Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Sylvania, 2009
by Exo

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 07/05/2009
Entry Point: Other
Exit Point: Other  
Number of Days: 8
Group Size: 1
Day 5 of 8
Thursday, July 09, 2009

I wake early and the wind is calm. I make quick work of packing and get enough food for today and tomorrow and retrieve my poncho (shelter) and raingear. Am I worried? No. But I don't like the thought of a night in the woods during a nasty storm without food or shelter. I read about the sand beaches on Clark Lake and am looking forward to seeing them. I've read that the lakes in Sylvania are on the top of a watershed with no natural inlets or outlets and they are spring-fed and filled with rainwater. Their Ph is supposedly near that of rainwater.

I make the grueling (13 rod) portage into Crooked Lake without issue and paddle the near-glass waters. I see in the sky the ends of cirrus clouds that passed overnight and know there is a new weather system moving in. I have plenty of time to meet my buddy on Clark Lake and am not in a hurry so I do some fishing and wildlife watching. I bump into a family of Otters in one of the bays (Fischer 1/2 campsites) and watch them for a while. One follows me at a distance, he himself fishing intermittently. I don't have any luck on the fishing end, but always enjoy the company of chatterbox Otters.

The next bay is weedy and shallow. I am fortunate enough to watch a Bald Eagle swoop down and catch a fish not 30 feet in front of my boat. I watch him go to a tree on the shore and paddle slowly up then watch him eat the fish. Nice! Then I paddle through some reeds and interrupt a family of ducks (species unknown/looked like gadwall) going about their business. I also watched a deer come to the water's edge and take a drink.

I then set to the task of locating a portage. The area near the portage and for that matter, the entire west shoreline is shallow and weedy. Not something I want to get blown into or stuck in. I note a clearing and figure it to be the portage. Then I checked out a few campsites called Badger 1 and Badger 2. Looks to me like the place could be bug infested and the landing is pitiful. I still have time to kill so I explore the area on foot. I note the wind to be picking up.

My friend sends me a text message and I manage to receive it. He's begun his walk down Clark Lake and I know it to be two miles as the crow flies. He should be at the meet-up in less than two hours. I make my way to the portage from Crooked to Clark and stash the boat and other stuff off the path and in the woods a bit. I can single-portage if I need to. Then I make a hike over to Clark Lake to see what the water is like. Wind and waves and not something I want to solo paddle to explore while I wait on my buddy.

But the weather is nice and it's sunny with a good breeze. And the beach is phenomenal! I break out both the digital camera and the film camera and take a good amount of photos. The cirrus clouds continue their march and the wind keeps picking up. I take a swim and get some sun. It's a really nice day. I also manage to get some more white birch bark and put it in with my fire stash.

My friend, John arrives and we exchange greetings. He's surprised it only took him just over an hour to get here. He's used to backpacking in the Porkies. He takes a swim then we head over the portage and battle the wind on Crooked. The canoe handles much better with a stern-man. I teach him some paddle strokes and how an efficient stroke is 2x that of a bubble-filled noisy monstrosity. John is amazed how much different Crooked is from Clark and Loon Lakes.

We hump our gear over the demanding 13-rod portage into Mountain Lake and he gets his tent set up. We go do some fishing and he catches some of his first fish ever. Pictures are taken to prove to his father-in-law. We stay on the less windy side of the lake and don't get to worn out. As we get back to the landing and unload gear we hear a crack and a crash from a tree falling. Yup, it's windy. We go about collecting firewood and get quite a stack for a nice roaring fire that night.

Dinner consisted of freeze-dried something and a little 80-proof over the fire. The wind is still gusty, but settled quite a bit. We hit the sack and sometime during the night I wake up to a roar in the distance. I'm concerned its straight-line winds and shudder at the thought of my worst fears. One of them being a tree falling on my tent...with me in it.