Friday, June 18, 2021 Pete was up by 5:00am and I was out of my tent about 10 minutes later. We had pancakes and eggs with hot chocolate on the side. Even though we were in a hurry to beat the wind, we didn’t hit the water until just after 7am. I was immediately distracted by an Eagle, and spent about 10 minutes taking more pictures, which was OK with Pete as he was trying to catch one more Kek Laker.
We met up at the portage into Strup, then a quick pullover into Wisini, where I had to check out the famous campsite there. There was not a good access to the site, so I ended up going to the east until I found a spot that looked like it got some use, but still tuff to get the canoe to a secure spot, as it went almost straight up. I explored, took some pics and agree it is a nice spot, but the bivy is in direct site of the fire grate.
Next up were the portages into Ahmakose and Gerund. The wind started picking up as we reached Gerund, and it was blowing straight to the portage into Fraser. If I was as nimble as Pete this would not be an issue, but I am not as good as I used to be, but the challenge was met head on and all went well. Before I knew it, we were on Fraser, home for the next two nights. We had day tripped to Fraser & Sagus the previous summer and were looking forward to staying on Fraser. We got campsite 1398, which gave us a nice view of the Island that had the “Brainerd Cabin” on it. If I had to look at a theme up to this point of the trip, it would be waves and wind!
Peter brought some walleyes home about 5pm, we ate and then went outside for different adventures that night. I paddled over to the “Brainerd Cabin” island and searched around, finding the stove door on the southernmost rocks, but was unable to locate the concrete stairs with the name and June 6, 1944 written in the concrete. I was so focused on Isle of Pines research, I didn’t have an attack plan for the island on Fraser, thinking it would be easy peasy.
I then paddled around the island and took some sunset pictures and then did some fishing in front of the campsite in 5 to 15 feet of water. Pulled out a nice pike – catch and release – and also a decent walleye, both landed by hand. Considering I find it hard to leave anything behind, it is amazing that I do not bring a net for landing fish. Just take your time and don’t panic! I was in the tent avoiding the mosquitos when Pete got back and I crawled out to visit as the blood suckers had settled down by this time. Another good day. Staying another day on Fraser and then plan to move closer to Snowbank.