Today is a Layover Day - No Travel

We awoke to another beautiful day in the Quetico. I decided this would be a good day for a full bath and clothes washing.

This was my favorite day of the trip. I got totally into “nature” and ran around the island half naked like Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie The Beach. The location was beautiful and I wanted to take a few pictures.

Steve and Matt did a little fishing today. We had Fish on the menu tonight so they had to bring home the Dinner or we would have to revert to the food pack.

Did I mention the food pack weighed 80lbs?

We dined that night on smallmouth bass and northern pike.

After dinner there was a little more fishing and we enjoyed the setting sun which gave way to the rise of the Harvest Moon over the lake and cocktails by the fire.

It simply can’t get any better than this…….

Day 7 - August 27 2010 (Friday)

Today we got on the water earlier than on any other day of the trip. It was only 7:30 when we pushed off from our little island paradise.

The plan today was to cross over and head south down Lake Agnes to the little bay that hosted the portage to Silence Lake and our start of the “S-Chain” run towards home.

Steve skillfully guided us towards our destination

We soon came into the opening to the little bay and “Mr.Data” reported that there was an alternative to the portage and that we may be able to paddle through or walk the canoe. Of course this crew would do anything to get wet and avoid a portage so we found the opening to the creek on the south side of the bay and started in.

With a few twists and a lift or two of the canoe we made it through and were paddling on Silence Lake.

On the eastern shore we spotted something we hadn’t seen in 3 days. People! They were breaking camp and getting ready to head out for the day. We paddled past them on our way to the portage into Sultry Lake. We made our first carry over and on our return trip we saw this same group approaching with another group a mile or so behind them and heading our way.

We exchanged pleasantries and I offered them some jerky and they happily accepted. I asked them were they were heading and they said North Bay – the campsite on the north point. This was the campsite I thought we would stay at tonight but with them single portaging and us doubling…the race was already lost.

Sultry Lake was a nice. I didn’t see any campsites but this look liked a quiet place to spend some time in the future. We slow paddled it to give the group ahead of us some space.

As we approached the portage leading into Summer Lake the 2nd group was closing fast behind us. As we landed we made sure to give them room to land also and started across with our first load. After retrieving our 2nd load we had a chance to visit with them. They were on the end leg of a cross Quetico adventure. It was a husband and wife team and their dog. They had told us their route and that they had come down Allan Creek and that’s all they needed to tell me. This couple was world class. They headed back for their second load and we pushed off to the next portage into Noon Lake and made quick work of the 75 meter portage and were soon paddling down Noon Lake.

When we landed at the entrance to the Shade Lake portage they were right on our heels again. We shared the portage with them and when we got to the Shade Side we asked them were they were heading. Answer: North Bay. A trend was forming here. We wished them well and decided to let them push off and we stayed behind and let them pull ahead.

After they were out of sight, we loaded up and headed in the direction of the portages to West Lake. I was really looking forward to this spot. I had seen numerous photos of the ponds between Shade and West and was looking forward to snapping a few pictures (A fogged lens ruined my plan)

After a brief lunch break we decided that we would not go to the North Bay party that night and would hold up on South Lake. (Mr.Data had info on a campsite)

Two short portages later we arrived on South Lake and found the campsite on the western point

This was a nice spot with ample tent space and an altar style fire pit.

Dinner that night was Cheese Quesadillas with rehydrated onions, sausage, tomatoes.

Did I mention the food pack weighed 80lbs?

This would be our last night in the “Q” and all remaining libations were consumed. A bit buzzed we abandoned the fire pit and the Alite Chairs and headed for the tents

Start Time: 7:30 AM

End Time: 2:00 PM

Portages Taken: 7

Total Portage Distance: 1074 meters

Total Distance Traveled: 10.5 Miles

Lakes Traveled: 8 – Agnes, Silence, Sultry, Summer, Noon, Shade, West and South.

Day 8 - August 28 2010 (Saturday)

We woke up to another beautiful day in the Quetico. The weather on the entire trip had been fantastic. This would be our last day and I was feeling like I could go a few more days after slowing down the pace. However this was not to be, we had a 3:30PM tow pickup at Prairie Portage and we needed to cross some big water to get there.

We got on the water incredibly early for us. It was 7:00 AM as we pushed from our South Lake campsite and headed for the portage that would lead us into the North Bay Creek.

On arriving at the landing of the North Bay Creek we were greeted with a quick glimpse of a Fisher diving into the creek. He was too quick for me to get a photo but the creek was a thing of beauty.

As we paddled this beautiful creek, I thought back to what a great trip this had been. I had struggled physically at times but that was an expected part of the Journey after a 30 year layoff.

The creek was like glass, the sun was warming and the birds were chirping. This is why I came. This was the solitude of the wilderness.

