Sunday, July 29, 2012

Long Island Lake, Muskeg Lake, Kiskadinna Lake, Omega Lake, Winchell Lake

We packed up camp and left for Muskeg Lake by 7:40 am. We knew we had a few more tough portages ahead but we were well rested from our layover day on Long Island.

The B’s can set up this tent and take it down in record time! The only time I’ve put it up is at Wingnight!
Leaving camp on Long Island.
A gorgeous morning!
The 20 rod portage from Long Island to Muskeg was nothing but rocks trees and a beaver dam. This was the largest beaver dam the girls had lifted over and it got interesting to say the least!
This would be the beginning of the portage!
And that would be the stinky beaver dam!
Canoes are up and over!
The B’s aren’t wet-footers! Some how they made it thourgh!
B3 LOVES rocks!!! This slab was just above the beaver dam.
With the beaver dam behind us we were moving on to the little 4 rod portage into Muskeg.
Looking back west toward the beaver dam.
Paddling the narrow water to the 4 rod portage that leads to into Muskeg.
This is where the 4 rod portage started.
But we were able to bypass the portage by pulling over a small beaver dam.
Muskeg Lake was very quiet! I could have here but we needed to move on to the 185 rod portage into Kiskadinna Lake! The portage people warned us about!
Paddling across Muskeg was the first time we had the twin B’s together…
…and B1 with me!
The 185 was a grunter but it had its areas of reprieve where the going was easy.
This is the start of the portage.
On the worst part I tried to show depth by placing the Bs down the hill. B1 is at the bottom in the first picture and doesn’t move for the second.
the twins walked down past B1 who hadn' moved. That stretch was the worst but is very doable if you take your time.
A few roots to keep you humble!
I was glad we were doing our loop east-to-west going up hill not down!.
The end of the Kiskadinna portage. Smile… ok… keep moving.. break is over!
Now on through Kiskadinna to the 35 rod into Omega.. I said it again on Kiskadinna,” This sure is a pretty lake.” The B's told me I say that about every lake!!!
Looking at Kiskadinna.
Here we could see the stairs that would start our next portage.
On this portage my favorite memory of the entire trip occurred!
I’d say the first section of this portage was more of a grunter than the Kiskadinna portage.
This is the landing on the Kiskadinna side of the 35 rod portage. I took the picture form the steps we would soon climb again.
The beginning of this portage is tight and strait up and tight at the landing with the canoes! I banged the bow of the canoe on a rock just going up the first step!
B1 heading up with Evie Bell shouldered. Oh joy!
More joy!
The joy truly started after I climed this hill with the canoe!
So here is my favorite story! B3 said she would carry the canoe on the flat part of the portage after I got it up the big hill! I sweat my way up slowly not wanting to tumble down backwards. I probably even grunted a few times! As I set the canoe down at the top of the hill…a grouse started to drum! B3’s eyes got as big as saucers! She was staring at me with a VERY worried look on her face! I said “Do you hear that grouse drumming?” VERY relieved B3 said , “OH MY GOSH MOM I THOUGHT THAT WAS YOUR HEART!!!!” The poor kid thought her mom’s heart was going to explode after coming up that hill! She knows grouse drum but had never heard one in the wild! I will tell that story for years!
We definitely needed to refuel after that morning of portaging! B1 said she needed Scotch and B2 wanted a Beer! These were the slang names they gave the Butterscotch candy and Root Beer Barrels!
Me inhaling my chicken ranch roll-up!
B2 and B3 filling their tanks!
As we paddled east on Omaga we noticed the weather was changing. It looked like rain could be moving in. There were two otters playing in the water just as we rounded a small island. They are so cute! The only site we saw was occupied by four men. When they figured out we were female they quickly changed their posture! I pretended not to notice. When we got around the point and were heading south to the 44 rod portage, B1 paddled up and said, “Mom did you see those guys back there?! They stood up straight, puffed up their chests and suck in their beer guts when we paddled by!” She thought that was hilarious! I had to laugh too!
Looking East on Omaga.
The 44 rod portage to Winchell was rocky but flat! No heart explosion on this portage! When we came to Winchell we were greeted by wind. Not enough for rollers but enough to make the paddling harder. The plan was to go south through the bay and head west on the large part of Winchell to find a campsite. The first campsite was taken so we paddled to the west finding the next site to be open. It’s was a huge site with big rock slabs that ran deep into the lake. We unloaded and were sad to see someone had thrown all their leftover veggies and fruit around. Onions, green peppers, carrots, watermelon, oranges and grapes! And down by the lake it looked like they dumped a large bowl of pancake batter into the water. Grrr!
We heard thunder! In ten minutes we set up the tent, threw up the tarp, shoved our gear under it and BAM! RAIN! It poured buckets! The lightning and thunder was unbelievable! We were under the tarp when lightning struck somewhere close! The flash made our tarp look pink! It was eerie! There were little rivers running on the ground all around the tarp. The storm lasted about 40 minutes.
Again to entertain ourselves we watched a caterpillar try to crawl up a rock! We made a game out of it by guessing how long it would take the caterpiller to reach the top. Then it would fall and we'd start over. Hey it was a way to kill time!

Da a da….more than a river…da da da ! Another song the girls sang off One Matches CD!
Still smiling! The best thing a mom can hope for in bad weather!
A little break in the rain.
When the rain let up a group with kids paddled by still looking for a site. I felt bad for them. They were soaked! When the rain stopped we spread our things out to dry and made a quick dinner.

In a half hour it was raining again! We grabbed our gear and got it back under the tarp and headed for the tent. We had to line up our shoes to redirect the rainwater that was still running down the hill toward our tent. It worked great! This was one time I was thankful the B’s all have big feet!

It rain hard until 8:10p.m. We played Pass the Pigs for awhile and then crashed. The second blast of the storm hit about 12:30 a.m. We learned when we returned to Rockwood that it had rained two and a half inches that day/night.