Monday, July 21, 2014 Today 9 of us with 3- 3 man canoes would tackle the bushwack to Rangeline Lake. As I was planning this trip in February this trip became an early goal. A picture posted by "Portagekeeper" from the campsite had enticed us to make the effort to see this lake. Little did we know what type adventure we were in for. The day started early. A slight wind from the South and we were at the portage entry from Lynx to Yodeler at 6:45AM. Our goal was to be on Rangeline by Noon. It was going to be a blistering hot day. The first portage at the very north end of Lynx is just to the right of the small stream entering the lake from above. It was a little difficult but not long. The next series of pictures show the progress made toward getting to Yodeler.

We had made good time getting to Yodeler and we paddled quickly across the lake to the rock point on the north side of the lake for a group photo before tackling the portage to Achundo. Yodeler supposedly has an excellent bass fishing reputation but we did not get deterred from our goal of reaching Rangeline asap. We had anticipated that the portage from Yodeler to Achundo would be a total bushwack and the most difficult part of the trip. Wrong! Though a tough portage someone had marked a trail with red tape. Thank you whoever you are! Again, it wasn't easy but it was easy to follow the markings. We did not take pictures of the trail, only the section as we arrived at Achundo. Nothing too special about Achundo other than knowing you were deep in the woods in a place seldom visited. We crossed the lake quickly heading to the north where the stream would exit into Rangeline.

We were now psyched. We were close to our goal and it was still early. but...we could not find a trail to Rangeline at this point and we could not navigate the small stream. So we got out and weaved our way to the lake. It had taken us just over 3 hours ...so we were way ahead of our goal and now ready to go straight north on the lake to the campsite. Rangeline did not disappoint. It is a beautiful lake and only the events of the night to come kept us from exploring the southern section of the lake. It did have high cliffs and we also had hoped to fish the depths behind the islands the next morning. "Man proposes, God disposes". Here are a couple photos as we made our way to the campsite. As mentioned it was already turning in to a very hot day. We later learned that it was 93 degrees and 73% humidity. This is why I leave GA in mid-July ...not what I expect up north. I've been up here since 1953 and I only remember a couple days to match this type heat. Anyway there is a way to clean up and cool off even on the hottest day ...get IN the water and not ON the water. However we did want to fish and it was relatively easy to catch pike. Nothing huge, the big boys were probably cooling off in the depths behind the islands. We were looking for food however so these pike were on the menu for the night. Have I mentioned that it was HOT. Perhaps this was the last photo taken trying to cool off at the end of a great day of adventure. Now the question was how to keep cool in the tent when your body is roasting. We found out in a few short hours. As we headed off to bed we decided to keep the rain fly off the tent hoping that any breeze would come to cool us off. We got more than we asked for!