As we paddled through the opening into North Bay the wind was blowing strongly directly in our face. Ole North Bay was living up to its reputation and this wasn’t going to be an easy paddle. We pulled over onto a little rocky island and did something we hadn’t done the entire trip. We each put on our PFD. Once we were mentally and physically ready we pushed off and got an aggressive rhythm going and we were soon plowing through the low rollers towards a small island in the south center of the bay. We managed to get across the bay without incident and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

One hour after pushing off from our rocky island we had landed at the first of two portages into Burke Lake. Feeling frisky I thought I would carry the MN III and my personal pack (35LBs) on a single across this 327 meter rocky portage. My combined weight was in excess of 90lbs. I got about 100 steps into this and felt extreme pressure on my chest and I thought I’m going to have a heart attack. I decided not to push it since I had already had a minor heart attack a few years earlier and laid the boat down on the side of the trail. I scurried ahead to drop my personal pack and quickly returned to the canoe only to find that Steve had picked it up along with his personal pack and was bringing it home. He was my hero but I felt some guilt of having someone help me across a portage.

When we got to the end of the portage we had a small creek/pond. Steve decided to take a quick swim. I held the canoe, watching my friend swim. This was probably the most emotional time of the trip for me. It all came to a head… The emotions of my life journey, this trip & having a great time with two old friends that I hadn’t seen in over 25 years. A few tears flowed down my check, no one saw them…

As we pushed off we quickly realized that a MN III with the gear and the bodies was not going to float on the shallow part of this creek, I took the bow and dragged it about 100 meters as Matt and Steve followed behind. The water opened up and we were able to paddle the last few hundred meters to the next portage.

As we landed at the portage into Burke Lake a crew of four arrived coming from the other end. They were heading up to Sarah and Kahshahpiwi. We wished them well and took our portage to Burke. At the Burke landing the wind was almost directly in our face and blowing strong from the southwest. We opted to hug the western shore and it required a solid hour + of paddling to get us down the 2 ¼ mile long lake. Here is a photo looking back at Burke in which the photo doesn’t give the wind its dues.

We had arrived back at the place the Journey had started 8 days before. It felt like it had been much longer, so much had happened and so much territory had been seen.

After carrying my first load over to the beach on Bayley Bay, Matt was standing there starring at the rolling waves smashing into the beach with force. I said we should have some lunch and maybe it will die down a little. We went back for our second load and deposited the packs in the shade and looked out at Bayley Bay. It was getting worse.

It was about 12:30 PM and we still had 3 hours until our scheduled tow pickup from CBO at Prairie Portage. So we felt we had time to eat a little lunch and see if the wind let up. It didn’t. We put together our game plan of paddling like hell and loaded the canoe and pushed off.

The three of us were putting everything we had into it and were crashing through the waves. As we got further into the bay and the waves starting getting bigger this became a bigger problem as the bow of the MN III started submerging itself underwater. Each time we dipped it under. 2-3 gallons of water were pouring into the boat. After the 4th or 5th time, Steve yelled out, “We have too much water; we need to turn it into shore”. After carefully turning the boat, we literally limped the canoe into a remote bay. We managed to get the packs out and dump the water from the canoe. The wind was blowing harder and harder. We were sitting on a remote beach in Canada. Now what?

We decided we would go back at it keeping about 50-100 meters from the eastern shore and if we dumped we would be able to save ourselves and the gear. As we paddled off we didn’t give it full speed and found that with a still aggressive but not full throttle paddle we were able to ride the waves and on the down dip not take on water.

We had set a target of a small island in the distance and as we paddled and paddled it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. So, for the next 1 ½ hours that’s exactly what we did - non stop paddling into a head/cross wind on Bayley Bay. Lions, Tigers and Bears. Oh My! ,

As we finally got to the little island and relief from the wind, my 10oz Zaveral Paddle felt like a 10lb lead bar. That paddle kicked my butt. The Marlboros and the water flowed freely for about 10 minutes as we recovered. The 2 hour Bayley Bay Crossing was over!

It was now around 2:30 and we had an hour to get through Inlet Bay and across Prairie Portage for our pickup. As we paddled past the island I immediately knew something was wrong. On the island were two fishing boats with motors and outfitter base camp tents set up. This little bay was not Inlet Bay. Where were we? I looked at the Map and couldn’t figure it out so I got out the GPS and couldn’t see the screen clearly from the glare of the sun. I spotted what looked like a campsite on the western shore and we headed that direction. As we got closer I saw an iron camp grate,I knew instantly we were somewhere in the BWCA. We got out of the boat and I took my map and GPS and found some shade to figure out our location. I soon came to the realization that we had overshot Green Island and we were in Rice Bay!

Looking around this BWCA campsite I saw more trash than would fill a large garbage bag and a total disregard for nature. I was ashamed and disgusted. I felt like the Indian from the old television commercial that had a tear in his eye from seeing what the white man had done to nature.

It was time to put this site and sight out of my memory and head to our pickup point. We only had 45 minutes with 3 miles and 1 portage left, doable, but we had to summon whatever energy we had left to make it in time.

As we rounded the corner into Inlet Bay and could see the portage landing in the distance, I realized I had expended all ammo. I had nothing left in the tank. Done, Kaput, Finito! We kept the paddles moving and with a final team burst for the last hundred yards our MN III crashed into the sand beach of Prairie Portage.

The Quetico Journey had come to an end…… Quetico Journey Video

Start Time:7:00 AM

End Time:3:30 PM

Portages Taken:5

Total Portage Distance: 1215 meters

Total Distance Traveled: 12 Miles

Lakes Traveled: 5 - South Lake, North Bay Creek, North Bay, Burke Lake and Bayley Bay