I woke up to the sound of rain on the tent. I listened for sounds of anyone else up and moving around but didn’t hear anyone. I went back to sleep. The next time I woke up it was still raining. It still didn’t sound like anyone was moving around. I looked at my watch and it was almost noon! Rain or no rain we still had some travelling to do for the day so I got up. When everyone realized how late it was they got up as well.

By the time we were on the water the rain had diminished to a slight drizzle. To the relief of our tired arms from the day before, the wind had died down and we were making decent progress. The last stretch of Quetico Lake was an easy paddle and we were at the portage to Conk Lake before long.

At the portage we saw two guys from Wisconsin camped. They were the only people we had seen since Sue Falls. We chatted with them a little about fishing and then headed over the portage. Conk Lake was crossed quickly before we portaged into Jean Lake.

Once we were situated in our canoe on the water we began to fish for lunch. The lake was calm, cool, and misty. We started across the lake to the east slowly trolling along the way. Another group was occupying a campsite to the far south of us and looked like they were all milling about around a fire.

I started to notice one drawback of the Nad-a-Chair I was wearing. The straps that fit around my knees seemed to inhibit circulation to my feet so most of the time my feet were cold. This day I was exceptionally cold and was looking forward to a hot lunch. We managed to pick up a few lake trout along the way so I got to thinking about the possibilities. I decided I was going to make up some fish chowder. The chowder was going to be made of Caldo Verde (potato and kale soup), added chunks of fish, and a little Ghee (clarified butter) for some extra fat to warm us up.

As we rounded a bend to the south we picked out a campsite to stop for lunch. pghportager and I pulled in to the sandy beach landing and thought to ourselves, “What a nice location for a campsite”. Our opinion of the site started to turn rather quickly. The first thing I noticed was some noodles off shore at the beach. OK, noodles in the water is a little sloppy but I can live with that. Next were the wads of fishing line strewn about the landing and the occasional piece of tackle that started to tick me off. I was still not prepared for what we found next. There were piles of toilet paper all over the place right in camp, some of which were not 10 feet from the fire ring. The majority of the piles of TP had a disturbing brown pile under or near it. More mind boggling than that was the fact that not all the brown piles had TP anywhere near them. The one PennPaddler almost stepped on back at the tent area, while heading off to do our dishes comes to mind. Oh, and to ice the cake, the fire ring was completely filled with cans, plastic bottles, and facial wipes. What kind of crew goes that far into the park, that early in the season, and trashes an otherwise pristine campsite? (We reported this to the park service at French Lake on our return. They did seem genuinely interested in the find, location, and date. I know it’s a stretch but I hope whoever is responsible for this gets caught and properly punished by banishment from the park and a good old fashion tar and feathering)

Despite the above mentioned conditions found, we did have lunch there. The chowder really hit the spot and was as good as I was hoping for. I will keep this recipe and perhaps try to find alternative chowder recipies I can dehydrate for these trips.

As we were departing from the site we saw a lone solo paddler off to the north. I only record spotting other people because sometimes we go for days without seeing anyone. The less people we see the more remote the areas feel to us. The more remote the area, the better in my book,

The weather continued to be misty and grey as we continued down through Jean Lake. The fishing seemed to slow down until we hit Little Jean Lake. Little Jean Lake seemed to have an abundant supply of small pike. They are not the most thrilling fish to catch but at least we were catching something.

At the portage to Yeh Lake we saw some eagles hanging around the mouth of a river. This usually indicates there are fish around so we stopped and tried our luck only to get a few more small pike.

The portage over to Yeh Lake was an easy one and we were back on the water in no time. Since the portage from Yeh Lake to Lonely Lake was a long one we decided to camp on Yeh for the night. It was starting to get late and we were getting tired. As we cruised the shore looking for any signs of an old campsite pghportager and I trolled hoping for a fish dinner. We managed to catch a couple smallmouth but did not manage to see any campsites. 

The northeast end of the lake had a granite cliff that appeared to be flat on top so we decided to check it out. It did not appear to have been used as a campsite before but it was flat enough to pitch a couple of tents so it was good enough. Being so high off the water, the view from the spot was pristine. To our west was the lake and loons and to the northeast was a very moosey looking, marshy valley with a chorus of frogs.

Although no signs of a previous camp existed, there were signs of human activity. There was steel cable attached to one of the pine trees on the cliff that stretched off into the woods to who knows what? While we unloaded gear, beached the canoe, put up tents, and made a fire ring the weather improved. The sky was clear enough to entice us to put up a laundry cord and attempt to dry some wet gear. Although the weather was now drying up, finding dry fire wood was not so easy. Eventually we managed to get a fire going and warmed up by it.