Woke up to a steady wind with clouds rolling in, I knew it was time to wake up because the Caribou was calling my name. The evening before, Greg and I talked about taking a day trip from Glen Lake to either Mexican Hat Lake or Hansen Lake. Even though the weather was saying rain, it could not contain our motivation to explore more of Glen Lake and 3 portages would put us on Hanson Lake. At breakfast, Greg had to read me a paragraph out of the book Distant Fires by Scott Anderson from 1987 when he tripped throughout the Quetico and up to the Hudson Bay. Greg opens the book and start reading a few pages out loud while I got breakfast going for the day. He starts off reading on how to deal with fish addicts. “There is no known cure for the disease, the only thing that can be done is to make the suffering person as comfortable as possible and let the angler fish for as long as the attack lasts. Given the right spot and enough trout in the waters, the patient can be ready for travel the next day, though the sight of small pools of water can bring on a relapse at any time.” The whole time Greg was reading this, I couldn’t stop laughing because it was so true for both of us and we had Walleye Fever… real bad!

We set out on the day trip at 10:30AM, to go see Hanson Lake and back again. While three-quarters of the way to Hanson, I asked Greg if today was an exercise day because we were definitely conditioning our canoeing skills. We didn’t have our lines in the water until we got back to Glen Lake, wanted to make good time today. I kept teasing Greg that I felt like Rocky Balboa and he was the coach that kept the motivation going. There were three portages into Hanson Lake and the third one was blocked so badly from the fall down in October 2012.

Greg went ahead with the camera and snapped a few pictures of what used to be a trail. With the clouds not letting up we decided to head back to camp. When we got out of the portages and back into Glen Lake, we pulled off on a point and cooked some beef stroganoff, using Greg’s dehydrated hamburger. We both agreed the meal was rather bland but we shoveled in what we could. Feeling more energized now and some rain rolling in, we started paddling back and making good time. We got back to our side of the lake a dropped in the lines, caught three nice eaters for dinner and kept on catching fish until one of the points near our campsite. Greg changed lures, threw it out and not one minute later he had a nice size walleye on. Bigger than all the rest we caught today; he kissed the fish and let it go back into the water. Just goes to show how much joy fishing, canoeing, and camping can bring to a person. In this case, the conditions for an addict like Greg were optimal! It was time to reel up and get back to camp, pulled in around 5:00PM this evening. We had another fabulous walleye dinner with onions and green peppers. Then lounged around camp all evening drinking hot cocoa like mad men! Talked about tomorrows adventure and decided to move camp in the morning and journey back through Optic Lake and to our island campsite on Telescope Lake. We also agreed that pancakes will be on the menu for breakfast. Greg didn’t have to twist my arm too much!

Day Six Done