Tuesday, June 07, 2011:
Camel Lake to Metacryst Lake, via Cutty Creek, Eag, Creek, Eag, Creek, Cub, Creek, Baird, & unnamed. (About 6 miles) 6 portages of 32 rods, 16 rods, 4 rods, 4 rods, short, 390m. (Note: Portages shown in rods are from my marked up old Fisher map.)
We were out of the tent around 7:15 a.m. today. The sky looked threatening and we soon heard distant thunder. We were standing near the fireplace drinking our coffee and tea when I said something about maybe seeing the hummingbird before we get going, and like magic it appeared, hovered near us, and took off! Wow, my lips to God’s ears I guess.
After having a hot breakfast of “oatmeal+” (plus other goodies like fruit bits, walnuts, etc.) we packed up the stuff from inside the tent under the tarp, took the tent down and packed everything up ahead of the expected showers. As the thunder grew closer and louder, we hit the water about 9:30 and as we began paddling east it started to sprinkle. The sprinkle became a drizzle, which became a frog-strangling downpour like we had never paddled in before. “It rained cats & dogs” as grandma used to say until noon as we paddled and portaged on Cutty Creek towards Eag Lake.
We were very careful of our footing on the portages; especially the 16-rod one that someone had advised could be slippery at the Eag landing. (Actually if wasn’t very bad at all.) At one portage end, Joe commented that it was “raining harder on this side.” (It was funny at the time . . . and we brought it up a couple of times in later days.) Because of the rain our cameras were packed away so this stretch is a blank in terms of photos. Even in the rain the creek and surroundings were very interesting and we enjoyed the scenery and were optimistic of seeing moose. No luck.
We left Eag and entered the creek again where someone had advised that low water could make for tough going, but we had plenty of water, for sure! We did the 4-rod carry to Cub and the rain was letting up so we looked for a place to eat lunch. We found a spot and went ashore as the rain finally stopped. Lunch was some hot Lipton noodle soup (hits the spot on a chilly rainy day!) and a bag of bite-sized turkey wieners. At 12:30 we were headed for the creek mouth out of Cub and just before reaching it we enjoyed the nearby cliffs – a preview of things to come.
The paddle up the creek towards the Baird portage was one of the trip highlights for me. The creek got narrower and narrower and the dense forest closed in to make it seem possible that we were heading for a “dead end.” (Without a map you’d swear you were.) We had plenty of water though until the very end where we had to use all the power we could muster to get the canoe to a point where we could get out without being knee-deep (or worse) in boot-sucking muck. At this point we dug out the cameras again.
Aside from the muddy take-out this portage has been maligned online as being “nasty” but I thought it was pretty neat! First it’s SHORT, and once you get up the very steep hill (it seemed like a 60-dgree slope) the hard work is over and you just walk to the put-in. (We two-manned the canoe up the steep section.) I enjoyed the view up from the bottom and the one from the top, looking both ways. It was clearer and almost sunny now as we put in and paddled northeast up Baird. We’d read online that some think Baird is “haunted” but there was nothing haunting – except its beauty – this day.
It was 2:30 p.m. when we made it up to the “hub” of Baird’s arms. Here we talked about whether we should continue or camp. We paddled to the nearby island site (that HoHo had mentioned in his 2008 report) and looked it over. It was a nice site but we mutually agreed that it was best to go on to Metacryst, so we did. Turning south we soon approached the landing for the short, steep portage to the unnamed lake to the south. (There is supposed to be another – boggy – portage here also, but I don’t even remember seeing it.) About all I remember about this portage was that it was steep and had a poor put-in, like most of the rest.
Once on the unnamed we simply had to paddle down the west side of the lake and head into the deep vee at the far end. (Shortly before the portage we saw a thin column of smoke rising from up the hillside, apparently the result of a recent lightening strike.) This portage IS NASTY, with its rock gardens -- one short, one very long -- but an otherwise okay trail with nice duff footing. The MOSQUITOES were the worst of any portage so far. We survived the boulders and the bugs and finally were on Metacryst as the sky had again turned gray and looked threatening.
After paddling Metacryst’s northwest arm we saw one of the two sites I had marked on my Fisher map. We stopped to look at this so-called “4-star” site and just about laughed out loud. Was someone joking? We paddled out further and found what may or may not have been the site of another “4-star.” I say this because the site we inspected was on an island and the PCD write-up said maybe it was on the south shore, not an island. It too was disappointing and I decided we should return to the first site and Joe agreed, so we paddled back.
We put the tent up on an exposed mossy rock area (the only place we thought a tent could go) and then noticed the “widowmaker” looming above. We’d been down this road before, and although it crossed my mind to go back to the other site, we were beat and decided to go with this reasoning: it’s obviously been standing there for quite some time, so why would it fall tonight, right? By the way, with poor access, no level area even at the poor fireplace, no tarp options, etc. I would probably rate this site a 2-star at best, but it was home for us that night.
It was almost 6 p.m. when I boiled water for a freeze-dried Cajun Chicken supper. We’d had no more rain but it still looked threatening and my wristwatch barometer read 28.66 with the rain symbol showing as the forecast. After failing to see any tarp-hanging options when we first landed here, we later saw a way to rig something useful and rigged the tarp for our morning packing. (I’ve always admitted that at the end of a tough day I’m dysfunctional for a while.) The bugs weren’t as bad here this night and we stayed up until it was almost dark, did our usual nightly ritual and hit the tent pretty tuckered out but satisfied with our paddling/portaging efficiency and our overall progress for the day.