Map provided courtesy of Toporama which contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. I have marked my route in blue and portages in red. 

Day 3 - Upper Mace Lake

When I woke up, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the lake was like glass. I immediately made my way to my 'front porch' and went for a swim to wake up.

Then, I climbed down the rock face near my firepit, picked some blueberries, and enjoyed them in some pancakes with a coffee for breakfast. Yum! 

My goal for the day was to land some trout for a meal and take a day trip to Lower Mace Lake and back. The evening prior I had fished the western area of the lake but had no luck. I paddled to the beach to take a gander and saw that there was a site there, as well. As enticing as that beach was, on this new day, I would take my time and fish other areas of the lake using a variety of strategies.

By late morning I loaded my boat for my day trip and saw a canoe coming in from the eastern end of the lake. I paddled out to say hi; I suspected that I would have neighbours on the lake that evening. Besides, these people were the first humans I had seen since the trip began, so I thought a greeting would be in order.

They were three young ladies in a massive white canoe on holiday from their health-care jobs in Toronto. It turned out that they were doing the same loop that I was, but were a day behind me. They were staying on Ezma and came into Upper Mace to spend the day at the beach there. We shared thoughts on the trip so far and I wished them luck. They seemed nice, eager, and keen to be out on their trip.

It wasn't long after that when I hooked into a large lake trout. I enjoyed a fantastic battle, got him to the boat, and lost him as I reached for my landing net. Grrrr! I didn't have my net within easy reach in the canoe and I inadvertently gave the line too much slack while I was reaching for it. That specimen was probably a good 6lbs or more. Grrr, again!

Hanging my head in shame, I paddled to the southeast corner of the lake to start my day trip to Lower Mace Lake. The 215m portage went down a huge rock slab to the left of a remarkably long water chute. 

When I was putting in at the bottom, I took a swig out of my full 1.5L Nalgene water bottle. It slipped out of my hand and crashed onto the hard slab of rock next to the canoe. It shattered at the bottom and all my water for the day ran out. Stupidly, I didn't pack my water filter thinking I would have enough until I got back to camp. Grrr, yet again! It looked like my day trip would be considerably shorter than I had planned. It was a hot, sunny day and it would not have been a great thing to attempt the trip without any water. (I would spend the remainder of the trip drinking out of my orange bail bucket!) Besides, my mind was on that laker that got away. I wanted another try!

So I paddled the length of the small lake immediately to the south of Upper Mace just to have a gander. I noticed a small cabin there on the western shore. I got to the portage into Lillypad Lake before turning around. I was already getting thirsty!