Sunday, July 25

The wind was light when we started out this morning, but by the time we reached Elton it was building. We tried to find the 2 short portages from Little Sag to Elton, but were unsuccessful on the 1st attempt and just decided to go to the long one. Maybe not a great choice. It was easy to find, but quite overgrown and hard to see your feet. It climbs at a modest rate, flattens out, and then drops back down to the lake.

Do NOT step off the portage path...LOL.
This morning we repacked so we only have Big Blue, the pack basket, and the daypack. So I can finally single portage without having to carry 2 packs at a time. The timing was good because it would have been tough to double pack or double portage the Elton portage. The next 3 portages were nice. Cliffs on Makwa Lake
Then came the portage from Panhandle to Pan. We went to the location shown on both maps: down in the start of the little thumb and found a landing. We started following the trail and it was obviously travelled. But then it started winding around in crazy tight turns, was very overgrown, and much longer than advertised. It also took us parallel to the shoreline of Pan for long stretch. We reached a beautiful beach landing, looked to our right, and saw a beautiful wide, flat portage trail. When I followed it, it went straight as an arrow to a spot on Panhandle Lake that was much further north than the map had indicated. UGH! This photo shows what the Panhandle entrance to the portage should look like.

Lunch spot on Pan
The wind on Pan Lake was brutal. I hate round lakes because there is never anywhere to hide from the wind. Gabi is always the same way when I am there. The 2 portages from Pan to Anit are actually one long portage that goes around a beaver pond. It is rocky but easy to follow. The portage into Kivaniva has 2 landings at the Kivaniva end. Use the one furthest up the stream because even in low water conditions it was deep enough to pole your way through. We took the campsite on Kivaniva. Not great for swimming but it has a shady tent site. Makwa was beautiful and I hope to stay there some day. It has a beautiful zebra striped cliff at the west end.
This was my first time through this area and some of the portages are really pretty. We didn't see any people after we left Little Sag. I felt a lot of gratitude and connection to the plants and trees today. I saw the tiniest baby toad...about the size of a bean. We had red dragonflies flitting about as we paused in the lee of an island on Pan Lake. I looked them up later and found them to be Meadowhawk dragonflies...possibly the Autumn Meadowhawk.

After a dinner of tuna noodle casserole with peas, we headed out fishing for an hour. A couple canoes came thru around 5:20 and continued south.

Quote of the day: "No ants allowed in my naughty bits!!!"

Distance: 7.5 miles Portages: 490+ rods Time: 4.5 hours including 1/2 hour lunch and an hour of fishing along the route

~Little Saganaga Lake, Elton Lake, Makwa Lake, Panhandle Lake, Pan Lake, Anit Lake, Kivaniva Lake