Amber Lake to Kawishiwi Lake, and hike to Hog Creek; 16.3 miles, 9 portages, 570 rods

Up a little before 5:00am. Unbelievably there seemed to be no mosquitos on the mesh of my tent as there had been the day before. That made packing it up so much nicer. Tent packed, I made some extra strong coffee and fried up some Spam and Eggs, cleaned up, and loaded the canoe.

Paddled back out the swampy, shallow entry to the Kawishiwi River and turned left. Before long I saw the inlet to the south and turned right looking for the portage to Malberg. I seemed to recall it being a bit messy and I was right. The portage on the north end had me up to my knees in muck dragging my canoe to shore. I was afraid Rainy would jump out and get stuck. Further on the beavers have flooded the middle part, so I had to reload my canoe and paddle 25 yards to a rock and then lift everything and the canoe up the 2 foot rock. Past that was more standing awful beaver water to wade through. I was so hoping Rainy would not stop to drink. Finally there was the south side of the portage with its nice, beach like landing where I could clean up.

It was now the Friday just before Independence Day, and I expected crowds from Malberg to the parking lot, but that is not what I found. I paddled through Malberg and only saw two sites taken, then on to Koma and saw no sites taken, then on to popular Polly, and only one of 8 sites I could see were taken. I was shocked. I am guessing a bunch of folks who planned on 7 day trips to fish quite on days 3 or 4, leaving a lot empty.

Between Polly and Kawasachang I passed 5 northbound groups, most of whom asked me about Polly and were happy to hear it was mostly empty when I passed. It was another hot day, and I filtered water at the south end of Polly and again on Kawishiwi Lake. After the 189 rod portage, which burned up all the Spam and Eggs I had in me, I was glad to have a pretty easy paddle back to the entry point. There was one large beave dam to unload and lift over after Kawasachang, and two more pull overs but on the bright side the 5 and 20 road portages were not needed as you can just paddle around.

I paddled down Kawishiwi Lake to the entry point and landed, but the usual feeling of the gladness was not there as my car was not in the parking lot. I still had a 2.3 mile hike, so pulled my gear ashore, grabbed a fly swatter (essential), the bug spray, some water and my car key and Rainy and I stared hiking. It was still hot, and I had never notice while driving how much of the way from Kawishiwi Lake to Hog Creek is up hill. Also with Rainy happily running ahead to look for sticks to show me, she attracted a lot of deer and horse flies. The bug spray worked well at stopping biting, but the swarm of 15-20 around her at any time was annoying us both. I swung the fly swatter back and forth above her head and from time to time felt it connect with the fly like I was swatting baseballs with a bat. Finally we made it to the Hog Creek lot where we were both eager to jump in and start up the AC for our short drive back to load up.

I wanted a trip with some challenge and adventure, and that’s just what I got. This was a truly great and memorable trip.

North End of Kawishiwi/Malberg Portage

Muck

Middle of Kawishiwi/Malberg Portage

Balance While Drinking

Another Pull-over Near Square

End of the Paddle

Long Walk Back to Car