Oh Canada, Day Two!

Into the Wild Blue

After a 10:30 PM dinner in the tiny town of Armstrong, Ontario, we spent last night in the guest cabin of the Mattice Lake Outfitters. We have been given instructions to have our gear on the docks by 6 AM to take our seaplane or 'puddlejumper' as my dad likes to call them, out to Lake Guerin for the week. There is only one cabin on the lake and it will be ours. An entire lake unto ourselves. Not to mention the portage lakes that we can walk to. I try to imagine what the cabin will be like and I worry about how long it will take for me to get bored with doing nothing but eating, fishing and spending time in the company of my uncle, cousin and father. We were told the solar power at the cabin is just enough to power the small flourescent light kits attached to the ceilings. That means no music from my headphones, no charging batteries, nuffin. I'm ok with this. My head surely wouldn't be able to get any clearer after this trip. I could use it. Pull the plugs.

We're up and moving around the guest cabin at 5:30, anxious to get started. We drive our substantial gearbags and boxes of food next to the dock and begin to unload. There is coffee waiting for us as well as a few guys to help load us up and out. Yolanda, whom one of the portage lakes is named after, greets us happily. We all exchange pleasantries, sign receipts and get ready to board.

Our pilot's name is Tom. He has been doing this for many years and I suspect he may have had some time dusting crops or a tour in Nam. his eyes are narrowed, his back hunched as if someone took out two middle vertebrae without telling him. Jason, Yolanda's husband, says we're ready to go as I'm walking across the docks, taking pictures of this large seaplane called an 'Otter'. -All 1.1 million dollars worth, no less. he notices me fumbling around with the Horizon as I get it put away in my bag. "That's a pretty fancy looking camera!" he says as I grin and nod. "It's one of my favorite things." I reply. Tom steps in and gives us the final call to jump in. "I have an extra seat in the cockpit if anyone wants to ride up there, he says."

I barely look around at my family as I answer that I'd like to take it, if no one else is interested. Seriously. I was made for this. I think myself lucky as I pick up my bag. "Oh you'll have to leave that in the back of the plane, not much room up there." Jason tells me. "But keep that camera with you for sure." I feel my eyebrows shoot to the top of my sleepy forehead and hand the bag to my Dad, already in the plane. "Oh yeah, she's coming with me."

Left foot first, Tom says and I'm up quick and easy. Camera primed. I've already got 3 shots in when Tom buckles up and starts the engine. He offers me earcups for the noise. Following Dad's advice, I take them quickly and put them on. We bend around and take a wide turn to the middle of the lake. Our runway looks like glass.

Tom throttles up the engine and throws a few switches and I swear that we are in the air in 12 seconds. It couldn't have been more than 100 yards and we're gliding over trees. I stop again and think about how lucky I am. I turn hard to my left and try to snap a picture of the three passengers in the back with my panoramic, hoping it comes out. I give my dad a nod as I turn back to face the window on my right.

There must be hundreds of lakes on thousand of acres of thick lush forest under us. We quickly run out of any sign of civilization as even the logging roads have stopped their snake-like trek into these remote areas. The emerald canopies occasionally reveal a glint of steep granite cliffs, 70 or 80 feet high. The hide everything under them. Our flight is level and we have 20 minutes or so left of our 45-minute jump to Lake Guerin. I stare closely out my window at what looks like a large bird far away. Squinting, I make it out to be another plane in the sky. He's looks like he's headed this way, I think to myself. I'm guessing we see each other as our flight paths narrow together.

We're gaining on him...