Monday, September 19, 2011 - ** Day 7 ** On the morning of our last day it was cool to cold, with steady light winds. The only thing in the sky was a fully visible, bright moon. I wished I would have had a nice camera to take a few pics of that. We decided to go out and give fishing one more go, figuring it would be pretty calm if we ventured back up into the river. For over an hour, we worked our way through the curves, stopping occasionally at opportunistic looking spots, until we found ourselves back at that large dam we had pulled up over yesterday in the rain. We lingered for Matthew to cast across to the other side of the dam pool, while I admired the spider-web handiwork on the adjacent reeds. Back down the river we went, until we reached that beach at the end of Nina Moose. We briefly worked the large field of reeds for anything, and then paddled back over to camp. Nothing. We were shut down without even a bite. It was obvious to me how disappointed Matthew was, and I felt it, too. Last year’s fishing had been spectacular. Maybe that was just a lucky trip, or was this the wrong time of year? We ate breakfast at leisure, allowing some of our stuff to lay out in the sun a bit. While we ate, we also began to pack up our camp, noticing that the two campsites across from us were getting ready to move as well. The Southernmost of those two camps had a Wolf encounter. We saw the two people milling around by the edge of their camp, and then suddenly there was a curdling-type of howl right near their camp. By the way they reacted, it was clear that the wolves were close! Matthew and I immediately looked at each other and both said almost in unison, “Glad it was over there and not here!” Not much after that, I noticed something moving across the lake to our South. It was moving steadily, and at first, I thought it was a canoe. “Look at that”, I said. “Is that a canoe?” We didn’t have binoculars, but tried to figure out what it was. It was white, or maybe off-white, and it moved smoothly. There was nothing erratic in its course. After a few minutes, as it reached a shoreline, it seemed to split into two. Matthew said, “That’s an animal or something. Let’s go check it out!” We grabbed our cameras, and jumped in the canoe, paddling fast towards that shore. I was thinking it was likely a big bull moose that had swum across the lake. Whatever it was, as we closed on it, it looked like it was climbing out of the water. But as we got within 40-50 yards or so, we saw it was two big, white swans. We slowed down, but they had seen us coming and weren’t going to hang around for a photo session. They began to run up the shore away from us, and only when they began to lift gracefully out of the water did we notice how big they were. To top it off, they even banked back towards us before they headed off to the East, giving us a grand view of their beauty. It was another first for us up here. Back at camp, we began to move our gear down to the water. We had watched the other camps leave, and as the third group paddled towards the river to the South, we headed across to follow. They reached the reeds on the far side well before we did, and as we neared, we lost sight of them when they disappeared in the thick growth and the reed cover. For a short bit, we struggled to find the mouth of the river. Matthew tossed out his line with a scum frog a few times while I stood to pick out the channel. He had no luck, but fortunately, I did. We made our way through the reeds and soon were on the little waterway. Again, there were several small beaver dams along the winding river. We passed a few folks coming in..then a few more..and some more. Later we learned that due to the big fire over by Lakes One-Two-and Three, they had been diverting travelers from that area elsewhere, including the EP we were headed for. I figured some of the people we passed were displaced from the East. After the marshy, curvy section of the river, we proceeded into the rockier, straighter part. I liked it better – much more personal and close, as opposed to the open plain. Oh..and more navigable! Maybe the dams were over for the trip? We breezed through the first portage that was a quick in-and-out around some small rapids. After a short bit, we came up on a portage that wasn’t marked on our map. The takeout on the right was rather muddy, as was the short walk through to the other side, maybe 10-15 rods across? On top of that, it was as severely bottlenecked as we had ever seen! There must have been 8 or 9 canoes total together in the cramped area. Two in front of us were trying to load in the mud and push off. The folks in the 3 canoes on the water waited patiently for their turn to come in, while Matthew and I and another couple stood back on the trail. Plus, there were two canoes coming up behind somewhere behind us soon. The culprit of all this mess was yet another industrious rodent that had built a big dam right above a curve in the small river. We shook our heads as we slowly moved up in line, waiting our turn to step around a large mudhole right in the path. I commented to the fella in front of me, “I thought I left all the traffic at home?” He agreed, and we both had a good laugh. Soon, we got our turn and made quick work in the mud. We now had two older couples directly in front of us, slowing the pace way down, but we didn’t mind much at all. After the next portage, we went ahead and dropped back behind them, knowing that had been our last put-in for the year, and also that our time on the water for 2011 was nearly over. As we drifted slowly along the narrow river, neither of us said a word. I leaned back a bit and smiled under the warm sun, just absorbing the silence, and the beauty around us. In a few minutes, we again came upon the folks in front of us, and sadly, the takeout area for the last portage. We unloaded quickly on a sandy area on the left, and moved our stuff up out of the way. There was no rush for us though. We were nearly 1 to 1 ½ hours ahead of our schedule. But just as we were in no hurry, two canoes with 4 younger men came flying into the portage, obviously with somewhere else they really needed to be. In my opinion, they all but ran over the second older man get his canoe out of the water. We just stepped off the trail out of the way, giving them all the room they needed. As they zipped up the trail and out of sight, we decided to just go ahead and draw this out into three full trips, instead of two. It was such a beautiful afternoon, and since we were in no rush, we figured, “Why not enjoy it?” The portage trail here is basically wide, smooth, and a piece of cake. We made our first crossing in no time, passing others that were leap-frogging their loads across. Matthew and I talked and laughed along the way, both very relaxed, and still feeling that level of excitement from just getting to be out there. Before we knew it, we were carrying our last packs off of the path and into the parking area up at the trail head. No matter how slow we had walked on the trail, and tried to milk these last moments, this year’s trip had just about come to an end. After stashing our canoe and gear away from the trail against the edge of the trees, I set up one of our chairs and took off my shoes to sit back and write down some travel notes. Matthew cracked open the food barrel for a quick snack. Before he could even finish rummaging, our outfitter Bret pulled up, early himself, to pick us up. We loaded up the suburban, opened the fabulous soft drinks he always brings at pickup, and settled into the super-comfy backseat for the ride back to Babbitt. I looked out the window at the trees whizzing by, catching most of the details from Bret on what had happened in the world over the past week. Mostly, I was thinking how this year’s adventure was complete, but by no means, would it be forgotten. ** Wrapping it up ** 2011 turned out to TRULY be, The Year of the Beaver. Directly, and indirectly, that furry little fella influenced and changed so many things about our travel on this trip! It had been a trip with many firsts for us : Hail, Snow, Below Freezing Temps (easily!), Bats, Swans, River Walking, and some extremely low water conditions, many stemming from the extra beaver activity. The fishing had not been even close to what we had hoped for, but even so, it was still exciting. We learned a lot about planning a trip this late in the year: How it affected the fishing and the temperature - the lower water levels (which could also influence our choice of routes) – and the amount of travelers we might encounter. Most importantly, Matthew and I were able to make some more deposits in our Bank of Life. Special moments shared with my son only make these trips, and the memories created, more precious. I can’t wait to jump into planning our trip for next year, and am excited to see what future trips hold in store for us.