2 lakes, 1 portage

This was a cold, COLD morning! Our little thermometer said 29 degrees and the rain fly was frozen to the tent. Somehow it seems appropriate to have this on FROST Lake, but I was worried about Spartan1, who had shivered most of the night. The mist was heavy on the lake, so much so that we couldn't see the beach at breakfast time. The sun was out, though, so we had hopes of a gradual warmup.

We packed up and canoed, with a cold wind at our backs, to the portage. This is a nice 130-rod portage, with a climb first, then a long, generally descending hike through the woods, high up above the stream. I enjoyed seeing big boulders, large trees, and the good trail. It is rocky at the end, but the footing wasn't bad on a dry day. There is a pretty little rapids at the end and in the sun it was a gorgeous paddle into Octopus Lake. On the portage trail one of my pack straps snapped (the grommet just pulled out). Neil tied it together for me and we hoped it wouldn't be a problem.

Neil didn't say that he was having low blood sugar problems and I missed the cue when he asked for a snack. This ended up being problematic later, when he had an insulin reaction at the beginning of the portage out of Octopus. [What scared me most was that he dropped the canoe hard on the rocks and thought it was a big joke.] Time was lost in treating the symptoms [disorientation, personality change, refusal to cooperate, and then eventually severe hypothermia] and it was awhile before he felt and acted stabilized. All of this really bothered MY confidence, and we ended up going back to repeat the rather long portage to Frost and "re-camped" at our site left just a short while before. We felt "down", and I was insistent that we needed to rethink the difficult many-portage trip we had planned. Getting so far into remote areas where help isn't available was a scary proposition for me after the happenings of the morning!

The sun was out, and it was windy and 54 degrees. The ducks from last night were playing around in the bay.

Why do they call it a "white admiral" butterfly when it is black??

Later on the air was warmer and we were surprised that two parties came and swam at our beach. While the sun and 60-ish temperatures felt good, somehow I didn't think it was swimming weather yet! But then I didn't know that this was as warm as it would ever get!

After supper we took a walk on the beach and we noticed some trail mix that one of the swimmers had dropped. When we were back at the campsite the deer came out and explored the beach. We saw her find this treat and eat it. [Of course you cannot pick her out in this photo, but I know where she is.]

During the evening calm there were many little schools of minnows jumping in the bay; we continually heard the "swish" of the water. We retired to a sun-warmed tent, a real contrast from last night--at an early hour again, avoiding the mosquitoes.