** Day 5 **
It was sprinkling early in the morning, so we kept hitting the snooze button. Finally, maybe near 7:30 or so, there were some breaks in the cloud cover blowing from West to East and some blue sky began to appear. We rolled out, quickly made our breakfast, and began to load up to leave. As if on cue, several rolls of deep thunder made us think twice about leaving just yet, or even of putting up a tarp in case the rain came. We crossed our fingers fro just light rain, and went ahead and pushed off, but kept our slicker-tops handy just inside our Duluth packs.
Not two minutes from camp, the drops began to fall, and soon turned into big fat ones. Within 10, it was a good, steady hard shower. Both of us already had pulled out and donned our rainjackets, but we, and the gear, got nice and wet. The rain eased off, of course, just as we pulled into the portage takeout. Almost simultaneously, the sun began to break again through the moving clouds. The portage was close to where the Loon had been nesting, and still was, as its mate circled and dove out in the open water, both watching our every move. We unloaded, shouldered the first load, and off we went.
There were a few random spots of mud and slippery rocks,especially after the recent rain, but for the most part, and with some of that good ole Forestry Service ingenuity, the walk actually wasn’t that bad – just LONG. It was much nicer a walk coming back empty for the last, when you can truly enjoy the walk, and seemed even shorter on the return.
On this last leg, we met a good-sized rabbit/hare hopping down the path right towards us, carrying a mouth full of greens. When it saw us, it hopped just off the path, about 8 feet, and watched us go by, munching on his meal. We lingered for a minute and enjoyed the encounter, figured the animals have to get from Point A to Point B just like we do, as was also evident by the numerous Moose tracks we saw, too.
We put in on the Gun side, then headed straight across for the short 10 rods into Bullet. When we go there, the water was high enough for us to float right on through! It was a Day 1 bonus, all over again ! The only thing not “all roses” at this point was the wind, which again began to announce its presence..gradually, AND steadily.
Bullet was a fairly easy paddle. We made the short 44 rod portage over to Moosecamp with only a few slippery rock steps. About halfway across there was a boulder smack dab in the center of the path. You don’t see that often!
Once on Moosecamp, we headed East towards the river. I had planned on stopping at the last campsite before the river to check it out, but being occupied, we just waved as we passed. It was one of the few times I remember waving and no one waving back. Here at the beginning of the river, it was thick with lilypads, and at some spots, really choked. I mentioned to Matthew how it was almost like last year’s trip, in very low water, struggling to pole through the pads and mud. Matthew didn’t even turn around as he said, “Don’t even go there, Dad.” LOL! I had also been told before our trip that the reedy mouth of the river was a hotspot for Northerns, but it totally slipped my mind that morning.
The going was slow as we hit the first beaver dam. (We already knew beforehand there were several on the river between Moosecamp and Fourtown). There was a log in the water to the left of the dam, and as we drifted up to it, a beaver surfaced suddenly and swam right behind that log, around to the left. We decided to play “Follow the Beaver”. Sure enough, as we pulled in behind the log, there before us was a nice “chute” beside the dam, and also the landing to take-out and carry around it. We both got out, guided the canoe thru the chute, and stepped right back in below it. Now why couldn’t they always be that nice?
There were 7 more dams of varying sizes and difficulty, and only one that required us(me)to get out, but it had a similar chute running down and across the bottom of it – I just had to walk it along the chute for about 10 feet. The others were all passable without even getting out. If we had been going up-river from Fourtown though, I think we could have done 2 only without carrying around on shore, or pulling up and over.
Besides the beaver, we also happened upon an otter in the narrow water. It swam beside us for a few seconds, checking us out, then made its way back the way we had come. The river offered some of the best conditions, if there are any, to see moose. We hadn’t seen any in several years, and it wasn’t to be this time either, but the silence within the long stretches were golden,regardless.
It took a good hour and a half to paddle the entire stretch, though we didn’t really time it. The river was a nice change of pace, but it was equally nice to make that last curve, and know we were about to open up into Fourtown. What was NOT nice though, was the gale force wind that “greeted” us as we came out onto the lake.
It felt like a steady 20-25 mph, and right into our faces, coming at us from our front right, with gusts of, well….much more than that. Without even talking, we headed directly for the camp on the peninsula just across (Southeast to the left) from the river mouth. The 2 shore sites around to our left were open as well, but we paddled hard straight for the first site.
It was nice, very open, and an obviously very used camp. We set up our tent in the trees on a great pad, the nicest either of us could remember, and laid out everything that needed to be dried – which wouldn’t take long! Without “adventuring”, and that’s what it would have been, across to check out the other 2 sites, we KNEW this was the better of the 3 sites…and glad we chose it.
Though I took a short nap after we were settled, and Matthew explored a bit, we mostly sat in our chairs and just watched the wind blow, and blow…and blow. We couldn’t really fish, or couldn’t really cook. It was a bit disheartening. We knew it would let up…we just had to wait for it to do so. But still into the late afternoon, no let up.
Matthew napped. I wished I had brought a kite.
Instead, I went out to a big flat rock jutting out into the lake, just in shorts, facing the dropping sun, and sat there watching the clouds and the day go by. When I closed my eyes, I could have easily been on a beach somewhere 2000 miles way. The waves lapped at my feet as the wind blew. All I needed was some sand, and a cold beer. Yeah – that woulda been nice!
Matthew stirred later and we ate some sandwiches, then finally, FINALLY, the wind began to subside.
There wasn’t much daylight left, but since we already had our gear ready to go in the canoe, we hopped in and went out to rake ‘em in…but not even a bite. However, with the clouds strung out across the big blue sky, it made for one really nice sunset.
We turned in just after dark. As one more conciliatory gesture for the afternoon, a single loon swam up near our camp and serenaded us as we went to sleep. *** Wagosh Lake, Gun Lake, Bullet Lake, Moosecamp Lake, Fourtown Lake ***