Friday, July 27, 2012 Rain again, last night, but this morning broke clear. It is a pretty route: portaging into Smite and down the narrow lake to portage along the flowage to Beaver (portage not marked on our Voyageur map, but right where it could be expected...), then down Beaver (a very pretty lake) to Trapline and into the Kawishiwi River west of Malberg. We portage into Malberg and follow the more regularly-used route south to Koma and Polly. On Polly, we take lunch and a swim and rig our rods to try some fishing along the Phoebe River, our next stretch. Turns out some of the Phoebe is just too shallow for fishing, though.
On the river not too far short of Hazel Lake, I make my dumbass move... We are doing a fair clip and, spotting a rock coming too close to do much, I panic into a cross draw that is pretty useless, but enough to dump us as we hit the rock. This definitely wakes up Galli dog, and she swims to shore as we swim/walk the canoe to shore. We help Galli up onto the shoreline sweetbay and leatherleaf bushes. Then we unload the packs and empty the canoe. Reloaded we paddle off to the nearby portage, only to figure out that the rods are not with us. Dang! We paddle back to the general spot and relocate the rock, then the rods in the water nearby. Back to the portage, again.
Originally thinking to get to Phoebe or Grace, we settle for the west site on Hazel just to get unpacked and check and dry stuff. Some of the gear is well-protected (the gear pack has a waterproof liner; the food pack is a rubberized sort of Duluth with a roll-seal top) while stuff in the seat packs,miscellany pack, etc., is pretty soaked.
Spread stuff out to dry, and it is mostly OK, but Tom's camera caught some moisture (even though it was in a supposed dry-bag)and is fogged on the viewfinder. This is a pisser, as it is a very nice Cannon SLR that Tom bought before the trip. Mainly my fault, as I dumped us, and by rights he should go bonkers over this... But he's a pretty mellow guy. Funny, though, he keeps tilting his head as if little guys were sitting on his shoulder and having a conversation... I kind of steer clear with other stuff until he occupies himself with cooking some cornbread.
Phoebe River so far has been pool and drop, but not very much flow.