So, after finally reserving a very last-minute backcountry campsite at Lake Tea East, two days later we were off from Toronto. But the trouble started before departure, when I made the mistake of telling my group--6 of us in total, 4 of them first-timers--that the portages will be short. Fast forward to Saturday 4am in the morning, and we're trying to fit a cooler in the trunk, filled with burger meat, frozen water bottles, pasta, pasta sauce, etc. The thing weighed a ton! One guy was also bringing an umbrella. Anyways, we must've been the laughing stock of the wilderness, because the 6 of us had 6 backpacks, plus that huge cooler, plus 4 shopping bags filled with junk, plus a tent bag, and I'm sure some other stuff I can't remember right now. But I digress...

We finally made it to the water around 11am. We had gotten there later than planned, and my worry was not being able to find a nice site easily on such a big lake. And it turns out I wasn't worried for nothing, as it took us an additional 90-120 minutes to find a campsite once we got to North Tea East. We finally settled for a spot on the Northeast site around 6:30pm. It wasn't getting the sunset sun that a lot of the sites, including the islands, were getting, and I was a bit jealous since I kept passing by so many people that were just laying in the sun, enjoying what was a beautiful, warm evening. But our site was flat, had plenty of firewood, didn't have mosquitos like another site next to a swamp we had checked out before that, and was next to a hiking trail (forgot the name). The portages were a b*tch though. I was late with the whole planning so we had these 65+ lb canoes, plus all that junk we were carrying with us (the cooler must've weighed at least 50lb). Not exactly fun.

We settled down, had some BBQ chicken and lamb with bread, and called it a night around 1am. It had started raining by then. At 3:00AM I woke up because the tent where 3 of us were sleeping in, and one which my friend had lent to me telling me it was waterproof, was completely wet, forcing me to get out in pouring rain to put a tarp over it. The next morning it was still raining until 10am, so we all stayed in our tents until then. ONce out, I examined the tent to see if we made a mistake when putting it down, but it was as it should've been. Anyways, the tarp was doing its job, but the fabric was still wet and it never really dried completely. We hiked a bit, caught the sun in our canoes on the lake in the evening, and I spent most of the day chopping wood and making feather sticks in preparation for the night. Everything was completely wet though from 10 hours of raining.

Next day again it was raining. We tried waiting it out before making it back to our cars because it was really windy, but it didn't die down. So we finally started heading back in thunderstorm. One of us who hadn't listened to me and didn't have rain gear decided to play genius and installed her umbrella on her back so that it would cover her head hands free! I kid you not. We told her this isn't stable--I thought we're going to have a marry poppins any second--but she wasn't listening to us. Towards the narrow strip between North Tea East and West, I turned around to check on the last canoe, only to see her and my brother in the water, with the canoe flipped over. Thankfully he was close to the shore, and I quickly paddled back and jumped in the water to help them out (as did another lady who was paddling nearby... my sincerest gratitude to her). After 10 mins we decided to keep going, with the rain and wind coming hard at us. Thankfully the wind seemed to be coming exactly from the direction to which we were headed to. This was slowing us down, but it kept the canoes relatively stable. On the occasion that we steered 20 degrees left or right, the wind was so strong that it was really, really difficult to get it back on course, and could easily turn the canoe around. And in the middle of North Tea West, I must admit I was a bit scared and stressed since the water was really, really choppy, and I was looking around me and thinking "if one of us flips over again, we're so far away from shore." 

More thunderstorms. More rain. More wind. And we were by far the slowest canoes. At one point when I was behind my group, I kept seeing them make their way in the most bizarre zig zag route ever. 

Anyways, somehow we finally made it back to Northern Wilderness Outfitters, drenched and soaked. They have a hot sauna there, and that's the first thing we did. But 5 minutes later, the sun was out and an amazing sunset was watching over us. It was infuriating!

It was a tough trip. On the way back, I was really stressed about the other people in my group. But now that we finished it safe and sound, I must admit it was an interesting experience. 

Next year it'll be back with my own group of camping friends, with dehydrated food, bars, that one extra can of chilli soup, and experienced paddlers!