Monday, August 08, 2011 Day 4 – Super site across north end of Smoothrock to “Good” site about half way down west leg of Smoothrock. 18 km travelled Portages: None Camp site Night Four – Good site - 50* 59’ 18.3”N 89* 32’ 13.7”W

Up late again. We were in pretty good shape, distance wise. I picked a bunch of blueberries while coffee was boiling. We used the big fry pans to cook us up a big batch of blueberry pancakes for breakfast. YUM! It just doesn’t get any better than fresh blueberry pancakes and bacon on beautiful, warm Northland morning! We ate our fill of blueberries every day. The berries were much larger up here than I recall from BW/Q, and boy were they JUICY!

We hit the water around 10am or so. Just as we got headed south, we spotted a bald eagle perched atop a tree. My little camera couldn’t get a good picture. We always feel good when we see the eagle.

Our goal today was Spaghetti Island, near the southern end of Smoothrock. It was overcast with what seemed to be a southeasterly wind as we paddled up to the northern crossing of Smoothrock. The wind actually was a bit of a tailwind as we went west and that helped us make pretty good time. But as we turned south on the west leg of Smoothrock a southerly wind started to blow. As the day went on the wind picked up. We were getting rain on and off as we paddled south through the canyon-like west leg of Smoothrock. By mid to late afternoon the wind was blowing right into our faces at about 20-25 mph. We finally gave up and beached the boats behind a big boulder. I got out and walked south along the shore looking for a campsite that the map said should be right there. I came down into a little slough and found a big ol’ pile of bear scat. It looked to be maybe a day or two old. Now, I was walking around, alone, in grass over my head, and I know bear were in the area. So I started to sing “Drunken Sailor” about as loud as I could. I turned around and walked swiftly back to the boats. I said to the guys those famous canoeing words, “That’s not it.” I didn’t mention the scat. I just got in the boat and pushed off.

DL and the Sargeant Major said they would paddle back north around the last point and scout for the camp site. “If we find it, we’ll blow our whistle twice.” They go off about 400m and round the point. I’m getting nervous and want to leave the bear area. I think I hear the whistle, but Sweeps isn’t so sure and he doesn’t want to backtrack and then have to paddle south again into the teeth of that wind. But I tell him, “Yeah, I’m sure that was them. Let’s go!” We found a “good” site that had northern exposure. We were maybe 4-5 km north of Spaghetti Island. The site had a firepit that was pretty well exposed. We were able to find two tent sites for Dave and Pat.

The hammocks also went up. You can see Pete’s hammock in the background below. I was feeling pretty well bushed as we finished setting our camp.

We talked it over and decided that we would get up early the next day and paddle as far and as fast as we could. As we started cocktail hour, everyone was beat down tired. That headwind had really taken it out of us all.

Stove Top Chicken Bowl for dinner. I got this recipe off the BWCA Camping Recipe thread. Thanks, MOgirl! It was hot and filling!

To bed early as we have a long day tomorrow. It was weird getting in the hammock when it was still so light out. But no mossys, again!! It looked again like we might get some rain during the night. But we got lucky and the skies cleared while we slept.