Forecast: Sunny, high of 72° Low of 53°

Lakes: Adams, Boulder, Cap, Roe, and Sagus

Total Miles Traveled: 6.0

I wake up at 5:20 to use the latrine and decide to stay up and catch the sunrise. I was able to get a couple of good pictures of the sun peering through the trees.

I had my blueberry pancakes for breakfast simply add water and shake, and boy did they hit the spot! We don’t’ linger to long, we pack up and head north towards Boulder. We miss the 10r and 20r portages but not an issue as we float the canoe through without scraping or bumping any rocks. I let Paul rear seat today and I grudgingly take the middle. He has gotten pretty good with the rear seat and navigating as well. As we hit Boulder the skies start to darken and a light drizzle starts, we put on our rain coats and head towards what we know will be an interesting portage.

The portage is the 135r one that runs from Boulder and joins into a “T” with the 200r one that runs from Cap to Ledge Lake. There is a small narrow lake in the middle of the portage. As we approach the portage the landing it looks nice and wide open. As we start up it becomes a bit overgrown and hilly, but nothing we don’t have any problems with.

But then it gets interesting. We approach the small lake in the middle, Bill is in front with full pack and 3 paddles, Paul with the canoe in the middle and I was in the rear with my pack and the small day pack. Bill looks ahead and the lake looks more like a bog with a path through matted down grass. He proceeds to move himself carefully through this path and then sinks his left leg up to his thigh in mud. Paul calls me up to help but Bill gets himself out and moves more to the right on the matted down grass. He continues on as Paul and I watch from the shore. Paul puts the canoe down and we both look to the left and notice that the portage actually had taken a sharp left but Bill had missed it as it was only 8” wide due to overgrowth. As we realize this, Bill is hooking to the left toward this path he doesn’t know about, he is 50 yards ahead of us and I can only see his torso up because of the grass. As we call out to him and he disappears straight down! I throw of the day pack and my pack in about 2 seconds and charge in. As I round the corner I see Bill up to his chest in mud and water. He had the paddles horizontal in front of him that kept him from sinking further into the hole he created. He uses them to pull himself out like a soldier using his rifle to snake along the ground. Just then another traveler appears approaching from the opposite direction and tells him which way to go. He also took a picture of Bill.

At this point I start to head back, sink in the 1st mud hole that Bill did with my right leg because I am laughing so hard (as is Paul) at Bill’s misfortune. The other traveler yells to us that that isn’t the portage to which Paul and I laugh even harder because we already knew that. We grab our gear and take the sharp left and skirt around the bog till we catch up with Bill who has pulled himself out. Smiling we tell him that wasn’t the path (like he didn’t already know!) We talk a few minutes with the other traveler and his partner (who has caught up with him) at the correct crossing for that small lake. We float the canoe 20’ and continue up the portage. I take the canoe from Paul at the top and head toward the “T” once again.

It’s starting to drizzle again and all of the mosquitoes decided to pay a social call to me under the canoe and chat. Thank god for Permathrin! Too bad it doesn’t stop them from buzzing the tower!

We head through Cap and then into Roe Lake. The rain has stopped and the sun is starting to show. Roe Lake has a really cool winding path through all the tall grass and lily pads, kinda settling after that last portage. We his Sagus the sun is fully out and join up with the route we took in 2007. We take a spot we have used in the past along SE corner of the lake @ 2:15. It’s a secluded spot up on a hill with nice shade and overlook.

We have our lunch and set up our tents and take a short swim. I then head to the lake with my dromedary bag and filter and start to fill it. I then hear a grumble in the distance and see a storm front moving in. The storm looks about 20 minutes away, so we quickly put up our Tarp and gather our gear under it which last for about 40 min. Nothing too serious just a good downpour.

Then it’s my turn to prepare dinner. I pull out the Mountain House Beef Stew which is pretty good. I will have to try making my own next year though. The sodium in these packs is a killer! The storms come again at 8:20 and last for another 20 minutes. We watch the cloud formations which look really cool for a bit, and then I decide to catch up on the journal. I head to bed at 9pm to the rain drops falling from the trees to my rain fly. Kinda soothing actually.