Friday, July 18, 2025. The day starts with fog on the water. Just patches here and there. But large patches that obscure land at times. It’s quite strange to be on a giant lake and have no sense of direction because of fog. Thankfully, Aidan has a sense of direction, using his electronics.
When there is no land in the background, it feels like we could motor off the edge of the earth.
I would describe Great Bear Lake as being moody.
We stop for a potty break a little after 11 a.m. As was typical of every other stop except the one yesterday afternoon, if I walk inland far enough, I can find a trail.
If I ever get back to the arctic circle, I will spend more time taking photos of plants.
This shot was taken at 11:22 a.m. and probably one of my favorites, showing the clouds above, the land in the middle and the bubbly pattern in the water in the foreground.
The lake after our break was also amazing. Apologies for all the photos, but I was in awe of these scenes.
Yes, we did catch some fish. Nothing large, but the one above we deemed to be a butterfly. The one to the right is also a butterfly but I was unaware that I was covering up the pectoral fins that make it a butterfly.
In the late afternoon we stopp by the Crocquechet River (or however it’s spelled) to pick up the trail cam I’d set up several days before. The photo to the right is one of my all-time favorites.
This is marsh laborador tea, which, up close, makes the landscape look rather like an alien landscape.
I’m not really sure what this is, but it was a loose piece of perhaps animal dung previously, degraded into what felt like a dense humus, with delicate negation growing on it. Such a cool piece of…whatever it is!
Near the tee-pee parts that we saw a few days earlier (near where most people do shore lunches) was this scat, which we think is wolf scat. The photo above shows the scene near the mouth of the Crockoshay River.
After this, we head home, having caught very few fish…again.
On my walk before dinner, I see these ducks, which I think are all long-tailed ducks.
I also shot this parasitic jaeger flying by. I can’t help but wonder if it had found the wounded arctic tern (with the broken wing) I had seen and photographed earlier in the week.
The only other birds I see are arctic terns. They are not plentiful earlier in the week, but on this evening, they number about a dozen.
Thursday dinners at Plummer’s Trophy Lodge are special–each Thursday the cook and staff make appetizers and desserts which are super tasty. It is also an opportunity to chat with the guides, because they are asked to participate with the guests.
After dinner, I go for my evening walk and see fresh foot prints from a moose. I put my foot next to the print for size comparison, size 6.5.
Looks like Mr. Moose got himself a drink from the lake.
I also see this scat, which looks even more like wolf scat than the scat we saw near the Crockochit River lunch spot.
With that, it is time for bed. It has been a long day. The day was not very fishy, but the various views of the lake throughout the day were amazing. Perhaps tomorrow we will finally get a big fish.