Sunday morning my chest was pretty sore but I had full range of motion and decided to do a little test paddling. It went OK and I made the decision to keep moving west. The lake was like a mirror and I was excited about enjoying the day.

Took the time to paddle around Alpine and look at stuff, too bad it couldn’t always be like this! The portage landing to Jasper was not the best, the water is low and not enough over the rocks field to float with me in it. Hop out and line in, no problem. The landing is steep but the portage was pretty easy following the stream between the lakes. There is a nice little falls at the Jasper end, followed by a few cascades down to Alpine. Talked to some nice guys in an aluminum canoe at the portage who were headed to Knife to do some fishing.

Jasper was totally burned also but was a little different in that it doesn’t have the rocky structures that Sea Gull and Alpine have. It also doesn’t have much regrowth and a lot of small standing dead trees. Actually the campsite close to the portage is kind of neat, elevated high above the water with a wide sweeping view of the whole lake. It doesn’t have any rock, just a flat dirt campsite but the view is nice. The portage on to Kingfisher is easy and uneventful. Kingfisher must have once been a private, beautiful lake, it is now an unmemorable pass through lake that gets little thought. Hopefully someday it will be that nice little hideaway again. The portage to Ogishkemuncie is fairly easy with a section of mountain goat path along a hillside above the stream between the lakes. Easy portage, but watch your step.

Finally made it to Ogish where I planned to spend a couple days enjoyinG THE LAKE. ONCE AGAIN NOT EVERYTHing went as planned. Seven years ago I broke my back in a car accident and just standing there unloaded at the portage the thing flared up and felt like a knife into my spine. Dang it, what a terrible time for this to happen. This has happened in the past and I know it gets worse so I quickly loaded and headed for a campsite. Luckily the first site on the east end was open and it was also really nice. Paddling was possible, just not easy. During that time getting to the site I started to feel my chest tightening up, probably from working it more to compensate for the back issues. Either way, I made it to the site and tried resting and stretching, but no luck. Back to being prepared, it was time to get out the emergency pain killers.

I spent the evening resting and keeping my mind occupied and not worrying about the pain. The weather was wonderful and not a person around, totally peaceful. Using my InReach I wrote home and tried to put together the best plan for getting out and avoiding bad weather which I might be able to paddle through. My wife sent the forecast back and I was able to get the wind hour by hour and I decided there was a window early in the morning where I could catch a light tail wind. It appeared there was enough time to get somewhere on Sea Gull by the time the wind got to 15 mph and since it was from the south I could ride it up the lake for the most part. The wind was going to ramp up to 30+ from the NE on Wednesday and there was no way I could do that. My other option was to wait until my pain was better but that was risky. I decided to sleep on it and make a final decision in the morning. Spent the evening watching the super moon and enjoying the great view.

Sunday morning my chest was pretty sore but I had full range of motion and decided to do a little test paddling. It went OK and I made the decision to keep moving west. The lake was like a mirror and I was excited about enjoying the day.

Took the time to paddle around Alpine and look at stuff, too bad it couldn’t always be like this! The portage landing to Jasper was not the best, the water is low and not enough over the rocks field to float with me in it. Hop out and line in, no problem. The landing is steep but the portage was pretty easy following the stream between the lakes. There is a nice little falls at the Jasper end, followed by a few cascades down to Alpine. Talked to some nice guys in an aluminum canoe at the portage who were headed to Knife to do some fishing.

Jasper was totally burned also but was a little different in that it doesn’t have the rocky structures that Sea Gull and Alpine have. It also doesn’t have much regrowth and a lot of small standing dead trees. Actually the campsite close to the portage is kind of neat, elevated high above the water with a wide sweeping view of the whole lake. It doesn’t have any rock, just a flat dirt campsite but the view is nice. The portage on to Kingfisher is easy and uneventful. Kingfisher must have once been a private, beautiful lake, it is now an unmemorable pass through lake that gets little thought. Hopefully someday it will be that nice little hideaway again. The portage to Ogishkemuncie is fairly easy with a section of mountain goat path along a hillside above the stream between the lakes. Easy portage, but watch your step.

Finally made it to Ogish where I planned to spend a couple days enjoying the lake. Once again not everything went as planned. Seven years ago I broke my back in a car accident and just standing there unloaded at the portage the thing flared up and felt like a knife into my spine. Dang it, what a terrible time for this to happen. This has happened in the past and I know it gets worse so I quickly loaded and headed for a campsite. Luckily the first site on the east end was open and it was also really nice. Paddling was possible, just not easy. During that time getting to the site I started to feel my chest tightening up, probably from working it more to compensate for the back issues. Either way, I made it to the site and tried resting and stretching, but no luck. Back to being prepared, it was time to get out the emergency pain killers.

