DAY 3 6/30/23 Isabella to Sarah campsite RC

Paddle: 0.7 miles P1: 26R Isabella to Unnamed, Paddle:0.3 miles P2: 50 R Unnamed to Unnamed, Paddle 0.3 miles P3: 94 R , Paddle 0.75 miles P4: 112 R (Heart attack hill) Paddle 2 miles to campsite Total: 10.9 miles

Meals. BF Oatmeal L: Niman Ranch Sopressata, havarti cheese, mustard, mayo D: Spaghetti with marinara ,home dried hamburger, FD mushrooms, Lettuce Salad w/ rehydrated Karen's tomatoes, mini bell pepper.

We decided to have a cooked breakfast for the trip ahead. We got up at 6am. Made breakfast cleaned dishes and packed up camp. I started noticing I had gotten into chiggers again. They seem to love me. I must have put my untreated head on a rock or tree since most of them were on my chin and forehead, with 5 bites around my watch. I doused my head with Deet, Ammonia After bite and Benadryl cream. I counted 17 bites of some sort along my hat band, but must have gotten them early, the others itched for over a week. Left camp at 10am.

The portage out of Isabella is short, but really overgrown and hard to maneuver the canoe through. We took all our hand carry gear and the small pack over first since the trail was overgrown and we didn't know what to expect. We thought the trail ended about 30 feet before it did. It goes to a narrow ledge next to the creek and seemed to end at the creek where there were a bunch of big round black rocks and thigh deep rushing water blocking the outlet. We knew it wasn't right so climbed out of the creek bed and fought through the brush and small pine tree logs until we saw the trail again. It ends at a wide open sandy area and a very exposed campsite. Arggh, more time and energy lost.

P#2 37 R.No Name to No Name: Uphill with several big boulder humps from a couple of feet to 4 feet high in the trail to scale up the side and back down, slick after the rain with some special scrambling to climb over. Dan slipped and sat down with the canoe on one boulder. When I tried to lift the canoe from the back to help him stand up, the canoe slipped sideways and dislocated the middle joint on my right ring finger. It was about 30 degrees off straight. I said OH S#$T. Dan asked what's wrong. I said, I dislocated my finger, then I reached over and quickly yanked on it and it went back in joint. When we got to the end of the trail I held it in the cold lake water for a few minutes, then folded a napkin from my pocket to cushion around it and wrapped it tightly with stretchy first aid wrap and wrapped that with clear water proof tape. It seemed to help it not swell too much and restricted movement to prevent more injury. We paddled to next portage and pulled out the lunch stuff. The packaged sopressata made a really good sandwich

P#3 92 R Starts with a big pink 45 degree granite face rock with a few foot holds, about 20 rods up, more uphill then rocky downhill and a right turn at the end where it hits another portage and goes steeply downhill for another 20 R. We double carried the canoe then the gear up the granite face to start. It was wet in places and mossy patches slipped off the rock. It's a long, hot, woodsy portage. We were soaked with sweat at the end of it.

P#4 115R Side to Sarah Heart Attack Hill. This portage has been labeled Heart Attack Hill. I didn't think the uphill in this direction was too bad. Going down the other side was endless though. It was probably 1/3 up and 2/3 downhill, rocky with no flat areas. I used 1 stick with hand carry bag and paddles on one trip and 2 sticks with the fishing rods on the next trip. Beavers provide a lot of nice hiking sticks to choose from. They even remove the bark for you. They are probably cursing me for theft though.

We got to Sarah Lake and went for the lower pinch point campsite 2 miles Northwest. We had to fight a 12 to 14 mph wind from the NW that got worse when it funneled out of the channel. It got a little better as we got in the channel behind the Island. We finally made it to camp at last light, about 8 pm. Got water for gravity filter, sunshower to wash hands, put up tent, located and dug latrine in the dark. Dan got up bear bag ropes while I boiled water added to dried ingredients in their bags, cooked spaghetti and mixed in marinara and beef. Tip from Lawnchair107 on this site to boil ground beef instead of frying worked great. We got in tent well after midnight. I'm glad we had no neighbors.