Onward to Little Saganaga and the end of the line for us. Morning broke heavy in clouds, warm, and very humid. Today will be our last short hop, and the plan is to explore the SW part of Little Saganaga, do a bit of fishing, and get a good night sleep before our return path to Kawishiwi Lake.

We started the day in t-shirts again. It is hard to believe that we were bundled up a few days ago. The portage from Hoe to Makwa was generally flat(ish) with steep decline close to Makwa. Nate was carrying one canoe and he took off for Makwa before me. I was surprised to see someone coming over the trail from Makwa. I chatted for a while with the guy as the rest of his party (4 men) trickled in over the trail. Then, I shouldered my canoe for the carry to Makwa. I thought I had a friendly interaction with the guy that I talked to.

On arriving at the Makwa side, I heard another story. Nate was livid. “those guys didn’t move an inch for me…… they could see my balancing act with the canoe…… they had packs….. ya think they would have stepped aside?” Oh boy, of all the least likely places to have an incident. We headed back to get the rest of our packs, and now it was our turn to meet them carrying their canoes…… we yielded the trail to the canoes, and I am sure that we will get the Portage Trail Etiquette award for our good manners. We could have easily done an “eye for an eye” in this situation.

Elton Lake was a long, narrow, and pretty lake (like most we have been on). The topography was interesting and beckoned us to stop. Had it not been for the plan to hit Little Sag, and the fact that we were now running out of time, we would have stopped to spend the night. The portages from Elton to Little Saganaga could stand some brush clearing and the little Saganaga sides were very muddy. However, after the rain(s) we have seen, muddy trails have been the norm and not the exception.

Little Saganaga fulfilled our expectations as a pretty lake until we paddled far enough NE to spot the scorched earth from the forest fire earlier this season (I think we might have been looking at part of the Ham Lake fire). We were sobered as we surveyed the scene of blackened bare rock and standing dead snags. I don’t think I could ever forgive myself if my actions resulted in something that looked like this. “Remember, only you can prevent forest fires”…… I remember Smoky.

We came about and headed down lake to the big island (in section 18) to avoid looking over the depressing landscape of fire. The island had one campsite and we called it home. Again this campsite does not look like much from the lake.

There are plenty of nice sites on Little Saganaga. The maze of small islands at the top of section 18 were real pretty, but sites looked loved to death. I remember those sites as the ones with orange peels left in the fire pit. Dave and I picked them up and flung them back into the bush. Peels are organic, they will decompose, but why leave garbage for another to find (or pick up)?

The big island site doesn’t have a commanding view or look like much from the lake, but it was very nice. I know this area witnessed some of the winds from the 1999 storm, and it was remarkable to see the stately white pines on this island standing. The flat ground for tents was in and around the big pines, and it looked idyllic until later that night.

A noble effort was made to catch a fish for supper. No bet, and no bite. On one of our many trolling runs we spotted an old USFS cabin. Of course this captured our curiosity and we stopped to look around a bit. I suppose that the USFS has a policy to let these old buildings go to pot, and that is a shame. It looks like the cabin is still used as a base for maintenance and as a dump. I could not believe the accumulation of crap surrounding the place. There is history in these old log buildings and regardless of wilderness they should be maintained and kept tidy.

With evening came dead calm, and a perfect night for fire watching. We sat around in t-shirts. There was a feel in the air, and we didn’t need a weather man to tell us something was coming in our direction. And, it came, first with little drops, and those little drops turned to sheets of rain. This time we got the wind and it was howling right out of the west. The storm made for a restless and long night, and I couldn’t help thinking about those damn big pines we were under.

Photos show: 1) leaving Hoe Lake, 2) USFS cabin on Little Saganaga, 3) Little Saganaga looking NW from our island camp, 3) Little Saganaga calm before the storm