Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Sunshine! Glorious sunshine!

It remained mostly overcast. But, we were treated to a brief, fleeting glimpse as we woke this morning. Across the way there was a rainbow.

All told, staying at this site probably only cost us an extra 15-20 minutes of paddling this morning. After crossing over Indian portage the navigational instructions were quite easy. Just paddle to where you see the motor boats coming from.

By no means unbearable. But, it was one of the colder mornings of paddling I can recall having to endure. We wound up waiting for Hannah & Morgan on a few occasions. (as we wanted to keep them within eyeshot) Along with the steady stream of motorboats, we passed a number of canoes headed in the other direction. There were no real rest stops taken along the way. Just a slow steady pace as everyone was anxious to get back.

I'm sure not soon enough? The LaTourell docks were within sight. We paddled up and ended our travels, via watercraft, on this vacation.

After loading up, buying Hannah a sweatshirt, & thanking Missy for everything, we headed for the Ely Steakhouse where it was Bucky Burgers all-around. Much to the delight of everyone.

Obviously, as most anyone would assume, this was a very trying trip. I thought everyone did a stand up job keeping their important gear dry. In fact, I don't recall anyone complaining that they were uncomfortable because they didn't have warm clothes/gear etc. But, the cold temperatures & persistant rain really kept us in (or close to camp) far more often than we would have liked. Couple that with an absolutely crummy campsite. (soaked & much too small of a kitchen area for our larger group) Looking back, I can't say enough about how well everyone handled these tough conditions. It would have been very easy, and quite understandable, for someone to totally lose it at some point. I guess the silver lining was that there were no bugs?

Of course this will always be a memorable trip for alot of the wrong reasons. But, I think, we were still able to squeeze some fun & adventure out of it as well? And, Aurora probably handled it all better than the rest of us? (Ignorance is bliss!) At the very least we learned alot about ourselves & abilities to handle some extreme conditions, while still managing to enjoy ourselves enough to prevent a minor (if not total) trip implosion.

Birch Lake, Sucker Lake, Newfound Lake, Moose Lake

Lakes Traveled:   Birch Lake, Sucker Lake, Newfound Lake, Moose Lake,