Day 13 September 24, Badwater to Quetico

We woke about 700am to a beautiful red dawn and light breeze from the east and the loons calling in the distance. Everything was still dry!

We commented on how nice it was to sleep in a dry tent and non-damp bags. We started up Badwater at 915am under high cloud cover, no sun, and a slight tail wind. We tried to deploy the Kraken but the wind was too intermittent so we paddled on calm seas to the dreaded mile-long portage to Quetico Lake. We had a little trouble finding it as the maps and GPS had it a few hundred yards southeast of where we actually located it. “Par for the course.” It threatened to rain as we started the portage but it never really got going. The portage itself was long but not overly challenging in regards to terrain-long sections of mud with log bridges but overall pretty straightforward. Tony is a maniacal portager of the boat. He heads off with a steady but long stride and never looks back (not that he could). I would have no hope of getting into some of these spots without him taking on the challenge of the “long walk with a boat over his head.” We saw some huge moose tracks in the mud but no moose and shoved off into the knee-deep mud on the Quetico side. We fished around the island in West Bay before looking for a camp. We caught a few bass, nothing of size, but it was a pleasant, casual, midday excursion with little wind. Around 130pm we headed for a campsite in the narrows section but couldn’t seem to find it so we trolled on to the next recommended spot on the south end of a rocky island. The rock slabs made a nice lunch spot but we decided the “feel” wasn’t right for us. The firepit was buried in the woods with makeshift plywood shelves rotting away, a bunch of trash, and lumpy tent spots. We decided to cross the short, sandy “p” to the main Quetico channel and then camped on a nearby point. This site obviously has seen a lot of use but has many flat tent and tarp spots and a small sandy landing. Tony spent some time rinsing the beaver muck out of the boat then we set up the tent and tarp. It spit rain for a while so we sat under the tarp relaxing and chatting about plans for future Quetico trips. We made pepperoni and spicy nut dust pizza for dinner, then lounged around a small fire reading and writing in journals before sharing a farewell to Canada Coffee Crisp.

Day 14, September 25

Well, we got up late and hung around camp eating our last breakfast of cornmeal pancakes and the last of our coffee before launching toward our last portage of 2014. The lake was perfectly still and the forest offered us a perfect perfect fall panorama.

Final Trip GPS mileage: 132 miles Max speed: 12 mph (with the Kraken)