Wednesday, July 11, 2007 The car was packed the night before. My 21 year old daughter Jamie and I were up early and on the road by 5:30AM. We stopped for coffee and chatted for a couple of hours while we drove. We had planned this trip 10 months earlier and were both pretty excited that it had finally arrived. She told me she hadn’t slept well the previous night because of the excitement. 2 hours into our drive she climbed into the back seat and went to sleep. She woke up a little before we got to Eau Claire. The last part of our drive was through pockets of rain, some of it a bit heavy. We arrived in Ely about 3 PM and went straight to VNO, where we checked in, went over our gear, trip planning, fishing areas, bait, etc. Looking out the window, I noticed a torrential downpour. Sure hoping things clear up for the next day! We got the key to the bunkhouse and went up and packed our personal gear into the pack that VNO furnished. Crap! I think I brought too much stuff. The pack must have weighed 70 pounds. Oh well, guess I’ll be getting a little extra exercise this trip. We set out for supper, which was very nice. Jamie ordered a filet and I had a strip steak. The filet was outstanding, but the strip steak was fair at best. We had a couple of beers too, which was nice after the 9 ½ hour drive. We walked through town a bit and bought a deck of cards and a fifth of rum for the trip. We stopped at the coffee shop and then browsed through a few of the shops in town. We headed back to our bunkhouse and turned in for the night after watching a bit of TV and checking out the weather forecast.

Friday, June 15, 2018

Overnight storms developed, and I woke up to wind, rain and thunder somewhere around 4 AM. Then lightning started with flashes and ground strikes not too far off. Most of the tall trees and tall ground was a little ways behind my campsite, but as a precaution I invited Regent to crawl up onto my sleeping pad to help insulate him as much as possible from the ground. He was happy to oblige.

By morning the worst of the storm had passed but the strong winds and some rain remained. Worse, they were now blowing straight off the lake into my campsite, and there were decent sized white caps on the lake. At times I could not see the opposite shore. The more trips I take, or maybe the older I get, the less interested I am in forcing myself to paddle in bad weather. It takes about two cups of coffee to decide I’m going to wait for better weather. After breakfast I go back to my tent to read and write for a while and then take a nap.

I woke up to the sound of something outside flapping in the wind. I stepped out and found one of the corner guy lines for my tarp, which had been tied to a tree in front of my tent, and untied from the tree and through relentless whipping about tied itself into a complex knot. It looked like a wind knot at the end of my fly fishing leader, and took about 5 full minutes to untangle.

I spent the afternoon wandering the woods behind camp and reading, then fired up my MSR stove for another boil in bag dinner inside my bug shelter. I had planned food for a 10-12 day trip, but had gone a little light on my fuel and was already starting to wonder if I would have enough for the whole trip. I had looked at the Solo twig stoves before my trip but passed, and now wished I’d picked one up as this would be a perfect situation to use one, and right inside my bug shelter too. Spoiler alert - I got one before my next trip and love it.

Went to bed early, hoping for better weather tomorrow.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Today would be a hard day.

The morning was still cloudy and a just bit of wind, but looked like it might be breaking up so I broke camp and started toward the portage into the Frost River, after adequate coffee and oatmeal of course.

About half was across the 130 rod portage I heard a booming sound. Oh please let that have been a dropped canoe. No luck. It was thunder. Again. At least my back has not given me any more trouble. I drop my packs at the end of the portage and dig out my rain jacket in case it starts to sprinkle. The mosquitoes are fierce, and of course when I need it there is nearly no wind back in this more secluded area. I head back over and get my canoe and food barrel, hearing more rumbling thunder along the way.

I shove off and start paddling down the river, thankful to get away from the shore mosquitoes. I feel a rain drop, and before I can even reach behind me for my rain jacket I am in a downpour. I mean it went from full off to full on in seconds. I pulled my jacket on, but was soaked in no time, and would stay that way for the rest of the day. Regent is a water dog, but only when it comes up from below - he dislikes when it falls from above, and he was really not liking this. Nevertheless, we pressed on - there really was no good alternative.

The rain would let up and stop and the clouds seemed to break a little as we paddled and portaged down the Frost River, then it would start over again. The cycle kept repeating. Unfortunately, the low grumbling thunder was gradually becoming louder and crisper.

I crossed a rocky five rod portage just short of Chase Lake and pushed off toward a swampy area and in just a few strokes am passing a rock ledge on the left, behind which was a good sized bull moose grazing in the swampy stuff. I think we were about 30-40 yards or so apart, but after a quick glance at me he decided to retreat back along the shoreline. I hate startling wildlife, but was relieved that he decided to retreat rather than charge as I had no were to back up to. He continued to move around the back of the swampy area as I paddled on. The river channel began curving to the left, and I realized that as I got closer to the next portage I would actually be getting closer to the moose again. Dumb luck. The moose then disappeared from the swamp into the trees to the south, having had enough human/canine contact for the day.

