Friday, June 04, 2010 TRAVEL DAY There was a very faint pitter patter on the roof of the tent this morning. Naw! That ain't rain? Finally crawling out, we find that a light mist is coming down. We both seem a bit reluctant in breaking down camp. Looking back. If I hadn't taken the tarp down the night before, I think we may just have stayed? As it was we slowly ate breakfast and got things packed away. While we were lackadaisically going about our business, the wind had picked up and it started to rain for real. As we began our trek eastward across the big lake the chop really intensified. I kept the Pearl close to shore. As we got to where the lake starts to narrow the wind died down considerably. The wind and rain alternated back and forth as to which would be the more irritable. Once we reached the ponds the weather just settled into a good old fashioned soaker. We met a group of 2 on the ponds and gave them some fishing info, as they were headed for Kekekabic. We pressed on through the rain. Eddy, Jenny, & Annie.
The plan had been to camp on Ogishkemuncie. But after discussing it with Vickie. We decided to push for Jasper. We had spent the last week on 2 stunningly gorgeous lakes. Ogish is a great lake too. Reasoned that Jasper was hit hard by the fire a few years back. It would provide a totally different experience. I thought Vickie would like to see the effects of the fire up close. There was a very nice site just past the portage from Kingfisher. With as few people as we have seen on the lakes we had traveled on already, (and they were more popular than Jasper) I figured that site was a lock to be open. As we finished the portage from Annie, there was a heavy haze over Ogish. It looked like the chop might be a problem once we got out on the lake? We kept it close to shore and island hopping. There were waves, but nothing too troubleing. We pulled off at the narrows site to get out and stretch and grab some trail mix. While there the rain stopped. Maybe the worst was over? Once we were back on the water the rain resumed. I was surprised how few people we seen on Ogish. I thought this would be the first lake where we would see multiple groups? We came up to the Kingfisher portage. I decided since I was soaked from the waist down anyways. (I busted out the crotch on my rain pants) I would walk The Black Pearl down the shallow creek still loaded with our packs. The only real problem was navigating around all the limbs hanging across.
We made quick work of the portage into Jasper. As we entered the main body of the lake I noticed a pack up in a tree at the good site. DAMN! The wind really started rockin' from the east kicking up whitecaps! We struggled as we paddled south to check out the site on the point. Another benefit of heading for that point was that it would shelter us from this wind. Thesite there was very poor. But it served our purpose as a temporary shelter from the wind. Once the wind died down we looked for the site furthest south. There was nothing that even looked remotely desireable in that direction so we headed for the site south of the island on the east shore. It had a decent canoe landing, a decent small grassy tent pad and a cluster of cedars that were still standing. Figured it was as good as we could hope for on this lake?

We wasted little time setting up camp. I was able to get the tarp setup while Vickie set about getting dinner started. Wasn't my finest work, but we had enough room to stand & move around a bit while staying dry. This would be home for the next couple of nights.

It felt good to get into some dry clothes. There had ben wild roses in bloom all along our route. But, this place was absolutely covered with them. On top of that there were berries galore! The strawberries were just ripening. In season, there will be raspberries & blueberries everywhere! There was even a current bush. We were both able to get a small handful of strawberries. They were mighty tasty.
As the day wore on the rain finally relented. I set about gathering and chopping firewood while Vickie went exploring. She found several artifacts at the old firegrate location. Most noteably some charred spare change. A few nickels & dimes. We hung our wet clothes out, though they were unlikely to dry any time soon. While cutting wood I noticed a beaver in the water. There was a lodge just below our site. A couple of loons also lingered in the area. As we were sitting by the fire that night at dusk, Vickie noticed a large bird land in a nearby charred tree that was still standing. She whispered to me, "Paul an eagle just landed in that tree." I looked over & told her that was no eagle. It was a great horned owl. She tried to get a picture, but it didn't turn out as she couldn't find the right setting in time. Kekekabic Lake, Kekekabic Ponds, Eddy Lake, Jenny Lake, Annie Lake, Ogishkemuncie Lake, Kingfisher Lake, Jasper Lake