I spent the evening resting and keeping my mind occupied and not worrying about the pain. The weather was wonderful and not a person around, totally peaceful. Using my InReach I wrote home and tried to put together the best plan for getting out and avoiding bad weather which I might be able to paddle through. My wife sent the forecast back and I was able to get the wind hour by hour and I decided there was a window early in the morning where I could catch a light tail wind. It appeared there was enough time to get somewhere on Sea Gull by the time the wind got to 15 mph and since it was from the south I could ride it up the lake for the most part. The wind was going to ramp up to 30+ from the NE on Wednesday and there was no way I could do that. My other option was to wait until my pain was better but that was risky. I decided to sleep on it and make a final decision in the morning. Spent the evening watching the super moon and enjoying the great view.

Monday morning finally came after a restless night spent mostly sitting up as laying down was impossible. It was 5:30 and the wind was perfect, time to pack and go, I could still paddle.

Hit the water at 6:30 with an angry morning sky and headed for Sea Gull. It actually wasn’t a bad paddle, nice breeze toward my back and I was able to manage it just fine. Crossing Jasper with a south wind required a zig-zag approach but that was good also. It helped that I knew the way and zipped right through it. Once on Alpine I made a decision to take the route through Rog and get myself more toward the east so I wouldn’t end up in the middle of Sea Gull. If all else failed I could stay on Rog and still be close. Alpine to Rog is an easy portage but Rog to Sea Gull is pretty nasty, wet, steep and a terrible landing on the Rog side. Of course there was someone at the site and the wind starting picking up. Had I to do it over again, I would have turned around and headed back into Alpine.

It was really nice on Sea Gull out of the wind, all I needed to do was hug the shore and get to a campsite. It was so windy around the first long finger I could not get south back to the shore and was pushed out into the main lake. Working with all I had I made it to the island with two campsites on it, crossing in the open where I had no right to be but could not get myself back south. The little island south site was impossible to land at and there were people at the other site. I tried to get around to the protected side of that island and ask the people if I could stay for a while but was unable to turn at all. I have to admit I was getting scared but the canoe would handle the waves beautifully as long as kept it into the waves. There is a fair amount of flare at the ends and it performed exactly as expected. I turned to the east and made it into the long east west bay and found quiet conditions where I rested and thought. No place to pull off and make an illegal site even if I wanted to.

No choice but to head back out and turn the corner north around an odd kidney shaped point. Doing so blasted me way out into the lake and I was unable to get to the campsite on the point close by. Working with all I had, I worked my way east and landed on the shore of the double island with a campsite on each. I headed out to the west island and the wind was murder so I turned around. If I missed the site I would be pushed right into the middle of the lake. Why are all the sites facing south on this side of the lake? The east island has a long point extending south that would require too much paddling south to get around to the site. I could see the narrow point between the islands was very small and I decided to try and cross it. My prayers were answered when I got there to find someone has moved the rocks and made a single canoe width channel between them, it was a sandy bottom and I shot right through!

From this quiet windless area I decided to head for one side of Threemile Island or the other and follow it north. My east side plan would allow me to stop at the Blankenburg landing and hitch a ride. Looking at the conditions, the white caps were far worse on the east side so I went west. It was pretty nice most of the way, a nice tail wind but no big waves and a chance to hug the shore. One of the bays was filled with geese and my presence made them explode into the air. There is a nice osprey nest close to shore where two adults were feeding some young. I stopped at the south campsite on the west side of Threemile Island and kissed the ground. I ate my first meal of the day at 1:00 and was very happy. The wind continued to pick up and at 6:00 gave up on continuing and set up camp. This site is an ugly loose rocky pile and not good for much except for the great views.

Tuesday morning was nice and calm with solid gray clouds. I packed up early to avoid the rain and headed very gingerly toward Trails End Campground landing. The weather was cool and the lake completely quiet. There was not another canoe seen, no campsites occupied and no activity in the campground, I had the whole place to myself! Thankfully I brought a shop stool with which helped me load the canoe without lifting the canoe so high which was tough for me. Stopped at Trail Center for a great breakfast and headed for home.

Lessons learned on the trip were many and I think I passed my personal toughness test. I ended one day early but given the circumstances I was satisfied with the experience. I enjoyed the personal peace and ability to have the trip be truly my own but the extra work is quite a tradeoff. Had my chest x-rayed today and there are no breaks obvious so it is only bruised ribs. The spine pain is being managed with drugs until I decide what to do. It hurts to move at all right now, not sure how I paddled like that. Wind conditions will forever be my number 1 concern for solo trip planning in the future. My stripper may never see Sea Gull again.

Thanks for reading.