September 19, Day 7: 7 miles, 4 portages, 216 r of portage trail. Lakes: Pillsbery, Allen, Horseshoe, Vista, and Misquah. Longest portage was 95r. On the water at 7:45 AM and camped on Misquah Lake at noon.

We were up at about 6AM. I had a restless night. The wind picked up as we were bedding down and it continued to howl most of the night. The tent pad at this site was up hill from the lake, and it seemed every gust was amplified in the branches of the poplars. Between the wind and the location, our tent was perfectly dry this morning. It is so much easier to pick up dry gear.

Breakfast was biscuit and gravy. I think that is one of our best meals. We make the biscuit the night before, so in the AM we only need to make our sausage gravy and coffee. This meal sticks to the ribs too. In the distance a small rumble was heard. Thunder?

The paddle down Pillsbery was idyllic and the 95 r into Allen was a nice easy portage. On the trail we spotted a very nice and very fresh bear track. The bear had been using part of the trail and we had just missed an encounter of the bear kind.

Picture shows a fresh track of company on the trails

We double portage, and that requires leaving the food pack unattended. I felt a little uneasy when we turned our backs on our food. Once on Allen rumbles became more pronounced and we were sure that any minute we were going to get dumped on. We made short work of Allen, crossed into Horseshoe, and headed for the 21 r into Vista. This entire string of small lakes was a gem to paddle, and the portages were not killers. The killers lie ahead after Misquah. Campsites that we passed on Horseshoe were empty, and they looked like they get very heavy use. Our desire was to camp on Vista.

The rain held off till we hit the 21 r portage into Vista. We suited up and waited out the heaviest of the rain to pass. Wind was directly out of the south and that made our launch off the boulder field into Vista a bit tricky. The camp on section 29 of Vista was a terrible place requiring several mountain goats to get up to it. Once on top, both Matt and I came to the same conclusion; let’s get out of here rain or no rain. There was a nice looking camp on the south end, but it was taken. There was no sense in going back to pick-up one of the sites that we had passed, so it was on to Misquah.

The portage into Misquah Lake is only 50 r. Most of it is uphill, and most off it was slippery following the rain and the new layer of fallen leaves. On the lake side, we put in at the first water we saw without realizing that the proper entry was a few rods further. No matter, we loaded, the canoe floated, and we made our way into deep water. We almost paddled right by the camp on the south end. It was somewhat hidden back from the lake. “Whoa, was that the camp site we just passed’? It was vacant, and it was time to stop.

The Misquah camp is another one of those spots that tended to get better as we made ourselves at home. It was definitely protected from the winds, but there was no boulder-free flat spot for tents. We creatively pitched our tent over a rock. Actually it worked out pretty good. There was a great campfire ring, and the fire wood was plentiful. We had a good fire that evening

Across the lake from our site was an old burn, and from that country we had been hearing the distinctive call of a moose in love. This lover’s concerto kept us amused, as long as he stayed over there, and didn’t come looking for love on our side of Misquah. Today we only saw the one group of campers on Vista Lake.

Pictures: 1) Ahead of the storm on Allen Lake and 2) Misquah Camp