Day 10 Wednesday, August 24th

13.04 miles Portages- 1) 220m 2) 10m 3) 260m, turn then 200m 4) 70m 5) 180m

It was heavily overcast in the morning but it wasn’t raining. We broke camp and headed south past two eagles perched atop trees toward the first 220m portage toward McWade Lake. Just short of the portage we spotted a bear swimming across the narrows. Slowing and sniffing it looked around for us and then turned, exited on a rock, and slowly lumbered into the forest.

Awesome! The portage itself was easy going except for two LARGE trees blocking the last few meters. The unseasonably high water allowed us to put in short of the normal spot, navigate a couple of submerged rocks, and we were soon on our way. What followed was a fun little stream holding plenty of water to float us to the next 10m popover on a granite slab to yup, a mucky put-in. There is a nice but small camp on the knob here with a small, promising hole beneath a little fall.

It was a short paddle to the next portage where we have a route choice. Do we want to paddle to Granite Lake through Roberts and Elf or McWade? McWade won out. We blundered through the easy to find, yet tricky take out south on a 260m blueberry walk then took a right turn at Roberts Lake for another 200m wander through the marshy willows. This section was quite spongy with lots of animal tracks and trails. We lunched at a good camp on the north end of McWade Lake and then completed the long paddle south with a glorious tailwind encouraging

us along. We stopped at a small camp as the lake turns, stretched and took a quick catnap and then on through the final two portages ( 70m and 180m) into Granite Lake arriving at about 4 o’clock. It was here, camped brightly across the lake, we spied our first other canoeists of the trip We headed north again and claimed a camp above the first swift near Granite Falls. It was a well-used site with a bunch of downed trees, so we spent a bit of time clearing the biggest of them to create a spot for our tarp. We had a quick dinner while watching a couple of eagles harassing each other across the lake, followed by some fruitless shore fishing, sunset viewing, cards, and off to bed listening to the water rush toward Granite Falls.

Day 11 Thursday, August 25th

6.93 miles 0 Portages 1 Swift

Whoa, it was a good night for sleeping-cold, even had to zip up the bag! We woke up to a still, dry morning with a plan to visit the falls before heading south. We were just finishing up breakfast when a party of 5 red canoes paddled up looking for the Granite Falls portage. It appears to be the same group we spied last night.

Ten paddlers, predominantly women of a variety of youthful ages. We speculated that they were a college group or maybe a paddling camp. They reported starting 8 days ago at Allenwater Bridge and they are heading for Whitewater Lake. As their leader approached, they quickly donned their helmets, crossed the lake, and headed down the first swift before Granite Falls. Tony and I finished packing up and floated around the corner to the portage before the swift and wandered down the trail with our rods. Tony caught a dozen walleye and the biggest pike of his life (again no camera.) I took one cast, snagged my lure, broke it off, and took the “walk of shame” back to the boat.

Having said that, Granite Falls is lovely. (Bunch of trees down and an old motor in the bushes.)

Next, we headed south past two fishing boats and a few west shore camps (empty) before turning west toward Brennan Falls.

We lined one swift (upstream) before having lunch on a rock and then later claimed a camp near the confluence of two streams and Brennan Falls-a serviceable two-level camp with a peek of the falls from the top of the knob

(And a crushed metal boat across from camp.) We set up camp, took a short snooze, and then fished around the island but only small pike and walleye were playing. I hiked the easy and scenic 180m portage along Brennan Falls’ steep and plunging drops before heading back to camp for a BBQ Pork pizza party for two.

At 800pm it clouded up and started to rain so we retreated to the tent for cards and reading before drifting off listening to rain on the tent.

Day 12 Friday, August 26th

6.5 Long Miles Portages 1) 180m 2) 50m “liftover” 3) Surprise “popover” 4) 450m

It rained most of the night, sometimes hard but then stopped at dawn and some blue “sucker holes” started to appear so we got up and had a breakfast of scrambled Ova eggs, bacon, and torts while the tent dried a bit. We decided to take the 180m Portage along Brennan Falls as it seemed like the scenic route (foreshadowing.)

The day started fortuitously as we saw two otters playing in the swift on the way to the portage. The first portage was uneventful-the takeout was steep but the portage itself, though uphill, was a lovely granite walk lined with blueberries to a marshy put-in that allowed us to avoid the current at the top of the falls.

We could see the CII ledges to the north as we launched and then we were challenged by a described “liftover” which looked too deep, too steep, and had quite a bit of current rushing through it (in the wrong direction) so we instead decided to “wilderness portage” (bushwhack) over 50m of wet granite, slick moss over granite, and willows. Not too bad really but it slowed us down. We spent some time paddling around the islands checking out potential camps, enjoying the scenery, and casting a bit as we eased toward the next portage only to discover that given the high water and strong current we were not going to make it around the corner to the takeout. So close and yet so far. . . Alternately, as others had obviously done before, we took a “Surprise portage” over a granite knob and then made the short paddle (100m) across to the 450m portage adjacent to some thunderous bonus falls.

It was here we lunched and then portaged to Brennan Lake along a crazily cairned granite walk through the blueberries skirting bear, caribou, and moose poop. Next, we paddled onto Brennan past another outpost, then “meandering” in the islands to stay out of the wind while searching for a camp. We had just paddled past the “dragon head” when a float plane circled overhead several times and landed close to us.

I’m not kidding, we kept trying to paddle out of the way and it started to taxi toward us. Huh? Then a solo boater paddled down the opposite shore and hopped onboard as we continued on, targeting a camp in the narrows. An immature eagle solemnly watched the entire event unfold. As we unloaded on the ledge the plane taxied our way and lifted off over our heads.

Moments later three fishing boats raced up the lake stopping in “our narrows” to assure we were ok? Apparently, they saw the plane land and wondered if we needed help? “Nope, just a crazy day in the wilds of Wabakimi.” The excitement over (we hope) we set up camp under the watchful eye of a second mature eagle, went for a swim, cooked up some dinner (Red Curry Noodles and Blueberry Cheesecake) and enjoyed the still, red evening light. We slept quite well even with a moose clomping through camp for a drink.