Saturday, July 30, 2011

Another blueberry pancake breakfast! The morning was shaping up just as the past two had. LT. & Pam decided to do some exploring and fishing. They paddled off in the direction of Devils elbow. Hence & Jodi were excited to go to the cliffs. We grabbed a few essentials and paddled back up river towards the cliffs.[paragraph break]

Upon reaching our destination, Clay lead the way to the top. The area was absolutely covered in blueberries. We'd get to those later. I told everyone to wear their PFD's just to be safe. Clay was the first to jump.

Jodi went next, then Hence. The smiles on everyones faces insured that this was something that was going to be repeated several times. Everyone jumped multiple times. The only bad part was it was a rather vigorous climb to get back to the top of the cliff to go again. But the reward seemed well worth the effort. Bombs away!!!

After everyone had gotten their fill of jumping. We focused our collective attention on the vast amounts of blueberries in the area. Problem was we really didn't have any containers along on this daytrip. So we go to plan B yet again. We empty the small collapsible cooler we had along. Also everyone eats the rest of the beef jerky so that plastic bag is empty as well. Finally, I use the ziplock bag I store my emergency matches in and we are good to go. After some time had passed, Clay notices some menacing clouds building towards the west. We quickly decide to paddle back to camp. Hoping to beat out whatever this system has to dish up.

We made it back to the last set of rapids before Gneiss lake before a light sprinkle started coming down. As we rounded the last bend towards our campsite LT. & Pam could be seen watching for us. Once we were within eyeshot they retreated to the dry sanctuary under the tarp. We joined them there after landing our canoes.

It was already starting to break up as blue skies were seen above. All told it rained for no more than 15 - 20 minutes.[paragraph break]

Jodi is a person who can never get enough swimming in on a trip. If they'd find a way to serve ice cream every day up there? She'd spend the whole summer! Shortly after the rain had stopped she headed over to the west end of the island. There is a nice drop off right from shore here. With a rock platform rising some 3 feet straight up from the water. This area served Hence well while fishing from shore. But as a secondary function it was also a great area for swimming and the water depth allows a person to dive right from shore.

Meanwhile back around the firegrate Wilson was hanging on by a thread. Both literally & figuratively.

With Wilson no longer able to distract him, LT. Dan was finally able to focus on picking some blueberries.

So we loaded up and headed out in search of blueberry hill and the accompanying thrills it would no doubt provide. Lt. claimed they had run across a promising spot earlier today. It was a tough place to land a canoe but it had enough clusters of berries that you could literally just lay down and start pickin'. It seemed that no matter where we pulled off there was another stellar patch. You could say it was America the beautiful? With purple mountain majesty across the fruited plains.

The ankle biting flies were of a particular nuisance. So LT., Pam & Jodi headed back to camp to strengthen their defenses. In the meantime Clay & I had given this spot a dirty beating and paddled a little further down the lake to another similarly productive area. Only LT. & Pam returned. And we picked until all of our respective containers were full. Which didn't take long.

Aside from the bugs...It was shaping up to be yet another glorious evening. We slathered on a fresh coating of deet around our ankles and lounged around camp enjoying the peaceful setting.

Before nightfall, LT. & Jodi swam to the nice bluff just across the channel from our island. After admiring the view it afforded the swam back. Upon his return to camp LT. promptly retired to the cozy confines of his tent & sleeping bag. A short while later, with LT. sound asleep, Hence & Jodi were literally crying telling Clay & I to come look inside the tent. And to bring our cameras! The photo quality is not the best thanks to the no-see-um mesh. But, it appeared to us that Wilson had gotten the last laugh on LT. Dan.

LT. would later claim that was where he sat down with his wet swim trunks. But I'm gonna stick with the Wilson story. ;-}

With Pam & LT. sleeping already, the 4 of us remaining half heartedly faced the "bewitching" hour. When the mosquitos would come out in their full fiery. I was a bit more cowardly than the others. Scrambling for the tent at the first sound of buzzing. But no one stayed up all that much longer. Sometimes you just gotta know when to say when?

Gneiss Lake