Thursday May 8th

We had a nice night on Thunder. It is such a pretty lake it is a shame to have to leave. The good news is we have two short portages that we cleared yesterday so we can get warmed up nicely before swinging axes using nippers and saws. Better to be warmed up and loose than start out nipping right away. Your back will appreciate the effort.

We quickly cross Mudhole which is an aptly named lake. It has lots of water in it but it is still obvious why it is called what it is. Gull is a nice lake but not all that exciting, but I hear it holds fish. Too bad it is only Thursday and we have no gear.

We land at the portage from Gull into Gun which is another short portage. It takes hardly any time to clear this portage and we are onto Gun to paddle to the far end across the north bay to the portage into Bullet Lake. Another rather easy portage and we are to the portage into Moosecamp Lake. At 44 rods this is the longest portage of the day that we need to clear so far. The portage we only walked from Thunder to Mudhole was a little longer but we had cleared that a day earlier. It is kind of nice doing these quick little portages as we continue on. There are a couple of trees to cut on this portage but nothing terribly tricky.

As we get ready to load the canoe and get onto Moosecamp Lake we discuss if we should stop as planned or continue on. It is not even noon yet and we could stop but we could easily make it down to Fourtown. The discussion quickly turns to how long do we think it will take us to paddle the river? Do we think there will be campsites open when we get there and do we have enough energy? The answers are we feel it will take no more than 2-3 hours to get to Fourtown so we will be there before 4:00, although it is Thursday there should still be campsites-at least at the north end that we could get and after we eat some lunch we will have the energy. We decide to eat some lunch and then hit the lake and into the river and see what is open on Fourtown.

I was really hoping to camp on Moosecamp, but I know I will be back. At least I can say I was here. We paddle the short distance to where the river exits the lake. The nice thing is we are going with the current again and it has some flow to it.
If you have never been on the Moosecamp River you need to add it to your list of places to go. There are numerous logging artifacts in the water that are easily visible. Old Growth pines hundreds of feet long are permanently cemented into the river bottom. There are many eye hooks, chain remnants and other artifacts stuck into many of the logs. It is a nice place to paddle. A short distance along the river we come to the old sluiceway which must be lifted over. In this case the high water is not our friend as finding a safe place to lift over is tricky and we end up going well away from the current and have to walk the canoe through the flooded grassy area. It takes longer than we thought it should but we did it. Even these small accomplishments bring joy to the paddler.

Moosecamp River we can tell often has numerous Beaver dams and many we see have blown out due to current or with the river being so high are easy for us to find a channel and paddle over. Only one dam creates a problem that we must lift over.

As we get into the area of the river with the high cliffs and hills along the channel the river changes. It becomes lazy-er and more windy. It is still pushing us along however. On the western shore we see a partially eaten moose carcass that must have died recently either killed by wolves or somehow just died or drowned. Joe and I paddle up near it to inspect to see if there are any antlers but none are available. We paddle on.

Soon enough the cliffs become very dramatic and we know we are getting close to Fourtown. It is a little windier today out of the SW so we know Fourtown could be a bit of work to paddle. We leave the quiet confines of the Moosecamp River expecting to see our first people in many days.

As expected Fourtown is work as we head into a brisk wind. It is not so windy that we need to worry but it is work. We come to the North Bay and look and see that all campsites are open so we decide to continue on. The further south we get the less chance any wind will slow us tomorrow and the less distance we have to travel.

We come to the next bay that holds campsites and we seem to see a canoe on shore. In some ways it is a disappointment as we now have seen people. As we get closer we see it is not a canoe after all but an ice pile on shore. So we are still very much alone.

Joe has ever camped on Fourtown so I tell him the sites I think we should shoot for. There is one in the narrows that faces west toward the portage to Boot that I really like. We decide that is where we should get to. The wind has started picking up so it seems like a good idea to stop soon. That and the wind is starting to take its toll on us.

We get to the campsite and get out looking at the camp and we decide not to stay here. All the tent pads have 3 inches of water standing in them and it just is not a great site due to the water. If it was dry it would be great, but it is very possible it is going to rain tonight so we move on. I know a site around the corner that is huge with large tent pads that are higher and further away from the lake with a huge granite shelf sloping into the water. So far I am amazed that we have seen no one on Fourtown. It is Thursday before the opener and I know the water temps are probably too cold for many, but I would think there would be some fisherman up here. We have seen no ice on the lake and just a little on shore. I kind of think the ice went out of Fourtown on Wednesday based on what we see. It is fun knowing we are paddling the lake the day after the ice probably went out on it.

We head around the corner to the east and the site is open. From here we can see all other sites to the south and there is no one occupying them. Amazingly enough we have Fourtown to ourselves and it is getting late enough now that I doubt anyone will be coming in tonight. Here we are on a huge lake where most days going forward from here on until September will be completely full of people, all campsites occupied and we have the place to ourselves. I’m not a greedy person, but I don’t mind thinking the lake is Joe and mine for a night.