Friday, June 10, 2011:
Yum Yum Lake to Nest Lake, via Grey, unnamed, Dell, unnamed, Isabella & Point. (About 6.5 miles) 7 portages: 580m., 720m., short, 260m., 410m., 24 rods, 880m. (Note: portages in rods from McKenzie map.)

It was a chilly night again. I got up and made some coffee and drank most of it before deciding I’d better see if Joe was still sleeping or ready for his tea. Breakfast was our last “oatmeal+” meal and we ate it while enjoying our last views from this great spot. We cleaned our cereal bowls by pouring some drinking water in and swishing it around and drinking it, so there were no dishes to do. I packed up all outside stuff and then helped get the tent stuff packed and compressed. We stuffed the big pack and hauled everything down the hill and loaded the canoe.
We had decided to use the newly discovered portage directly to Grey, of course, rather than backtracking. We also had agreed to push hard today and try to get all the way to Ranger Bay, giving us a day and one-half to rest/recover/fish down there. (My back had been pretty good with the exception of intermittent spasms so far, so I was crossing my fingers for good luck.) The portage out of Yum Yum was okay and soon we were paddling on Grey towards the “bog” portage we’d heard so much about. For some reason, even though we had tentatively planned to camp on Grey, we neglected to check out the site that HoHo had reported on once we got there.
Long story short as they say, we actually thought the portage was pretty “easy.” (Relatively speaking, and maybe because the bog logs were high and dry and there had been little rain of late) I led the way and at the bog Joe could readily see whether or not he wanted to step where I did. We got the first leg done and went back across for the second, taking a little time to enjoy the view at the bog and the pond. On the second leg, I asked Joe to lead so I could get some pictures of him on the logs. He did and I got some.
All was well, I had put the camera away and was just thinking how relatively mud-free I was. Jinx! My left foot slipped off a log and that leg went in over the knee. Fortunately I only had the Guide pack on and the right leg was still on solid footing. Joe asked if I was all right (I was okay but humbled) and watched as I found a solid place to use my left arm to leverage myself up and get going again. I asked Joe if he wanted to walk back over a couple more times to see if he would get a mud bath too, but he said “no.” (As for the “alternate” trail to the east, I don’t think we even noticed it until our final trip across, and it looked little used.)
We paddled quickly down the no-name lake after Grey and soon found the short portage to Dell. Dell Lake, the 260m. portage to the second no-name, and the 410m. portage to Isabella are all kind of a blur to me now, and I honestly cannot recall much about this segment. We were pushing pretty hard now (for us, anyway) and I do remember that when we reached Isabella Lake I was getting pretty tired and while I said nothing to Joe, I was secretly wishing Isabella was our destination.
Even in the grayish weather of this day Isabella was very pretty. I remember how clear the water was at the put-in and how the lake stretched out before us like a long spear pointing southwest. We soon reached the narrows and passed the campsite I believe is the best of the few on this lake. Once past that point I knew we were going on to Point and beyond and I think this actually helped at the time. (It’s mental.) The 24-rod portage from Isabella to Point Lake seemed even less-used than the others on this trip and since I had found no info online for it, I wondered how many people ever come this way. (Now I have to admit, I can only say that it was very easy and dry.)
Point Lake I do remember was rather pretty, and I knew there was a so-called “2-star” site on it, but we paddled on, with both of us probably close to running on empty by now, but sensing we were nearing “home.” At the end of Point, we faced the 880 meter portage and as we stood at the landing Joe suggested we each eat half of one of the huge energy bars we had brought along. (I think we may have eaten the other one at the McNiece portage, but I’m not sure.) That was a good call.
This portage was brutal! Probably because it was our seventh one, with the others having also taken their toll, but it punished us pretty good in any case. I think it was after the first carry and the walk back through a semi-swamp, boulder fields and clutchy-grabby shrubbery that Joe said he thought we should look for a campsite on Nest. I said I couldn’t agree more! So what if we fell short of Ranger Bay? So what if we only had one more portage? (It was shown as 720 meters.) At least we were still functioning and hadn’t hurt ourselves.
The so-called “3-star” site on Nest is connected to the end of the Point portage by a faint trail. We walked over and looked the site over and there was no discussion; we took it. After paddling out to get some water, we unloaded everything, figured out where to place the tent and went about setting up camp. Not surprisingly, for a location near a shallow dead bay, it was buggy, so we slathered on the repellant until it was time for a fire. Once things were set up, we had a freeze-dried meal of Pad Thai that tasted very good. After eating, and drinking about a quart of water, I felt pretty good considering the amount of work we’d done today. (An 8-hour day!)
As the afternoon turned to evening and it began to cool, the bugs were fewer. After the sun went down behind the hills, the sky was pretty with the ever-larger moon in the southern sky. Cigars and “honey” were probably more welcome this night than any other, and when I hit the tent I went to sleep faster and slept better than I had for a week. I don’t even remember hearing any snorts, snoring or other weird noises during the night.