Day 6, June 5, 2008
Travel this day was 6.5 miles over Rocky, Oyster, Hustler, and ending at Emerald Lake with 3 portages (423 r). On the water 8:15 AM and stopped for the day at around 1 PM. Camp was made on the N end of Emerald Lake.
We are up at 5:30 and greeted by a heavy overcast day. During the night it poured, but inside our REI Taj’s we were dry. This was the first real test of the tents under a very heavy rain, and as of now, I am very pleased with the tent performance. They will get tested again over the next two days. breakfast was egg-SPAM-cheese wraps and the usual cowboy brew. The meal felt good on this damp day.
We hit the water at 8:15 AM. Rain was holding off and we spent a bit of time looking for the pictographs on Rocky Lake. We found them, but they were not impressive. The most obvious character was a cross. Rocky was a pretty little lake and somewhat an equal to lakes like Eugene and Little Beartrack.
The 65 r portage into Oyster was an easy trail and a good way to get the muscles warmed up before the 310 r portage into Hustler. It took us 1.5 hours to complete the portage into Hustler, and the load hauling portion was broken by a leap-frog carry where gear was continually moved up the trail. This is a good system and it sets my mind at ease because we reduce the amount of time that the food pack is left unattended. We broke the trail into load carries of about 15 and 10 minutes. I think we average about 100 r / 10 minutes (give or take a few minutes depending on terrain).
The entrance into Hustler Lake was a pretty one and we were very surprised that the camp sites on the east end were vacant. We, however, had our sights on staying at Emerald and to that end we made short work of the short paddle to the 48 r portage into Emerald Lake. That portage is a bit hidden and not marked by heavy use. Our game plan was to only carry one canoe over and check out the camp site on the north. If it was open and nice we planned to stay. It was open and it was nice. We stayed, but first we entertained a “little bit of discontent” among the troops over a miscommunication on who was to carry what over the portage following the visual signal that we were going to stay.
After sorting things out, we loaded the canoes for the short hop to the camp site. Rain was still holding off, but the sky had the feeling it was going to spring a leak soon. We drew sticks for who got the first choice of tent location, and the black canoe team won again. This is the 6th time that we drew the lucky stick. Premier spots for the tents were not evident, and layout required a bit of creative thinking. With that chore done we continued to search for the latrine trail. The trail to this latrine was a hard one to find, and we took this as a sign that this site had low use. On finding the latrine, our suspicions were confirmed. There was not much sign of white paper down there.
The rest of the day was spent basking in the clouds and admiring our little place. We fished off the rocks. We fished from the canoe. As matter of fact, Nate and I trolled the entire perimeter of the lake. No bite. No Fish. What the heck?
Before supper we brought in a good supply of fire wood and got our fire going. This spot had an excellent natural seating area in the rock ledge. A supper of Chili Mac and Cache Lake Hot Apple Desert made for a full belly and a good day. We cleaned up, sat for a bit in front of the fire, had a sip of cognac, and watched an odd formation of clouds build over our heads. Those things don’t look like the promise of fair weather, do they? Then the first small drops of rain fell with little ripples on the lake. It looks like we will be turning in early again, huh? We really did not feel like engineering a spot for the tarp. And with that, we called it a day.
We saw no other canoes or met anyone on the portages. We think that the camp sites on Oyster Lake peninsula were occupied, but there were no signs of anyone being up and about.
Pictures: 1) Pictographs on Rocky Lake; 2) Emerald Lake at 48 r; 3) Camp at Emerald Lake