Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Day 5: Little Sag Lake to Tuscarora Lake (7 miles, 5 portages, 230 rods; low=40 high=58)
Woke to overcast skies again, so much for some aerial views with blue sky. Had our oatmeal breakfast and broke camp. We were paddling by 9:00, another later than usual start, but we were in no hurry today. A nice calm morning made for a great trip across Little Sag. Morning paddles like this are so peaceful, and get you looking forward to the rest of the day.

Craig & John on Little Sag

A calm morning on Little Sag

We hoped that today would be just the opposite of yesterday, start out overcast but end up clear. The portage to Mora Lake follows the Frost River and is a very pretty portage. Took time along this portage to snap several photos.

Little Sag landing

Set the packs together before 1st trip

Mora Lake side

We passed through Mora, Tarry, Crooked, and Owl lakes before reaching Tuscarora. Owl & Tuscarora are the first lakes we’ve passed through that showed no signs of either the Cavity Lake or Ham Lake fires. We head for the island campsite right in the middle of the lake. This site was open, and is a very nice and level site, so we claim it.

John & Craig arrive at our site on Tuscarora

We arrive about 1:00, so another short travel day of only 4 hours. We have lunch and then setup camp. The day indeed was clearing out to become a nice sunny afternoon.

Sunny afternoon on Tuscarora

After camp was set up, we still had a couple hours to relax and enjoy the sun. This entire day we did not see another person. This surprised me as I thought we would be sharing Tuscarora with several other groups.
We started supper about 5:00. Chicken & wild rice casserole was very good and requested by all for future trips. Finished clean-up by 6:30 and enjoyed some apricot brandy on the rock shelf as we waited for the sunset. All the clouds had dissipated by now and the completely clear sky did not produce any color. We continued to talk and enjoy the evening twilight until the stars came out. The temp was falling fairly rapidly, so we retreated to the tents shortly after 8:00. Read a couple chapters and lights out about 9:00.
When I got up about 3:30, the nearly full moon was setting right over the island to our west. With the fog rising behind the island, along with the reflection in the lake, made for an awesome scene. I tried a few quick shots, but with the temps in the 30s and me not dressed for it, I didn’t spend much time trying.

Moonlight reflection

Didn't work real well but you can get the idea.