Morning broke clear and cold, but warmer than yesterday. Finally we get a break. When we opted out of the big loop to the Kekekabic country, we dealt ourselves plenty of time for a relaxed pace of travel. We have been doing just that. Slow is good when wandering about.

We were on the water at 9 AM and being gently guided north on Boulder by a south breeze. There were some odd cloud formations in the sky this AM and a hint of a halo around the sun. But at the moment we had an Indian Summer and a dandy day. One of our longer portages and the “cross roads” lies ahead. Robert Johnson went down to the cross roads, met the devil, signed over his soul, and was given the gift of delta blues. We don’t expect to see the devil, we have full bellies, fresh socks, and a copy of the portage cross roads trail map that Beymer provided in his books……… his gift to us without asking for our souls (only $16.95 and worth the exchange of money). If you come this way, pack the map.

I expected a tough trail and confusion where the north-south trail crosses the slough. What I found was a relatively easy portage over well maintained and easy to follow trails. The trail gains elevation out of Boulder and then drops to the slough. At the slough turn left, follow the trail along the bank and stop at the first clearing (very short distance). On the other side of the slough, the trail takes off up hill. Two of us crossed the slough, and then sent the empty canoe across for gear…… shuttle service. Basically this saved us from properly loading the canoes and provided a little fun.

We saw a lot of wolf tracks and no other human tracks. The climb out of the slough caused a bit of puffing, but once on top, the going was easy to the “cross roads” and onward to Ledge lake. The trail up the hill from the slough had been recently maintained, and whoever did the work, my hat is off to you. This system of portage trails (from Boulder to Ledge) ranks high in my “favored portages column”. There is a remote feeling to the trails, and there are a couple of nice views from the top (if you go off trail a bit).

Ledge Lake has one campsite, it was empty, and we decided to stop. The campsite is small, had a pretty view, and accommodated our tents. The lake is also small, pretty, and (I think) very shallow. I blamed the “shallow factor” on the absence of fish in the pan. The rest of the day was spent searching for the illusive fish, exploring the lake, and basking in the sun. We were in T-shirts when just the other day snow was beating us. In late afternoon one canoe passed our camp. They were coming from Thomas and they were now forced to head on to Fee. We had gone nearly six days without contact with others.

Photos show: 1) morning at Boulder Camp, 2) our ferry across the slough on the way to the "cross roads", 3) Ledge Lake (the canoe belongs to our group)