Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Awake at sun up; fog so thick that I can’t see the lake 10 feet away. I packed up camp and hit the water as soon as the fog cleared a bit. I headed south toward the 100 rod in to Smoke and made my first navigational error of the trip. I was within 25 yards of the portage but didn’t see it and convinced myself that it was further down shore. I paddled about a mile further, realized what I had done, called myself an idiot and headed back to where I knew the portage was… saw it from about 100 yards out this time. Easy portage; the put in on Smoke is interesting as I have never launched a canoe from a doc before; all goes well. 90 rods in to Burnt where I planned to stay for the rest of the day. My plan was to make camp early and take it easy for the rest of the day, I packed my hammock for this very reason but I was feeling too darn good to stop now. I can’t explain it, my plan to create a little down time worked out perfectly and I’m a lounge in the hammock with a book and a cocktail kind of fella but I choose to paddle on. The 230 rod into Kelly is not bad, a little up and down; I got destroyed by the skeeters. A quick paddle through Kelly and Peterson. My Merganser friend swam with me a little ways on Baker as if to “say see you later”.

-Take out at Baker, parking lot is deserted
-Square up at Sawbill
-Fresh hearing for lunch in Silver Bay
-Home in time to sing the kiddies to sleep

Sawbill, Smoke, Burnt, Kelly, Peterson, Baker

433 rods

Closing Tidbits

-Sorry for the lack of photos, forgot to pick up a disposable camera and made a game time decision to leave the phone in the car.

-It was a great trip; I will definitely do another solo. I really appreciated not having to worry about trip mates having a good experience.
-I pushed harder than expected but the harder I pushed the stronger I felt.
-My bride was happy to see me earlier than planned although she gave me crap for coming out early… what a woman.
-Saw a deer on the Sawbill Trail; not technically in the ‘dub but I’m counting it.
-Katidyn Base Camp water filter gets my vote for gear of the year… if you don’t have one, get one!
-First time ever taking a trip without fishing gear; didn’t really miss it although I might have stayed one more night if I could have fished.
-I think that I need solo paddling instruction, I struggled with course corrections more than I probably needed to.