Mugwump PMA -- A Fine & Pleasant Misery
by Rob Johnson
Following the trail out of Travois seemed much easier than following it in. The rain continued, to the point of pouring at times. Our boots had to be emptied several times. Without the burden of packs we made reasonable time given the terrain. We arrived back at the canoe around 4:30. We had hoped for a quick “turn” = set the canoe safely off to the side, drink some water, eat a PowerBar and get back on the trail. But we were beat. My feet now needed some duct tape and Jerry’s needed even more. We didn’t head back until 5:00 or so. At this point, the runner’s mindset took over. One foot in front of the other will eventually get you to the end of this race. We also downed some Advil which really seemed to help. We stopped a couple more times to empty the water from our boots.
The push through that bushwhack trail seemed even harder than the last 2 times. The lines on the fishing poles kept getting snagged. Big Easy was a nice pack on an open trail but here in the brush the branches constantly resisted against it. We made to the island campsite on Travois just before 7:00PM. Normally this is when you would hop to it…get camp set up before dark. But we had nothing left in us. We had been on the trail for 9 hours with very few breaks. Even the thought of going back to the shore to retrieve the food pack and the contents of the duffle bag seemed like too much work but we got it done.
Dinner that night was GORP, beef jerky, and Advil. Bed time started immediately thereafter.
DAY FOUR -- TUESDAY -- A DAY TO RELAX??? WHY WOULD WE DO THAT…
HC woke up at dawn to try his hand at fishing. I slept in until 7:30 or so. Breakfast was bacon & eggs = a nice treat after the gorp and jerky the night before.
I did a little fishing then we both got back together to discuss our options. Here are the things we took into account: -Travois is only known for having trout and trout in late June are in 40’ of water or so -We would never get our lures into 40’ of water without the canoe -The next lake over = Marble was known for walleye which would also be hard to catch from shore -If we continued on with the trip we had planned we would need to bushwhack to Van Lake and we still wouldn’t have a canoe. It also meant we would have to bushwhack through all of this again to get back to the canoe. -We weren’t likely to catch many fish (maybe not catch any) if we forged ahead with our plans -As tough as the bushwhack had been into Travois from the Kek trail, the bushwhack to Van would be worse because we wouldn’t have a trail to follow. It would also be 6-7 times longer than that bushwhack
So…the decision was made to bail on the PMA trip. We would make the rest of the trip a “standard” Bdub outing. HC’s friend at the canoe shop had talked up Kekekabic Lake and once we got out of here we would only be a couple of lakes away from there. We concluded that we would spend one more night on Travois then head to Mueller Lake, with the canoe, the following day.
That decision made, we also decided that if we were only going to have one more day on Travois that we owed it to ourselves to at least try to make it to Marble Lake. We were hoping to take it easy that day but it simply wasn’t in the cards. HC’s feet were really hurting but that didn’t stop him.
To confirm our plans we went to check the maps. NO MAPS! We checked everywhere but our maps (and permit) were gone. We had no idea if we had left them with the canoe (unlikely) or if they had fallen out of the packs on the way in. We weighed our options and decided that we would stick to our original plan of getting to Marble. My GPS had topo maps we could follow. Looking for our real maps could wait a day.
To prep for our trip to Marble we packed a lunch, our fishing gear, our rain gear, and the first aid kit. We then started down the length of Travois. We wanted to be on the northeast shore because it looked like higher ground heading into Marble. That said, on the northeast shore, right across the lake from the island were some cliffs that ran into the water with no shore to follow so we headed down the southwest shore instead. Then, when we got to that pinch point that Travois has, we waded across to the other shore.
The only wildlife we saw that day was snakes and we saw a lot of them. They were garter snake sized and none of them had a rattle. HC wondered out loud if Travois was French for snake.
The rocky shore was admittedly easier than a lake that didn’t have one but it was still tough on tired feet jumping from rock to rock. Then there was the occasional windfall that had to be negotiated. At one point, climbing down some rocks after a windfall, the footing gave way sending big rocks crashing into my leg. A big ‘ol bump showed up on my shin almost immediately but it didn’t hurt that bad and nothing looked broken so we forged on.