As I pulled up to the 30 rod portage to Chase there was flash of lighting not far away, then clap of thunder. It was getting closer, so I felt more need to hurry. I was clearly not going much further and could only hope the one and only campsite in the area on Bologna Lake was open. I unloaded my packs at the portage, then broke a cardinal rule of solo travel - I did not tie my canoe painter to anything - just pulled the bow up on some gravelly shore. Needless to say, when I walked back to be the canoe, it was floating a couple of yards off shore. My mind races for options. Swim? Why not, Im already wet. Then I thought of a couple downed pine branches just back on the portage. I ran back and grabbed the longest one, about ten feet, which turned out to be just barely long enough to reach out to the bow of my canoe and retrieve it. Thank goodness. Then another flash of lighting. Its getting closer.

Crossing Chase and arriving at the portage to Bologna, I took a moment to scout around wondering if I should just bivouac there, but it was all very dense woods and very rocky - no level ground at all. I start the portage and quickly realize its mostly uphill - great - Im actually going higher as the lighting is getting closer.

I felt no good choice but to move forward. I shoved off on Bologna praying the site would be open and the lighting would seek higher targets. Bologna Lake is actually quite beautiful, and has that rare quality of being a lake on fairly high ground meaning you don’t seem many any tall hills or trees in the distance. In a way it made me think of alpine lakes. There were couple more ground strikes not far away as I paddled, knowing these were bad conditions to be on the water, but the shoreline offered very little to land on.

Thank goodness the site was open. Had it been taken, I would definitely either have asked to crash, or just pulled up just down shore anywhere I could as I already had edged past he limit of safe paddling. If most any of us were to pull up at a site like this on any popular lake - Ensign, Knife, Ga-be, Tuscarora - we’d likely say “what a dump”. But given how remote I was, and how hard the circumstances, I felt like I was on the Riviera. Probably faster than ever in my life, I had my tarp and bug net up to protect my unhappy dog, and my tent up immediately next to it. Then a magma-sized scoop of dog food fixed Regent’s worries, and I dug out my dry, warm clothes and settled into my mostly-bug-free zone under the tarp. I am not sure if I have ever been so relieved to get to any campsite. Of course, this was another night to fire up the stove and boil water for dinner - collecting firewood was out of the question. Rain and occasional lighting came and went, and again, I retired early.

Outside my tent, I just didn't have much will to draw my camera.

Saturday, July 14, 2007 We woke up at 6AM and I discovered my sunglasses were broken in half. Nothing a little duct tape can’t fix. Jamie had fun with that for a while (at my expense). We broke down camp and packed everything up while boiling water for coffee. The sky is overcast. We want to get an early start because Ensign is a busy Lake and it’s Saturday. Also, we have a couple of major league portages on either side of Vera. VNO told us the first portage (into Vera) was muddy, and that was before 2 pretty solid days of rain. We’re a bit apprehensive about what we might find there. We leave camp at 8:30AM and see our first glimpse of the sun in a while. We troll shad raps as we travel. We each catch a smallmouth en route. We find the portage trail and I help Jamie with one of the packs, then I hoist the canoe and we take off. Jamie surprises me when she pulls out her cell phone and I find out she downloaded my favorite CD (You & Me by Joe Bonamassa). I know many people frown on music, etc. on a trip like this, but it sure put a spring in my step. The portage is muddy in spots, but not too bad, The first half is pretty much uphill. I think I remember reading that it rises something like 100 feet over the first half of the portage. I hear Jamie up ahead of me say “You’re kidding me!”. I look up and see a very steep rise (50 degrees or more?) that we’re going to have to climb. Tough footing because everything is wet, but we make it up. We walk a bit and everything seems to be leveling off. Jamie has a great idea to drop our gear at the perceived halfway point and go back for the rest of our gear. This way we can cover the tougher part of the portage with relatively fresh legs. On the way back, we find a patch of blueberries and pick a couple handfuls. Jamie has a black and yellow snake cross in front of her on the trail. We reach Vera in roughly an hour, without incident. Jamie is really invigorated. I’m so proud of her and she’s feeling proud of herself too. The sun is finally shining so we decide to take a swim. We load up and paddle Vera, seeing two other groups on our way to the portage to Ensign. We reach the trail and stop there for lunch. The weather is alternating between periods sunshine and overcast. The portage to Ensign is tough, but not as tough as the one into Vera. This one is muddier though. It’s probably 2PM when we reach Ensign. As we start for a couple campsites recommended by VNO, we notice a lot of sites already taken. We troll as we go and I catch a nice smallmouth just off one of the islands. The two sites VNO marked at the east end of Ensign are occupied and we head further east to check out a third. That one is occupied too. We reel in our lines. This is no time to fish, we need to find a site. There are only two other sites to the east, so we make a decision to head back west, where there are many other sites. We are seeing lots of sites occupied, but finally see a site directly on a point and it appears vacant. We start paddling in earnest and as we get closer confirm that the site is open. Very nice site, so we unload and set up camp in a light drizzle. This time we set up the tarp. It starts raining harder around 4 PM and we cook/eat under the tarp. We’re a bit tired and decide not to fish that night. The rain sends us into the tent and we’re asleep by 9:30PM.

