Saturday, September 17, 2005

We arose at 6:00 and started breaking camp. Instead of cooking breakfast we opted to just eat a lot of the snack type food that we had left. That would save us some time.

The day was cloudy, but not too hot or windy - good for traveling.

The trip down Boot and portage into Fourtown was uneventful, but we did see a lot of people. Most of the campsites were full. We were glad we had saved the portage from Fourtown to Mudro until last now that our food packs were very light. We call it billy goat portage. Bogwalker gives a good description of this portage. To quote:

“The three portages between Fourtown and Mudro. Each one by themselves is not bad, but they are work as you have only 5 minutes of paddling between the different portages

Coming from Fourtown the first portage is short and is a climb up a steep hill if the water is high or a scramble over rocks if water is low. This is the easiest of the three in my opinion.

Second one is long and hilly and has been called the Mule Trail. You will work hard on this one. This year it ends at a Beaver Dam that actually is a good thing as it makes loading the canoe a piece of cake.

The third one is a boulder field that you can turn ankles on easily so watch your footing especially if it has been raining.”

(Bogs... thanks for the accurate description!)

It is a short paddle across Mudro to the creek leading up to the Chainsaw Sisters Saloon. In high water the creek is easy, but this time there were rocky areas to pull over and you could only paddle about half way up the creek before you bottom out. A portage across a dry swamp brings you to the parking area. I must admit, the soft boggy portage felt good under my feet after the rocky one from Fourtown!

Lessons learned:

-We used tortilla shells instead of bread. The wheat tortillas traveled well. Plain flour shells crumbled.

-Bagels toasted on foil over the fire worked well. English muffins probably would too.

-Bring more bait next time. We were out of live bait before our last day.

-Next time we will pack more toilet paper. Dave brought plenty and was willing to sell us some by the last day – only seventeen dollars! On our way out of Fourtown we heard distant gunshots from hunters. Someone remarked that maybe it was campers fighting over the TP!

-I will put up with the weight and bring more fresh fruit. It is such a nice treat by midweek.

-A loaf of hard French bread and some pizza sauce will come with next year.

- Always bring dry footwear for around camp.

-My off brand Thermarest type pad was OK if the ground was smooth and I was on my back. I tend to sleep on my side though so next year I’ll have to find something thicker.

Perhaps a Big Agnes? We'll see.

All in all it was a very enjoyable trip. This was the 2nd year entering at Mudro. Perhaps next fall we will try an area new to us.