Monday, August 17, 2009 More rain today. We get a bit of a break in late morning, and decide to day trip over to Grace for lunch. The wind is pretty strong, but we start to look for a campsite for lunch. I left the GPS in the tent since it was just a day trip, but the mapkeepers were having a tough time figuring out where we were in the lake. Eventually we find a campsite and pull in for lunch. There are a few mosquitos here, but nothing too bad, it's a nice site overall.

As I look around the campsite, it's feeling very familiar. I know this place. I swear it's the same campsite I spent the night at on a high school trip almost 20 years ago. Guess I'll have to check.

Yep, same place. Strange how the brain can remember such things. After lunch, Brian is talking to other members of the group, and we are given permission to take the alternate portage route we were forbidden from taking on the way in. I tell them I'm not doing it since the GPS is back at camp, and I don't have a map. After a bit of studying the map and some convincing, I agree to go. Brian and I part ways with the rest of the group and head off to the "hard" portage which nobody else in the group will take. As we head across the lake, the wind gets very severe, the whitecaps are almost coming up over the sides, but we are going with the wind, so it's pretty fun, almost like surfing with the waves. We pull into the first bay where I think the portage will be. It's nowhere to be found. Must be down farther, so we continue along the lake to the next bay, still no portage can be seen. I joke to brian that we are really screwed if it's not in the next bay at the end of the lake, because there's no way we're getting this canoe back upwind if it's not there. So we pull in to the final bay in the lake to find the portage. It's not there.

oh crap.

We make our way back upwind across the lake. I am reminded of how much big light canoes do not like going into strong wind. It's a lot of work, but we make good progress considering what we are working against. We look again for the portage, and still don't find it. We make our way back to the campsite and then back to the "easy" portage where we had entered the lake, and then back to camp.

The sun is out, and it's a perfect time for a swim. I manage to slip on some rocks and smack my arm pretty good. I conclude that it's very easy to get into the lake, and almost impossible to get out of it. It starts to rain again. This time there is a nice rainbow.

It stops raining, then starts again, then stops, then starts again. Someone, somewhere, is having fun teasing us. Most everyone just ends up in their tents for the rest of the day to stay a bit drier and warmer.

It's another wet night. My sleeping bag is now wet and I am cold.