Lake Lila has been on my list for a while. I finally had an opportunity to go as I was picking up a canoe for a friend at Mountainman Outdoor Supply Co and Lila was a little over 2 hrs away. I went the day after the holiday and arrived at the Lake about 2 pm on Tuesday. It's a long slow dirt road in and I wouldn't recommend taking any low sedans as you might not come back out with a muffler. The Subaru did great. It's a 1/3 of a mile carry in from parking lot to the lake. I talked with a fellow who was coming off the lake and he said he was the last one on the lake and I'd have it all to myself. Awesome! So I paddled in an began looking for sites. I have to say that these sites aren't marked like they are in Algonquin with large bright orange signs. They are marked with faded circles the size of the bottom of a coke can. Many times obscured by foliage. I didn't notice any along the shores on the way in but I wasn't really looking to stay on shore, I was looking to stay on 1 of the 4 island sites. Eventually I found the site on Buck Island and set up shop. I had just finished gather some wood and was ready for a little nap. Then I noticed a huge leaning birch that wasn't in the immediate area of my hammock but it was big enough that if it did fall it was landing right across my hammock. A friend of mine says never trust a birch, so I moved my hammock. Then I went down to the water and sat on a big rock and soaked it all in. I sat there for about 10 minutes without hearing a single sound. Complete silence. It was great! The silence was eventually broken by the call of a loon. It was a welcome sound as I love loons. A friend of mine says loons have 3 calls, normal call, mating and party time. The following night, I heard party time! Must have been about 4 loons continually calling to each other like crazy. It was amazing. This was my first true out of cell reach solo trip. It was cleansing beyond words. I went from Tuesday afternoon and did speak a single word until Thursday morning when I saw another human. It was nice.
Day 2, I decided to check out some of the other island sites. I had to wait till after 9:30 as the morning mist was thick. I found I liked Spruce island better because it was a nicer site and both sunrise and sunset could be watched. The other thing I noticed which I thought was a fluke on the other island. There were virtually NO bugs. This was fantastic. Went to sleep that night with no UQ or TQ as it was a bit warm.
The 3rd day things cooled down quite a bit and rain rolled in and out all day. I spent most of the day napping and reading. All in all a very relaxing day.
Day 4 was looking like another beauty and I decided to see how my foot would hold up to the 1 1/2 mile hike up Mt Frederica as that was the same distance as the portage on an upcoming trip. I took my time and was able to get to the top without much issue. The views from the top looking over Lila were beautiful! Well worth the hike. So I stayed at the top for a while and had lunch. Then I hiked back down and decided since the winds had stopped I'd take a shot at catching a trout for dinner. I only got in about a half hour of fishing before the winds kicked back up so I decided to head back to my island. Lake Lila lets you know when she will let you fish. It can be a pretty winding lake.
Day 5, I woke and the skies were dark. I got up and had just enough fuel left to have a cup of coffee with my peanut butter pop tart.(Shug knows best) Then after looking at the sky for a while I decided to pack up and paddle out before it rained. The wind was at about 20 mph so this was also a chance to see how 76's canoe paddled in the wind. It handled it like a champ.
This was an absolutely wonderful trip and the only thing that would have made it better was catching some trout but I'm not complaining. Had a great time and will definitely be going back to Lake Lila.
Here are some pics
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Mi...OthqCZUVBOEjfJ
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Originally Posted by ljane
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