Monday, July 28, 2014 Rose Lake, Rat Lake, South Lake

Breakfast was the first morning eggs (all broken due to rough handling) and bacon. The propane stove given to us was a simple affair, with a small burner on top of a pounder, and a plastic stability base.

I cooked the bacon first, alternately burning parts and leaving other parts less done on the dented frying pan. After removing the bacon, I left the burner on while preparing the eggs. Well, I spent too much time preparing the eggs, which led to the bacon grease hitting flash point, creating a nice fire. Since the stove was on the fire grate, I poured the burning grease onto the bacon wrapping paper sitting on the grate, making a better fire than we had the prior evening. I then went forward with cooking the eggs with cheese in them. It turned out pretty well. By this omen, we set off on Rose.
Rose was a long paddle as the western part seems to be almost a river.
The Rat Lake portage (4 rods, 136 feet) was just a bit of lifting over some rock to bypass the rapids - just an unload and luggage carry. We took a small break at the portage, eating some snacks. When we went back to pick up our backs, my friend saw a sizable ribbon snake heading off into the bushes - he must have been sunning on the rocks when we arrived.
Rat lake was little more than a puddle, taking not much more than 15 minutes to traverse, even with lazy paddling.
The South Lake portage headed off into the darker woods surrounding the rapids between South Lake and Rat Lake, so we couldn't see what was ahead. As we traversed this path, we found out that it crossed the stream of the rapids, with some widely-spaced and slippery rocks to navigate. This portage was a good uphill, leaving me panting at the top.
South Lake was quite windy, which led to 1-1½ft waves. We foolishly just crossed the lake in a direct path, rather than hugging a shoreline, arriving tired and beaten to the campsite right by the Height of the Land portage.
We were able to get a tarp up over the kitchen area, which helped, as rain was coming. In fact, the rain started coming in waves, build for 10 minutes, then quit and then sun. It was a strange phenomenon for sure.
Later on, we heard a group coming out of the portage as we made dinner. After eating, and cleaning up, we still heard them coming out of the portage, so we investigated. It turns out the 9- person group had lost shoes on the Height of the Land, and had spent much time digging them out. Of course, these were camping sandals, and not hiking boots. We also explored the west side of South since the wind died down, and saw a beaver building a lodge down one of the side bays. We sat and watched him for awhile, but left after he slapped at us twice (certainly an expression of his displeasure of us being there). Back to camp, and more hiding under the rain tarp as another storm rolled in. This time, though, we had pea-sized hail! We learned this time that having a shelter up is a good thing!
Bedtime was soon after, as the mosquitoes also liked our shelter, and decided to feed while they were hanging around.