May 23, 2008 Day 8 On the water at 8 AM, we headed off for Minn Lake, following the Darky River 9 miles north. Most of the trip was more of a lazy float, aside from a few sweepers and swifts to negotiate and three portages (45, 33, 11) with tricky landings. Due to the sweepers, we had to create one of these portages. The river was scenic and largely undisturbed, except for a small campsite about halfway to Minn.

To be perfectly accurate, there was a large volume of water flowing down the Darky - the rapids we portaged around were turbulent and treacherous.

When we got to Minn, we immediately found the campsite at the mouth of the Darky River. It was well used with a bit of mostly older trash from years of use, but it was right next to a prime fishing spot, the mouth of the Darky River. Another architecturally correct Dave engineered fire ring was constructed, good anchorage found around the opposite side and tent and hammock spots were established. The smallmouth action was steady, but walleye was on the menu so they headed off for the North end of the lake.

The Northerns were also scoring hits… but the walleye remained stubborn. Lots of fish were caught and released but only two good eating size walleye were caught and sacrificed to the campfire god. The day's grub consisted of biscuits and gravy with dried apricots on the side (coffee always), summer sausage and Swiss cheese on German pumpernickel washed down with lemonade for lunch and walleye dinner with wild rice, peas and carrots and reflector oven banana bread for dessert. (Now you see why we gained weight on this trip)

This camp deserved another day so they washed up the dishes and polished off the rest of the whiskey and hit the sack. 5:30 AM and there was Pete out there with his favorite toy, chopping up a storm. “I couldn’t sleep Dave, the sun was up and it’s a beautiful morning. Why don’t you start up some of your famous blueberry hippie pancakes?” Pete called out.

Bryan and Mark smelled the coffee and rolled out of the hammocks. Mark, having hung his hammock right next to the water, starts fishing with his first cup of coffee. Huge aggressive smallmouth simply annoy him. It has to be walleye. We enjoyed a beautiful morning fishing and exploring followed by a lunch of PB&J Tortillas and Lemonade, beef jerky and leftovers. A huge lake sturgeon surfaced right in front of Mark and Dave. Quite a sight.

In the afternoon there was time to review the gear selection. There were too many pots and pans. That 12” GSI steel frying pan from Piragis that claimed to be nonstick, was false advertising, and was too heavy. Mark’s 10” nonstick aluminum saved the day. Utensils got to be a hassle keeping track of when cooking because Pete kept them in a zip bag in his food pack and was constantly searching for one item or another. Bryan recommended a utensil roll like the one on his Camp Kitchen. Also his ordinary nylon spatula wasn’t holding up to the heat of the fire. Dave said the high temp silicon spatula can take the heat (600F) and not scratch the cookware, and no paddling gourmet should be without a whisk, silicon basting brush, and stainless tongs.

Dave was holding the good stuff with his 10 liter hanging water filter. Let gravity do the work. Pete’s hand pump ceramic made about 10 liters and it worked all right until he started filtering tannin stained water and it slowed down to a trickle. He should’ve listened to what Bryan had told him. Wrap a coffee filter and nylon stocking around the inlet hose.

Dave’s Purcell Trench Guide Grill was a definite winner, large and lightweight, he packed it with a cutting board cut from 7MM luan plywood slightly larger than the size of the grill. This kept it from getting damaged when tossed in and out of the canoes on all the portages. Don Tryon quit making the Guide Grill, his largest one, but he’s one of those American craftsmen that will pull the blueprint out and weld one up if you ask him. (http://www.purcelltrench.com/grills.htm)

Mark and Bryan did very well with their Hennessey Hammocks (especially given the often icy temperatures.) With an insulating pad they slept comfortably with a minimal footprint and hassle of trying to find a flat spot on the ground. They also saved a couple of pounds in their packs. Pete’s Mutha Hubba weathered a couple of storms without a problem, though none were too fierce. The Souris River Quetico 18.5’s were seaworthy load haulers and light to portage, but take some effort to maintain over 4 mph on the water. Nevertheless they are stable platforms in rough water and can withstand the beatings of rocky shallows.