Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Breakfast was instant carnation and grapenuts cereal. We broke camp and headed back across Alice to make a 2-day return trip. My friend in the other canoe was trolling too by this point and had another big northern on the line in the middle of Alice but it came off the hook as we were trying to land it. It had bit the plastic front lip clear off of his minnow. Back on Insula, I’m not sure if it was a snag or a sharp bite, but my line snapped and my lucky rappala lure was gone. It was a long paddle south and east through insula in a hot sun, and kind-of disheartening to be in the burn area again. There was almost a traffic-jam at the Insula-Hudson portage: one scout group with 4 canoes lingering at the far landing and two other small groups waiting to cross. Luckily our food pack was a lot lighter and we had a well-practiced portage routine by then, so we could get through and out of the way quickly.

On Hudson, we caught a pair of moderate-size pike as we paddled through. Our plan was to go back on “the path less traveled” and from Hudson we went north to Fire lake. This took us out of the burn and to a quiet, narrow channel. There was someone camped on the north bay of Hudson, but after that we didn’t see another soul. By this time we were tired, and it was after 3pm. We looked at the sites on the West end of Fire, but decided to keep going. (couldn’t find the west-most site on Fire lake #1482, and further research shows that others haven’t found it there either). Short portages to the north arm of Lake Four. It was serene back here, and not heavily traveled. We found site #1483 and were ready to stop!

Dinner was the priority as it was nearing 5:00 after a long day and almost 14 miles paddling. An easy-to-make meal of potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and chicken was quickly demolished. This site had a south-facing view and the weather was dead calm and clear. Once the sun went down I stayed awake to try some milky way photos. No rainflys that night and we slept under the stars.