A little later we were walking around the end of a stream that ran through a bog. I got impatient and you could see moose had crossed the bog so I headed out across it in the hopes of saving some distance and time. It was part floating bog and part tussocks. (BWCA.com) I stayed on the tussocks wherever possible. I made it without incident and the stream was small enough to simply step across. HC followed.
We made it all the way to the ponds that separate Travois from Marble. (The canoe would have made this so much easier). We started to question the decision to follow this shore line. It now appeared that the other shore may have been a little easier to traverse and it also appeared to have the better entrance into Marble. The problem was that a creek ran out of these ponds into Marble and we would need to cross it. A small creek in the bog was one thing but this creek was easily 6 feet across and there is no telling how deep it was given the likelihood that it had a false bottom.
Our dilemma was solved when we spotted a beaver dam across the creek. We had no idea if a beaver dam would support us but we decided to try. You know…when you justify something by saying, “I’ll just be extra careful”…like somehow going along anything but “careful” is an option. The dam had water running over it and it really wasn’t that wide on top but it turned out to be a surprisingly solid foot bridge. We both made it across without incident.
It was clear we weren’t the first to stand on the other side of the dam. There was a trail from there leading in the direction of Marble. Our hopes were high. This was only a game trail but (BWCA.com) others had mentioned that game trails are often a real bonus in PMAs. In this case the game trail led us…straight into a huge marsh. The GPS topo map showed some higher ground if we back tracked to the beaver dam and followed the creek back just a short distance.
We found the higher ground but we also found our first real evidence of the Blowdown. The area was covered in windfall after windfall. We looked for game trails and started to follow a promising one. We had only gone in 50 feet or so before the trail ended in what looked like a bedding spot for moose. We tried to push forward. I climbed from windfall to windfall before finally touching solid ground again…only to be faced with the same scenario of more windfalls. Going this way was going to be very slow and it was entirely possible we would reach an impasse.
HC suggested that if we went back to the marsh and skirted the edge we would be able to get through, so we headed back that direction. This was a big marsh. We were climbing over obstacles and landing on squishy ground. The going got tougher and wetter until we reached a point where continuing on would involve getting into places where wading would be required. Wading into shoe grabbing muck just didn’t seem like a good idea.
Once again our plans were thwarted. Now if you told us that our lives were in danger and the survival of the American way depended on us making it to Marble Lake could we have done it? Probably. We could have plunged into that marsh jumping from tussock to tussock and wading through mucky streams. Or we could have taken on the Blowdown tree by tree and eventually made it through but…we would still have to come back and it was already mid afternoon. We got within a 1/3 of a mile of our goal (according to the GPS) but we just couldn’t find a sane way through so we headed back to camp.
For a change in scenery we decided to take the opposite shore back to camp. You will remember that from the other shore the one we were on looked easier. It wasn’t. This side of the ponds between the two lakes was all bushy marsh. Imagine high stepping through ankle deep water. Game trails crisscrossed the area but they invariably ended up in watery canals. This went on for a lot longer than we wanted before we finally stepped out onto solid ground and made our way to the southeast tip of Travois. We were hungry but it was really buggy there so we decided to push on hoping to find a rocky point to eat our lunch on.
After half an hour or so of more rock jumping and windfall crossing we found a point to relax on. We ate PB&J flatbread while HC decided to drown a leech. Needless to say…no fish. After resting for just a bit we decided to make the final push back to camp.
At one point the trail got tough. Boulders into the water blocked our way. We had three choices: 1) go for a swim 2) go up and around through heavy brush 3) crab crawl through a sloped gap in the rocks and if you slipped you would be wedged into a crevasse. HC took option 2 and I took option 1. HC had a real battle getting through but he made it. It turned out I only had to get about mid thigh deep into the water = I think I chose the better option for a change.
