Monday, August 13, 2012

We were sleeping in again since it was our last day, but we were hearing light rain on the tent during what appeared to be at about sunrise. This was the first rain of the trip, and I was glad it was on the last day in case we ended up with a soaker and everything got wet. We continued to sleep until we awoke in a very hot tent due to the sun that had reappeared! We really took our time drinking coffee and hanging out because we were in no hurry to exit the wilderness and have the trip end now that the weather was great again. We had another campshower and slowly packed up after eating a ton of breakfast in preparation for the big 285 rod haul over to Beth Lake. The wind was starting to pick up as we started the portage, and I was getting a little concerned that they would make for huge rollers out on Alton later, but fortunately it was a westerly wind and would be manageable since we were heading east today.

I had to dig pretty deep to finish the big portage without setting the canoe down, but I made it and turned around to meet my wife halfway to finish with the bags. My wife decided that portaging was actually one of her favorite aspects of canoe tripping because she has really started to like hiking the past few years and enjoys the occasional break from paddling to rest the arms. Easier to say when the packs are lighter at the end of the trip, though. When we landed on Beth, we heard other voices for the first time in over two days and saw that the first three sites were occupied with base campers – I was thankful for the long portage that separated us from the crowds. We were very glad we resisted the temptation to push on to this lake last night after we weren’t quite happy with the Grace sites. We weren’t sure if we wanted to stop here for lunch or push on to Alton, but the last campsite before the next portage was open so we decided to stop on this beautiful, clear water lake with hilly shorelines. The campsite was perfect, with many tall red and white pines and a cool seating area overlooking the lake, making me bummed that we couldn’t camp here for the night.
We turned the corner to land the portage and saw two older fellows that were base camping on Alton and had hiked the portage to view the lake. We started chatting and found out that they had been canoe camping in the BWCA for 50 years! (Not continuously, every summer that is…ha ha). They were nice enough to offer to each carry a bag for us so we didn’t have to double portage. I only hope I am in good enough condition to match their abilities in 30 years so that I can keep doing this. We shared a couple of stories and pushed off onto Alton to try the wind, which was fortunately calming down some now that it was nearing dinner time. We liked the islands on the south end of Alton and it was pretty easy paddling until we reached the deep open water by the portage to Sawbill. We negotiated the rollers just fine and headed down the runway, I mean portage. The wind blew us gently into the nice new floating dock at the Sawbill landing. We went into the Sawbill store to return the canoe and buy cold beer and some souvenirs. We bumped into Luke, our driver, who asked us about our trip and was glad to hear we didn’t have any bear problems. He was also surprised at how much seclusion we got at Phoebe and Grace. We drank a beer outside the store while reflecting a bit and checking in with our phones with Sawbill’s 3G signal before heading back down the Sawbill trail.
What a great trip! I was under quite a bit of pressure from my wife to get her to fall in love with doing a real canoe trip, but she loved it! She was already planning next year’s trip on the way home. It was great to spend some time away together, and the weather and great solitude we had on this route was perfect. It also stretched us out for how much work we can do on a camping trip, and we picked up some great ideas for next time. 

Lakes Traveled:   Beth Lake, Alton Lake, Sawbill Lake,