Thursday, June 28, 2012

Ge-be-on-a-quet to Oyster. Approximately 4 miles.

We get an early start this morning. We try not to feel rushed, but want to make good time to Oyster to increase chances of finding an open site. We eat breakfast, clean up, load the canoe and we're off. We stop long enough to snap a couple photo's at the portage head.

As we paddle south, we hope to see the pictographs on Rocky. We talk about where they might be, what they might look like as we paddle through Green lake. We paddle and portage our way to Rocky, which I thought was a pretty lake. With little effort we find the pictographs, on the south western shoreline. My camera batteries died while taking photos of the picto's. They were not as dark red or as detailed as picto's I've seen in Quetico, but very cool none the less. We talk about what they might mean, and why they are there. I love showing the boys history like this!!

The portage into Oyster is uneventful, and we spy an open site due south of the 65 rod portage Rocky to Oyster. We arrive at the campsite and unload to check it out.

I would rate this site as a 5 star site. I have only stayed at one site I liked better in all my travels. (The site on the north end of Agnes in the Q) Many options for tent sites, nice breeze off the water to keep bugs at bay, swimming area on the east side of camp, large open area, beautiful views. I could go on and on. This site was highly recommended by other members of this website, and I am thankful we were able to call this home for a day.

Noah and Joel like the site too, we decide to stay. While unloading gear, a couple young men from Georgia ask if they can pass through the site to fish on the east side of the peninsula. We make conversation and offer to help carry their canoe across, but with only fishing gear on board, they didn't really need our help. They were having a fishing tournament, and we secretly rooted for them to win as they paddled away. Very polite young men, one of them mentioned Afghanistan, and we thanked him for his service to our country.

Since we started early today, we decide to make a hot lunch. We eat vegetable soup, and have some cool aid for lunch as the wind picks up early today. We set up camp, and enjoy spending time together in camp waiting for the wind to die down a little. We try our luck at fishing, but the wind hasn't subsided, and we get pushed around a bit in the MN 4. With no gear to keep her low in the water, she acts like a big sail. Joel is pretty tired, and falls asleep in the bottom of the canoe. Upon our return to camp, I put Joel in the tent so he can rest, and Noah and I hang out in camp for a while, then he falls asleep too.

Dad and Chris try their luck fishing to the west of the campsite as I watch from camp while Noah and Joel nap. The wind has lessened considerably. They catch enough for dinner and return to camp. We clean fish, and make dinner.

I can't believe it's day 5 and we haven't had to get out our rain gear yet. With this wind, rainy weather must be moving in. We tidy up camp, and after Dad, Chris, and I have a cigar, we head to bed.