Lake Obabika
Breakfast cooked on the campfire bed again. In a flurry of activity Bill and Anne gathered the boys (who had been up since 2:30 am), packed up and headed down the Obabika River homebound to southern Ontario. Bill figured 8 hours they'd reach their destination at the south end of Obabika Lake. We spent a few more hours talking with Alex and MaryCarol . Even in the cool of their cabin we sweated. The dogs were passing the heat of mid day stretched out beneath the cabin. By 3, we launched the canoe and paddled north again. We would be returning by dog sled with Craig and Allie sometime in February. Winding up through Wakimika River and Wakimika Lake, which means a lake dug out. wind with us, stopping on a beach for tea. A portage into Chee-sko-way and on to Diamond where we camp.
Alex makes masks of birchbark, some more frightening than others. |
Lake Obabika
Paddled up Diamond with the wind to our backs, very hot and humid. We make Kalija go for a swim to cool off. Her heavy coat, "her snowsuit" we call it, is definitely not the best thing to be wearing today. The pictograph walls draw us to them.... after a while you begin to pick out the best places to find them. The rock is white and no lichen grows on it. The paintings are clear to see, at eye height standing on shore near the canoe. Paintings always draw us into the human past so apparent everywhere we are travelling in Temagami. A beautiful afternoon spent paddling the length of Lady Evelyn Lake again with the winds to our backs. We fly. We're camping on Sucker Gut Lake with a view to Maple Mountain by nightfall. Incredible formations of cumulous both to the west over the mountain and highlighted at sunset.... and to the east lit up by the last of the sun. Orange and purple streaked with lightning. Sheet lightning everywhere. The humidity is high. We can cut the air with a knife. Kalija never stops panting. We watch the storms parading down the sky either side of us but no rain reaches us. Thunder rolling through the hills... Maple Mountain known as Cheebaigin [gee-bay-jin] means the place where the spirits go. Tomorrow we go there.
Alex Mathias, head of the Misabi family, is one of the 14 family elders whose traditional family hunting grounds comprise N'daki menan...the lands of the Tema - augami Anishnabi. He is crouched beside a lake called Shish-kong-abikong meaning 'the place of the big rock'. The tall pillar of rock is an unusual sight, a sacred place in the heart of the Obabika old growth forest.