Friday, October 11, 2013

Yet, another, awe inspiring sunrise!

Half jokingly, Vickie quipped that we may have to pull the plug on the trip. At her present consumption rate, she feared her coffee supply would run out before we’d planned on leaving. Certain disaster was averted, as she was able to properly ration her remaining supply. (Of course, I firmly believe, the fact that she no longer had the cinnamon crème rum to mix it with, certainly went a long ways towards conserving what little she had left.)

Today we would paddle & portage to Gogebic (Go-gee-bic) Lake. Along the way, Vickie wanted to give the small islands, near the entrance to the southern bay of Clearwater, a closer inspection.

Later, upon landing at the portage, the unmistakable hammering of a woodpecker going about his business was clearly audible. Curious, I soon tracked him down on a nearby tree.

The first portion of the portage is well worn and mostly flat. After the B-R-T cutoff, the trail becomes more overgrown. Shortly past this intersection, there is an enchanting spot where a short bridge crosses the small stream tumbling between Clearwater & West Pike lakes. This is another favorite spot of mine. Its’ appeal isn’t of jaw dropping beauty like so many of the areas we’ve seen earlier in the trip. No, its charms are of a more subtle, though no less relevant, nature.

Even though autumn had clearly left its’ indelible mark on much of the landscape, the cedars & moss in this area gave it the feel of a lush, green oasis. I always make a really intimate connection with nature when being able to listen to the cacophony of water cascading through a boulder strewn channel, (of any size), in a natural wilderness environment. It is a time tested, primal elixir for soothing the soul. This bridge offers an outstanding perch from which to do just that.

Once across the bridge, the trail starts getting interesting. Not much has changed since the last time I was through here. So, I’ll quote the description from my trip report, “Shangri-La up along the B-R-T.”

"After crossing the bridge is where things start to get interesting. While not overly steep, the trail begins a long steady climb. This, in & of itself, requires more than a fair share of exertion. Couple that with the fact that, for most of the climb, the footholds are almost all exclusively round, knobby, protruding rocks. Perhaps a re-routing of the trail has contributed to this condition? As there are a number of enormous trees that have all fallen curiously parallel to the trail throughout this section. Compacted soil & pine duff are finally encountered again as the trail mercifully levels off. It even begins to gradually creep back downhill. This is something of a mixed blessing. As all the elevation just lost needs to be regained again (and then some) on the final ascent.

There is a "T" in the trail before it makes the final climb. This served as my next drop off point. Kelly & Ross, eager to see if indeed there was a lake at the top, pushed on up the hill.

The final hill actually has some of the steepest sections. But, the condition of the trail is in better shape making this ascent a bit easier than the previous climb. Of course slowly emerging from the dense, dark forest back into the "light" adds an element of heightened anticipation as well."

Vickie was immediately smitten with Gogebic lake. We paddled our way around the lake in a counter-clock wise direction, eventually pulling in at the canoe campsite across the lake from the landing. Apparently fishing had been quite slow, as there were a couple of impressive rock creations along the ‘pier’.

Besides the obvious creative aspect, there was also some crafty engineering (especially on the arch) involved as well.

Being the rock hound that she is, Vickie was absolutely enthralled with this campsite. Certainly most of canoe country is covered with rock, but, these near this campsite are quite unique. There is a ‘pier’ running out away from camp that is made up of countless flat stones. Several of these have been put to a most meritorious use in camp. The fire grate boasts a couple of very accommodating tables on either side & 3 rock recliners as well. I plied the waters of Gogebic while Vickie enthusiastically, and thoroughly, scoured the area. Shangri-La indeed!

The weather had been so nice the past few days that some determined mosquitos re-emerged in an attempt to become their usual nuisance. Much to Vickie’s delight, dragonflies were also still around to counter act them.

It took a little prodding but, eventually I was able to pry Vickie away from the rock garden. I decided to take the West Pike route back to camp, thinking we might be able to explore some of that lake too.

There is a spur off the B-R-T that leads straight down to West Pike. It is a very steep trail. (Mercifully the trail is all downhill going this way.) There is also one spot where the Black Pearl just barely squeezes through a couple of trees. Once at the landing, it was apparent that the east wind was creating some chop out on the lake. So, we decided to forego our exploration of West Pike & just head back to Clearwater.

Yet again, we gathered some firewood on our way back to camp, and it unintentionally served us as a excellent ballast once the eastern wind & waves caught up with us near the Mountain lake portage, where our luck had finally run out & we had to maneuver through some pretty decent rollers the last few hundred yards back to camp.

With the wind howling out of the east like it was, there wasn’t much we could do back in camp. So, we explored the various trails spider webbing out from camp. Vickie stumbled onto a disturbing scene. It appeared to be a cache of (mostly eaten) food & garbage that a bear had drug away from camp. Judging from the limited decomposition of the onion, it must’ve happened fairly recently. For what it’s worth, we didn’t have (or at least weren’t aware of any) problems during our stay but, were a little more wary after this discovery.

Unlike previous evenings, the wind persisted throughout supper. It blew to such an extent that we even decided against having an evening fire. Then, continued on throughout the night, necessitating an early retreat to the tranquil sanctuary of our Hilleberg tent.

Clearwater Lake, Gogebic Lake, West Pike Lake