The final obstacle to this side of the lake was getting over that point that forms the land bridge between the 2 shores. Boulders and windfalls made the shoreline impassible so you had to go over the top. Just getting off the shore required a bit of climbing and then we faced our second run in with the Blowdown. Tree after tree blocked our route but we kept climbing over until we hammered our way through. (BWCA.com) I remembered where someone had suggested that this point might have been a viable campsite. That advice must surely have come from before the Blowdown. Maybe at one point it was a nice spot but today you couldn’t find a decent spot to hang a hammock let alone a tent. It reinforced our decision to not bushwhack all the way to Van. If it was all like this it would have taken 2 days to get there.
After that point we were back on our original shoreline trail and we made it back to camp in short order. All of the walking on rocks had really taken its toll on HC’s feet so he grabbed some Advil and took a nap. I grabbed my head net and caught up on journaling. I found that if I kept the journal to bullet points it was a lot easier to keep up. Just for grins I threw out a line with some crawlers but didn’t get so much as a nibble. The bugs were bad (mosquitoes and black flies) but at least the sun was out and everything was finally drying out.
That evening we had our first PMA campfire. HC used his hatchet (we had to justify bringing it along) to clear away the moss in front of our stone bench. That got us down to dirt. We quickly gathered lots of dried wood. Firewood is so much easier to find when you aren’t on an established campsite. We got the fire going easily and immediately realized the limitations of a fire that isn’t in a Forestry Service fire ring. The moss at the edge of our pit would dry due to the heat and then it would catch on fire. To compensate we upgraded our fire precautions. The fire was kept smaller -- it had to be manned continuously = you couldn’t turn your back on it for even a minute without confirming that the other guy was watching -- and we soaked the area around the pit with additional lake water.
With the extra precautions now in place we had a really relaxing evening in front of the campfire. The smoke kept the bugs at bay and the weather cooled off to the point where the warmth was nice. Dinner that night was TVP burritos and marshmallows. I can’t tell you why, but the marshmallows were exceptionally good that night. We had to force ourselves to stop eating them in order to have a few left for another night. We had hoped that this would be one of those “I can’t believe how many stars there are” nights but the clouds again rolled in. Another jug of lake water was brought up to douse the dying fire. We were sure to get it to the point of being able to stir the cold wet remains with our hands before we were reassured that the fire was out.
We took our ration of Advil and headed to bed. Yes, the Advil had to be rationed. We had brought a new bottle of 50 pills with us but it was clear that at the rate we old guys were downing them, running out was a real possibility.
DAY 5 -- WEDNESDAY -- THE LONG SLOG OUT
We woke up with the knowledge that this was going to be another long day of hiking. There were a few big differences between this and the trip in: First -- we knew what we were in for this time Second -- it wasn’t raining Third -- we had double portaged in. We would be single portaging out but it was just the packs = no canoe yet.
I had decided that much like a long race I would break this day up into a series of small goals and wrap my brain around those small victories rather than the amount of work still left in the day. My first goal: get packed up and have the gear ready to go at the entrance to the bushwhack trail. Packing went OK and I think we were ready to leave camp at 10:00. On normal trips I usually make a point of not knowing what time it was but with the long distances required today and recent experience with coming up short on goals we wanted to make sure we stayed on track.
In one of those half sleeping-half awake moments of inspiration the night before I realized that the best way to load our packs for the trek out was to lash the duffle to the food pack so that you wouldn’t need to carry a pack in front. Being able to see your feet would be valuable given the terrain we were headed for. We nicknamed this double pack Big Bastard. We took as much weight as possible out of Big Bastard and put it into Big Easy which was much easier to carry. We even poured out a large portion of the vodka that we had been hauling. Given how hard we had been working, getting dehydrated by drinking a bunch of cocktails just hadn’t worked into our evenings like it usually did. It was just one more place we could have saved weight had we known what we were in for.
With the duffle dangling off the back of the food pack we headed out. We didn’t even make it around the lake to our exit point before Big Bastard became a problem. We had to stop and regroup. HC took the Big Bastard concept and made it better by lashing the duffle to the top of the food back rather than the back of it. This made the load much more comfortable and easier to manage.
As we headed out I started to laugh. I explained my concept of little goals to HC and then pointed out that even the modest goal of having the gear at the head of the bushwhacking trail required us to completely stop and fix our gear. This was sure to be a long day. I had predicted that at some point we would laugh at challenge of our little adventure and we had finally reached that point.
