Sunday, June 21, 2015

Rested and ready…

16 miles 6 portages 2100 meters
A good night sleep but had a rough time getting out of the tent. I somehow tripped climbing out, then in my attempt recover my other foot tripped on the rock holding the vestibule….next thing you know I am doing a barrel roll into the woods. For the most part it was a soft landing but I lay there for a second just to make sure. This would not be my only fall for the day. It is another picture perfect morning, a little fog on the water, blue sky and casting its light on the far shore. Yesterday was a good rest day and I am off early, just as the sun is rising over the trees. I really enjoy the long days. There is at least 18 hours of good daylight. I am finding that I can enjoy the early mornings and late evenings if I get a short afternoon nap. I take some video as I paddle on the mirror like water. In a short time I am at the 800 meter portage into Royd Lake. I had heard this one was challenging and the reports were true. It was uphill, down into a small bog and a few more steep up and downs. The bog had many pitcher plants. They are carnivorous plants attract and consume insects. It would be easy to get absorbed into the difficult portage and miss these rare plants along with all the ladyslippers that lined the path. A reminder that when the going gets tough, stop and look around, you may be surprised at what you see. This lesson can be applied in the real world as well. On my second trip across with the canoe I tried to rest the canoe up against a tree on a steep incline. Bad idea. The canoe came down on top of me as I fell backward down the slope. I landed in some of the softest and thickest caribou moss you could hope for. That was the 2nd fall of the day that could have had a much worse outcome.
Once on Royd I find a camp site to have some lunch and take a break. The sun is strong and the winds are calm. Getting across Royd was an easy paddle. As I approached the portage to Gammon there were some fisherman that had portaged in from the outpost cabin on Gammon. They were surprised to see me. We have a short chat, they were from Iowa and were going to fish for lakers on Royd. They said the walleye fishing on Gammon had been slow. These were the first people I had talked to in almost a week. I planned to camp on Gammon but the two campsites I was looking for on the south side of Gammon were not there. I could back track a couple of miles or go for Rostoul Lake which meant a couple of 500 meter portages. It was still early and I was optimistic the portages would be easy. They weren’t! Some steep ups and downs. One where I had to put the canoe down and slide it down the steep drop. But soon I was on Rostoul and found a nice campsite. It had been a long day with the hardest portages of the trip so far. I was tired out but feeling pretty good. I had a good swim and a relaxing evening in front of a fire.

All set to paddle into the morning sun

Paddling on the clouds
Iris Blooming Everywhere
Pitcher Plants along the poratge
Paddling a calm Royd Lake
At the campsite on Rostoul Lake