Sunday, June 20, 2010

Day Five - Tuck River to an unnamed Island campsite on Basswood. The lower reaches of the Tuck River entering Basswood have a rather impressive collection of fading Pictographs - Pelicans, long manned canoes and herds of Moose populate the walls of the soaring cliffs.

I saw a couple of base campers with early lines in the water as I paddled the still waters and slow current. My precious wooden canoe had started to leak - a quick inspection showed that the rigors of Quetico travel had chipped the stern where I'd laid up multiple layers of glass mat and epoxy. I peeled off several feet of Duct tape from my Nalgene Bottle and effected a field repair that more or less worked. The real repair would have to wait.
Wow - back to the world of people. This route, Upper and Lower Basswood Falls and Wheelbarrow Falls sees traffic. I encountered several youth groups, and a couple of families (one of whom had a woman in the bow seat whose face clearly said that she had absolutely no idea why she was there).
One extended family I encountered - from Utah and Iowa was wearily loading their Kevlar Wenonahs… on the rocks below Lower Basswood Falls. I noted that these were rented from our friends over at VNO and suggested that the proper technique was to wet foot this and load the heavy packs into the canoes…. in the water, not on the big rocks. I'm pretty sure they thought I was a canoe cop - but they removed the packs and slipped the canoe into shallow water before reloading.
The 320 Rod portage around Basswood Falls is long, but pretty level and frequently travelled. I volunteered to carry packs for some staggering and dazed preteens with stocking caps on ?!? on my empty return leg. I think they appreciated my effort, but it was hard to tell. However generally nice kids with good attitudes, especially in the Church Groups I met.
That last portage was it for me that day. I sought out an island campsite and found a nice one amidst a cluster of small islands and set up camp.

That little gem of a site featured early ripening Blueberries and some notable fishing from shore. Carefully navigating the rocks down to the water I fished the shallows between my island and a tiny rock hump perhaps 40 feet away with a small Mepps Spinner - my second cast caught a 3 1/2 pound Smallie with an exceptionally bad attitude. He leaped out of the water at least 3 times as I reeled him in.
I swear he glared at me as I carefully removed the (barbless) hook and released him for another day.
A clear calm evening so I left the tarp off the HH and slept under the bright stars…. so close I thought I could reach out and touch them.