We headed into the bushwhack trail and half way to the Kek Trail WE FOUND OUR MAPS. What a relief! Finding them on the trail, near a spot where the foliage was particularly thick, meant they had been ripped from the packs. This meant our mistake was not securing them properly and it wasn’t leaving them at the canoe. Somehow this made us feel better.
We arrived at the Kek trail in good spirits and decided to just keep on going until we got tired. We made good progress. We stopped to enjoy the view from the bluff that overlooks Travois. We pushed on and met another one of my little goals when we reached the canoe. We decided to leave the duffle bag at the canoe in an effort to lighten Big Bastard. The duffle could be carried later by the person not carrying the canoe.
We spent some time at the end of the portage recovering. We added to the duct tape on our feet. The day was getting warm so I opted for water shoes and shorts. I know that isn’t the best apparel for taking on part of the Kek trail but the canoe was only a mile in and my boots were really rubbing the sore spots on my calves. We actually dug out the water filter and refilled our drinking bottles.
We struggled a little getting the canoe out of our little hiding spot but carrying it out to Mueller actually went fairly easy. All things considered, it had been a long day but we didn’t feel as beaten up as we did on the trek in. I had predicted it would take us 8 hours to complete our task. We started at 10:00 and finished at 5:30 = 7 ½ hours.
The canoe had been out of the water for the better part of 3 days. It felt good to be loading the packs into it and paddling again. Given the hour we decided that we would take the first decent campsite we saw and we would make it our base camp for a couple of days.
We didn’t like the first site on Mueller but the one near the portage to Ogish was nice so we unloaded there. We again saw beavers so we would definitely be filtering all our water. The site even came with lots of wildflowers…I took some pictures of them in honor of my wife who is always snapping “another damn flower picture”.
I enjoy fishing but HC truly loves fishing and he hadn’t been able to do much of it the last few days. So before we even set up camp I agreed to go with him and make an attempt at catching dinner. We set a time limit of 6:30. That time limit came and still no fish so I suggested that we go just past the campsite and drift back. If we didn’t have fish by then we would have to quit and set up. Sure enough, on that last little stretch of shore HC managed to pull in a 24” pike. Not big by any standard but more than big enough to feed the two of us. We were having fish for dinner!
I worked on setting up the tent and tarp while HC cleaned the fish. His love for fishing includes a knack for filleting. He manages to get 5 nice boneless fillets off of every pike. I had never eaten pike until I fished with HC and now I have come to prefer it.
It was a bit breezy that night so we had to create a cooking spot behind some rocks. Wild rice was one of the side dishes. This was also our first attempt at cooking our dehydrated veggies that I had made. It took longer to cook them than I thought. (BWCA.com) I remembered how folks on the food board described soaking their dehydrated food in advance so the following day we started the veggies soaking at noon which made them much easier to cook. Everything tasted great. It was so nice to finally have fish for dinner.
I don’t recall having a campfire that night. I can’t remember if it started to rain or if we just decided to call it an early night. Our evening nightcap had become standard = instant coffee with Bailey’s for creamer and a ration of Advil.
DAY 6 -- THURSDAY -- BWCA THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE
We woke up excited to take on a day trip of paddling over to Annie, Jenny, the Kek ponds and maybe all the way to Kekekabic Lake itself. That plan, like many of ours this trip also had to be dismissed when we saw how strong the wind was blowing. Even on Mueller, which is a small protected lake, the waves were big. To take on Ogish and head for Annie would mean taking on big rollers. We instead opted to start the day fishing on Mueller which was reported to have a decent number of small pike.
Before we started fishing we wanted to cook breakfast but first I had to put up a wind break in the form of a tarp hung vertically between two trees and anchored at the bottom with rocks. Even with this set up there was still a breeze playing with the flame on the camp stove.
For fishing we started by just casting from shore with the hope that maybe the wind would die down later and allow us to still get in our day trip. HC lost a nice sized pike from just east of the campsite. I’m not sure if he was more upset about losing the pike (which got bigger every time he described it) or the lure which was a spoon that he had used for years.
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