We discussed long and hard just how far we could make it in a day. Could we make it to Kawnipi, or would be have to layover somewhere and make the push to Kawnipi a two day affair. It was decided by the group to make it a two day affair. I’m glad we did.

During breakfast at the outfitters, SmallieSaver was given the name “Mr. Tea”. Smallie doesn’t drink coffee, so he asked if they had teabags so he could make some tea. The team lead for the outfitter dug through their cabinets and found what looked like a 400 year old dried up sawdust looking teabag. Imagine if you will, in you’re funkiest Mr T voice, this 40 something balding white guy grunting “Mr Tea says, I got me a teabag…..”. “Mr Tea” would have a great time using his new found moniker. There were quite a few funny moments around camp when “Mr Tea” would emerge.

We didn’t get out of the Outfitters until nearly 8:00am, and then ended up spending quite a bit of time at the Cache Bay ranger station. In fact, I don’t believe we left there before 10:00am which put us a couple hours behind schedule….but hey, this is vacation, who cares.

The initial paddle into Cache Bay was not too bad, but as expected we had a headwind the entire paddle up into Cache Bay. Once we rounded the corner to the chute to Silver Falls, the wind changed direction and continued blowing in our face, as expected.

We portaged over Silver Falls. We had 3 different groups and 3 different methods of portaging. This really didn’t lead to many issues but Dave_B and I were definitely the slowest.

Dave_B and I had 3 packs and the canoe, and a daypack. The packs each weighed about 45lbs. All paddles and rods were strapped into the canoe. No loose stuff was hand carried. We double portaged every portage. In most cases I carried the daypack and the canoe, and then doubled back for the next lightest pack.

GadgetMan and Kristen_E had 2 packs, each around 45lbs, and some loose stuff. I think they also had a day bag which Kristen_E carried. They did a hybrid single portage. GadgetMan single portaged the canoe and a pack, and Kristen_E pretty much double portaged.

Chms and SmallieSaver had 2 packs and a daypack. Chms carried the canoe and the daypack, and SmallieSaver would take the heaviest pack ½ ways over the portage, then double back for the other pack and carry it the entire portage. Chms would then come back ½ ways and take the pack that was dropped off. This was pretty cool. Dave_B and I probably could have done that, but I was really worried about pack weight versus number of carries. I’d hate to hurt myself on the first or second portage. Slow and Steady…….

At the end of Silver Falls, the wind changed directions once again. It was blowing in our face as expected.

With the low water, we had to portage the cut between the island and Dead Mans portage.

Note to Self: Always, always paddle around the dang island. Smallie Saver fell while portaging with the canoe on the wet, slippery rock face about half way along Dead Man’s. Luckily, the day pack took the brunt of the fall as he slipped and fell backwards and slid down the near vertical rock face about 10 ft. He commented that the canoe was undamaged, and he was unscathed besides a bruised wrist. New portage boots (looking at OTB) are on the horizon, as he used knee high Lacrosse rubber Alpha hunters, but they seem to be lacking good grip on wet rocks, which is a MUST on a trip with this many rocky portages.

By the time we were finished with Dead Mans portage, it was well past lunch time, and we were a few hours behind our “planned” schedule. I knew that when we left the ranger station, there was no chance that we would be able to even attempt a push to Kawnipi. Now, it was only a matter of where to stop. We had a few choices, and all collectively decided on the campsite at Bald Rock Falls.

We hit camp around 6:00pm. Everyone was pretty tired, but that didn’t keep GadgetMan, Chms, and SmallieSaver from breaking out the fishing equipment. Dave_B and I chose not to fish, and not to break out the fishing gear until we hit Kawnipi Lake. No matter, since Dave_B and I were on meal duty tonight.

We setup a quick camp. No tarp, no gravity water filters, and no frills.

For meals, we had decided on community dinners, and then each pair would be responsible for their own breakfast, lunch and snacks. This worked out pretty good. For the community dinners, each pair was responsible for 2 community meals, meaning they had to carry all the food components necessary to prepare those two meals for everyone.

Along with the community meal idea, we had community gear. On most of my trips, I like to pack a community gear pack and community food packs. On this trip, each pair carried an equal portion of the community gear and the two community meals they were to prepare. This worked out pretty good, but it really lead to some initial trip anxiety for me. I’m really anal about the trip planning stuff, and this was really hard to let go. All in all, it worked out pretty good, and nothing was left out, or left on a campsite. I will probably pack this way again in the future.

For dinner…..Dave_B and I prepared Cheesy Enchilada/chicken helper. I added some zing by bringing chipotle Tabasco sauce, and jalapeno/cilantro wraps. To top it off, I packed in 2 packages of 4 cheese REAL cheese. This is a favorite of mine, and I got the idea from QPassage, another great friend of mine. For this particular meal, I was able to cut the cooking time by 75% by replacing the real rice with minute rice. 

After dinner, we all pretty much collapsed……….Tomorrow, we would hit Kawnipi Lake early.