Thursday, August 11, 2011 Day 7 – Sunrise Falls to Schultz’s Trail 9.0 km travelled Portages: 1: 175m Camp site Night Seven – Schultz’s Trail -50* 17’ 12.9”N 89* 31’ 40.0”W

We knew we did not have far to go today, so we had a late morning. I was just about to get up early when it started to rain. I felt really down and hoped we would not have to wake in a rainstorm and pack up wet. But, it was just a short drizzle, and Pat got up immediately after it stopped. He put the water to boil and we all got up to hot drinks. I was stiff as we had our morning caffeine. We leisurely packed up, letting the sun dry our tarps a bit before packing them.

We got in the water around mid-morning. We had one portage into Onamakawash and then we had to find a way through the rocks. The water was so low we almost had to get out and drag the boats over, but we squeaked through a little opening maybe 18 inches wide and paddled on.

We had a good tailwind as we paddled southeast toward the take out point. We finished paddling around 1:30 or so. It had been bright and sunny when we started, but a cloud bank was blowing in as we set up camp. There is no actual campsite here, just some very uneven and rocky grassy areas around a couple of shuttered old cabins.

We battened everything down, and set up a lean-to on one of the cabins because a big thunder head was rolling right at us. We thought we were going to get it for sure.

But we only got a few light sprinkles as the storm passed us just to the northwest. Sarge, Sweeps, and I all went for a swim as the sun was back out.

After a small lunch of pope’s nose and crackers, we went and explored the train tracks. Pete went and looked at the trestle and reported it looked every bit as dangerous as Burt had said. If you get caught out there when a train is coming and you are dead. There is just no room to get off the tracks.

At around 4, the other party came paddling down the lake. They, too, had escaped the worst of the storm. We got to talking and it turns out they are the folks who own Northwest Canoe. Well, that was fortuitous since dl was going to need some repairs on the MNII. They have some very nice gear and are paddling a beautiful cedar strip. What a nice boat! Here is a photo of it going into the train.

We decided that we would carry as much as we could up to the tracks today and then just have a couple small packs to haul up in the morning.

That was a good idea and we felt very relaxed as we started dinner. We had a huge dinner of Chili Mac, cheese sandwiches, sausage, and pan fried bread. Our stomachs were swollen and we felt great as we relaxed with our after dinner drinks.

Again, I could not find a good spot for my hammock and slept in Dave’s tent. Ouch. But, the weather was beautiful, again. And again, no mossys until we were in our shelter. We got maybe five skeeter bites between the four of us all week! We got more bites just bringing our stuff up to the tracks than we had all the other days of the trip. And we used almost no bug dope at all! We decided that Pat would set his alarm for six so we could get up and be at the train early, as we had been warned to do by Burt and Brenda. So, with the gear mostly up at the tracks and the alarm set, we went to bed just after sunset. Someone somewhere was playing guitar. It must have been someone in one of the cabins which were clustered around the end of the lake. We could just hear the strumming as we drifted off to sleep…