I woke very early and was paddling toward the Cummings portage at 5:30am. I wanted to beat the wind when I reached Cummings because it was going to be sunny today. I landed at the portage at 6:00am and had to push my canoe with gear up the landing and up the trail in about 4 inches of water. There was a small stream coming down the trail. I figured all the wetness along this route was due to an unusually wet spring. I pushed the canoe up about 30 yards to a dry spot and proceeded to load up with my equipment pack and paddles. I walked a few more yards and immediately ran into what looked like someone played pick-up-sticks with logs. This was compounded by the fact they were all sizes and laying in about 8 “ of water in all directions. Wow. I took a moment to figure out how to safely traverse this and started slogging though and over the mess. I got the bright idea of trying to scale some of the logs but quickly jumped back into the muck after almost falling off a downed log. A broken bone or twisted ankle would be an issue at this point. I cleared the log section about 100 yards later and proceeded along. The rest of the trail had some smooth elevation changes, more wet spots, lots of bugs and ticks, etc. I carried my equipment pack to about ¾ of the way though and came up on a nice ridge which overlooks a pond on the northwestern side of the trail. Very scenic. I decided to go back for the rest of my equipment. Carrying the canoe through pick-up-sticks was a real treat! What a character building experience. Once I got the canoe and food pack back to my leap frog spot I picked up the equipment pack and pushed the rest of the way. I came to another beaver dam across the trail and it used to hold about 5-7 ft of water. It, luckily, was blown out and I was able to walk the dam then down into the basin and across without incident. After I reached Cummings the sun was out in full force and the wind was up from the west. I rested, picked ticks, and then headed out. Doubling took me about 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete!

I was a bit nervous about Cummings lake because of the size and my Prism likes to turn when pushed from behind. Cummings lake is absolutely beautiful! I was making good time and being pushed along by the west wind. I was originally going to shoot for the peninsula site just west of the narrows but it was occupied. This was the only occupied site I saw there at the time. I was really enjoying the paddling after the long portage that morning so I kept on moving. I cruised through the narrows and was out of the wind and met a few guys coming the other way. They were shooting for the peninsula site as well and when I told them it was occupied they seemed a little disappointed but pushed on into the wind. I drifted for a while and took in the scenery and serenity of the south eastern part of Cummings. Since I was out of the wind I floated around for almost an hour jut taking it all in. Very relaxing. I decided to make for the 5 star site on Little Crab because I have not seen too many people thus far and figured either it or the Korb site would be open. I did the easy 70 rod portage into Korb and acknowledged that site was open. Pretty lake which is long and narrow. I continued up the Korb river and lifted around the little beaver dam at the entrance to the river. I enjoyed the short paddle up the Korb river as it was very relaxing and the birds were out in full force. The site on little Crab was open and wow, what a site. There are many nice tent sites, good landing, and lots of firewood already chopped! What more could you ask for after a long days paddling and portaging?! I managed to catch a very nice 27-28” pike off the site as well.