5 lakes, 4 portages

Neil was up first at 7:30, temperature a chilly 40 degrees. We are managing to keep warm in the night, though. A breakfast of oatmeal pancakes with blueberry sauce felt warming and good. We had broken camp and were on our way by 9:45.

The stream out of Cherokee [Cherokee Creek] is really pretty. It is like a canyon with high rock cliff walls and the vegetation was green and lush. Pitcher-plant pods added a touch of dark red color, and the reflections were nice in the still water. Here we saw the first purple iris in bloom, and we had a noisy wood duck escort most of the way, a female who probably was trying to lead us away from her young.

The 180 rod portage into Skoop Lake had a big section of downed trees (wind?) and lots of up and down, but footing was good. The short portage (12 rods) into Ada Lake is rocky. The next portage (80 rods) from Ada Lake to Ada Creek is a big climb to a "view" in a birch forest overlooking a pond, then down again. [This entire part of the trip was scenic, and I am surprised that there aren't more photos. But I do know I was aware of having to parcel out my rolls of film--perhaps some of you remember "film"??]

We came out into a marshy area. Again, lots of moose tracks and evidence, but no moose!

Paddling along Ada Creek just after the portage, I asked to stop to photograph the iris.

Since it was the end of the roll, I was hurriedly changing the film while Neil was paddling, and I almost asked him to stop. I was glad later that I didn't, as we saw one of the highlights of our trip! A wolf was standing on the left bank up ahead! It saw us and jumped into the water, swimming across in front of our canoe to the opposite bank, where it climbed out, shook the water from its fur, and ran into the woods. A beautiful sight, but unfortunately too far away for a photo. [In later trips I had a telephoto lens on whatever camera I took with me. This was not only pre-digital, but it was also pre-telephoto.]

We met a family on the next portage and spoke with them. The lady was also wearing a mosquito net on her head. I have been sort of embarrassed to wear mine, but it was such an improvement on the buggy portage trails. They were just starting out and shared concerns about bears and mosquitoes. Of course, they had to listen to our wolf story! They had a crabby-acting dog with them, carrying its own food in saddle-packs.

The 80-rod portage into Sawbill Lake is flat and easy. It sure seemed shorter than the previous 80-rod one.

In Sawbill we tried for an island site which was on our maps, but it was apparently closed. A disappointment, since it was a nice place. We took the site in the bay, somewhat removed from the "highway". The site was very heavily used [abused] and dirtier than any we had seen thus far. We had to do a little cleanup right away. Weather was 60 degrees and overcast. It proved to be a very quiet place, but felt a little cramped, with the tent placed very near the water. We sat by the fire after supper, and I wrote some post cards which I will mail when we go to the outfitter on our resupplying mission.