the smoke coming out of the chimney. What a way to send off this tr.i.p. Well, time to take old Goldilocks off. We won’t be needing her for a while.
I’m going to have some serious gear maintenance to do when I get back home. And there he is. As we lifted off, the forest fell away beneath us. Quiet again after everything it had just been through. Hours before it was cracking, collapsing, a place that didn’t feel safe to stand in.
And now it was still. Seven days out here and we didn’t see another person. Just me, Ollie, and the ever changing wilderness. When we got dropped off, I was racing daylight, trying to get a camp together before dark, not knowing what the next week would bring. Rain, changing ice, moments where you question it, and moments when everything just clicks.
We found fish, cooked meals over the fire, watched the sun fall, and the stars take over the sky. And for a while it felt simple until it didn’t.
