Thursday, June 18, 2015

I woke up expecting to have the sun in my face, but instead there was a cool wind and grey clouds…too grey. It looked like rain and I quickly took down my hammock while making coffee and went to rig a tarp over the gear/kitchen. The night that we purposely did not prepare for rain we almost woke up to it. There were a few sprinkles, but we escaped a true rain and can claim a rain-free trip. Breakfast was oatmeal and dried fruit… and more than one cup of coffee. Always not ready to leave on the last day. We reluctantly packed our things for the last time and headed west on the north arm of Lake Four. I trolled a baby torpedo on top and came up with a single smallmouth bass.

We traveled from Lake Four, to Bridge Lake, and then the long 167rd portage to Rifle lake. It was… long. Very scenic. At one point there was a double-trunk tree down about chest level with no way to go under it. It took two people to lift over the canoes/ packs one at a time.

Bridge Lake was beautiful, and we all agreed might deserve a return trip someday.

On to Lake Two, and the two quick portages back to Lake One. The wind was against us all for all of the last two lakes, but we had cheeseburgers on our minds and made good time back to the entry. A change of clothes and back to Ely for burgers and beers at the Boathouse pub. (If you’ve never had the blueberry blonde beer they make, you’re missing out.) Piragis handled the broken paddle very well- they have always been great, and will get our business again. All in all, this was a fantastic trip. No rain, little-to-no bugs (I might have gotten 1 mosquito bite), good fishing, good eating, and quality adventure time with good friends.

Lessons Learned:

-Print copies of map/route to stash in bottom of pack.

-keep a spare paddle accessible in each canoe

-prepare camp for rain before going to sleep; even if its clear and you are sleeping outside.

Things that worked well:

-adjustable rod holders clamped to center of rear thwart.

-dehydrated taco/burrito filling

-soaking clothes/packs/hammocks/soft goods in permethrin

-homemade alcohol stove/ .5oz fuel/vacuum sealed Via coffee packet/cup and cozy/water all kept ready-to-go in a small kit for instant hot coffee anytime you wanted it.

-bungee dealees. First time I’ve tried them, and they are fast and amazing for lashing things to the boat.

-gravity water filter. I love my MSR miniworks, but the gravity system made lots of water for group cooking while you were doing other things.

-Fronky-style hammock bugnet (look it up if you’re into hammocking).

-Fish glove. For grip when landing and cleaning fish.

-Fresh Fried tortilla chips.