Sunday, July 15, 2007 We’re up at 5:45AM. Instant oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. We packed our lunch and fishing gear and left for a day trip to Cattyman falls. We trolled as we traveled and I caught a really nice smallmouth, maybe 3 lbs. Although we wanted fish dinner that night, we had some traveling ahead of us, so we let her go. Portaged to Ashigan Lake (55 rods) and from Ashigan to Gibson (105 rods). Jamie wanted to carry the canoe this time, so I carried our day pack and the loose stuff. We left our gear at the portage to Cattyman Lake and hiked up to the falls. Really beautiful area, and the falls were definitely worth the trip. It was mid-day and the weather was picture perfect. Blue skies & bright sun without a cloud in sight. The first time we’d seen that on our trip. We started back to Ensign. We fished a bit on Gibson (below the falls) and Ashigan, but had no success. It’s pretty windy by the time we get back to Ensign. We troll back to camp, but don’t catch anything. We each snag bottom a few times but never lose a lure. It’s tough to get back over the snag with the heavy wind. We make it back to camp by 2PM. I read for a while and Jamie takes a nap. We head back out to fish at around 4PM. We’re both anxious for fish dinner and figure we’ve got a few hours to catch it. It’s still pretty windy. Jamie catches a nice northern and by the time we get it to the canoe, we’ve been blown within 10 feet of shore. We paddle the rest of the way in and I filet the northern on a rock on shore. We’re not near any campsites, so the remains get carted up into the woods. We’re both getting hungry, so we decide to troll back to camp, but don’t catch anything. Dinner is fried fish, corn, mashed potatoes and garlic bread. We burn the garlic bread and it’s pretty much inedible. The rest of dinner is outstanding. We build our first campfire of the trip and have hot cocoa by the fire. Neither of us has a desire for the rum we brought along. In fact, we’ve had maybe 4 drinks between us. More than ¾ of the bottle will make it back with us. Jamie tells me that this is her second favorite vacation that she’s ever taken and that she’s not ready to leave. She asks if we can come back next year and stay at least a full week. She left the planning for this trip up to me, but wants to help plan our next trip. Today was a great day, probably our best of the trip, and had a nice ending. Neither one of us wants to leave the next day. We crawl into the tent and read by flashlight for a bit before falling asleep.

Saturday, July 14, 2007 We woke up at 6AM and I discovered my sunglasses were broken in half. Nothing a little duct tape can’t fix. Jamie had fun with that for a while (at my expense). We broke down camp and packed everything up while boiling water for coffee. The sky is overcast. We want to get an early start because Ensign is a busy Lake and it’s Saturday. Also, we have a couple of major league portages on either side of Vera. VNO told us the first portage (into Vera) was muddy, and that was before 2 pretty solid days of rain. We’re a bit apprehensive about what we might find there. We leave camp at 8:30AM and see our first glimpse of the sun in a while. We troll shad raps as we travel. We each catch a smallmouth en route. We find the portage trail and I help Jamie with one of the packs, then I hoist the canoe and we take off. Jamie surprises me when she pulls out her cell phone and I find out she downloaded my favorite CD (You & Me by Joe Bonamassa). I know many people frown on music, etc. on a trip like this, but it sure put a spring in my step. The portage is muddy in spots, but not too bad, The first half is pretty much uphill. I think I remember reading that it rises something like 100 feet over the first half of the portage. I hear Jamie up ahead of me say “You’re kidding me!”. I look up and see a very steep rise (50 degrees or more?) that we’re going to have to climb. Tough footing because everything is wet, but we make it up. We walk a bit and everything seems to be leveling off. Jamie has a great idea to drop our gear at the perceived halfway point and go back for the rest of our gear. This way we can cover the tougher part of the portage with relatively fresh legs. On the way back, we find a patch of blueberries and pick a couple handfuls. Jamie has a black and yellow snake cross in front of her on the trail. We reach Vera in roughly an hour, without incident. Jamie is really invigorated. I’m so proud of her and she’s feeling proud of herself too. The sun is finally shining so we decide to take a swim. We load up and paddle Vera, seeing two other groups on our way to the portage to Ensign. We reach the trail and stop there for lunch. The weather is alternating between periods sunshine and overcast. The portage to Ensign is tough, but not as tough as the one into Vera. This one is muddier though. It’s probably 2PM when we reach Ensign. As we start for a couple campsites recommended by VNO, we notice a lot of sites already taken. We troll as we go and I catch a nice smallmouth just off one of the islands. The two sites VNO marked at the east end of Ensign are occupied and we head further east to check out a third. That one is occupied too. We reel in our lines. This is no time to fish, we need to find a site. There are only two other sites to the east, so we make a decision to head back west, where there are many other sites. We are seeing lots of sites occupied, but finally see a site directly on a point and it appears vacant. We start paddling in earnest and as we get closer confirm that the site is open. Very nice site, so we unload and set up camp in a light drizzle. This time we set up the tarp. It starts raining harder around 4 PM and we cook/eat under the tarp. We’re a bit tired and decide not to fish that night. The rain sends us into the tent and we’re asleep by 9:30PM.