Monday, June 23, 2008 We got a bit of a late start this morning. The plan was to head back and do the Clearwater circuit exiting from Turtle back onto B.E.. We paddled the short distance over to the portage to Gull and hit the ground. We knew we had to double portage so my Dad and I headed off with a canoe and the boys with a pack. We had been told this portage was pretty tough. While it does have some good size ups and downs and a real boggy section it is not that bad. It does take you through the heart of the recent fire area. We found this area to be really cool and spent some time just looking around on our trip back to pick up the second load. 

About half way through the portage you start to see the area that burned last year. Here are some pics:

   There are many flowers to be seen along the portage due to the fire including a rare find of 7 Lady Slippers!!! One section of the portage near where we took these pictures was very wet and at one point I was up to my knees in muck. The mosquitoes seemed to be rather hungry on this portage. We repacked the canoes and paddled the pretty little river before the next portage into Gull. 

The short portage into Gull is easy from the river. We met another group heading towards B.E. and had a brief chat. We paddled to the point outside the bay that holds the portage to Pietro and ate a shore lunch. Dad went out to pump some water and to our relief the water from Gull (and Pietro for that matter) had much less tannins than Gabbro and B.E. and was much more drinkable particularly for the boys. 

There appeared to be only one campsite on Gull occupied. We hit the portage to Pietro as we had hopes of possibly making it to Clearwater this night. The portage from Gull to Pietro is a mess. The majority of the portage is a swamp and due to high water it was muddy the entire way. We did find two "alternative" paths off to the right that others had used to keep you out of the muck on our 2nd trip through and these were helpful. On the Pietro end of this portage we found 2 ground bees hives. Luckily we were able to load up and get by without any stings. If you are in this area be very careful where you set packs!!! We held up about 15 yards short of the end during our dbl portage. 

By the time we got through the portage we knew we were going to spend the night on Pietro. We checked all the campsites starting with the southern most and found the only real good campsite was the one closest to the portage to Camdre (1738). We had the lake to ourselves. While my Dad and I set up camp the boys tossed out some slip bobbers with leeches right off the campsite shoreline. Keegan's bobber had barely settled on his first cast before it went under with authority. He promptly reeled in a nice smallmouth. When the same exact thing happed to Raleigh we knew we had the right spot. For the next 45 minutes the boys were in the midst of a smalley frenzy as the caught and released more than a dozen fish each. We kept 4 bice ones for dinner. At one point my Dad and I just sat down and watched as the smalley jumped and fought on the other end of the boys poles. What a joy to watch!! 

Pietro can be sliced lengthwise in regards to fire damage. Sadly the NW side with all the campsites is on the burnt side. Pietro must have been a beautiful lake prior to the fire. The undergrowth is well on its way back. and we saw many loaded blueberry bushes in parts of the lake. The fishing on the lake was awesome. There is obviously plenty of firewood and the 3 campsites we were able to find all had latrines. While the campistes are not pretty due to fire damage the fishing is awesome and the lake worth visiting. We finished our dinner of smallmouth and potatoes and hit the sack pretty weary with some rain starting to come down.