Friday, July 17, 2015

DAY THREE, FRIDAY 7/17/2015 - 6 miles paddled, 0.3 miles portaged, total 6.3 miles, 1 portage, Knife to Bonnie, campsite #1452.

We gradually woke up and Grandpa that morning hooked a smallmouth bass from the shore and soon all the kids wanted to fish. The kids had no luck but were having fun and Grandpa caught one more fish, keeping none however. Of course when fishing with kids is taking place, all other activities for me are put on hold while I untangle line, change out lures, and so forth. Once again we got a late start. Paddling Knife Lake was interesting as the wind had whipped up in the afternoon and waves were building. White caps were on the wave tops and the wind was coming at us from the stern and starboard side. A couple of waves came within about an inch of the rail but I really was not too worried. Worse case in that weather was to flip or swamp the canoe and then head toward a shoreline. All packs were lined with heavy duty contractor garbage bags rolled down and tucked in and inside of those packs sleeping bags were in water tight bags and clothing was rolled up in other heavy duty garbage bags. Each canoe also had the water tight barrels and almost all other items were tied into the canoe. Sinking of our gear was not going to happen and the water was warm so life would be ok no matter what.

We decided to paddle between the island on Knife and the shoreline about 3/4 a mile before approaching the portage into Bonnie Lake. That turned out to not be a good route as the water passage was not clear and thus we paddle against a headwind back to the open water in Knife and continued on to the portage going into Bonnie. This portage side tracked the kids a little bit when blueberries were discovered. I discovered that the kids were berry hounds and could find them where ever they were hiding. We brought a book on edible wild plants which my daughter spent quite a bit of time reading and pointing out edible plants. While unloading canoes at the portage landing at Knife Lake we discovered the very friendly nature of leeches and how they want to become blood brothers with all mankind. This dark flat hungry sucking machine had found her way between my flip flop straps and was in the active bonding stage with my foot just above my right big toe. I tried pulling her off with no luck and then my wife took a rock and scraped her off. She seemed more worried than me but my foot was bleeding pretty good from that sucking zone. We first paddled to campsite #1452 on Bonnie and then finding that site slightly less than ideal, Grandpa and I and two kids paddled over to site #1453 with a two-way radio to let the other group know which site was better for us. It was felt that our original site of #1452 was better for our large group and so we communicated that and paddled back. Paddling back we saw two beavers swimming and plotting the most efficient method of cutting trees and building dams. Seeing those beavers was a highlight for me. We could have paddled further that day but with Sabbath soon upon us and greatly needing a break, we called the site good enough and began setting up house.

Eating supper and having dishes cleaned up before dark is a wonderful thing. That evening Grandpa tried out placing two Stearns square float cushions on either side of him and making a makeshift raft to fish from. At some point I paddled out on the now windless lake Bonnie and freed up a stuck fishing lure and just enjoy being on the water. Paddling with just me in the stern of the canoe with zero gear was a ton of fun when the wind was down and my wife grabbed a beautiful shot of the sunset and the canoe on Bonnie Lake. Grandpa caught a small Northern Pike and a Small Mouth Bass after supper and decided to just leave them on a stringer for breakfast which in hindsight was a bad idea. The Northern ended up deciding to cut short his days of chasing minnows and funny colored lures and died on the stringer. Then crawfish started their assault like Patton's 3rd Amy against the Nazi's. I had never seen such military precision from little crustaceans! We ended up rescuing the Northern and placed him in my 10 quart pot in the lake, strapped the lid down, put a large rock on it and tied the pot to the bank. The small mouth was then left on the stringer and appeared healthy and happy waiting for breakfast to appear. Hammocks were placed all around camp and as the Mosquitoes began their formation flying exhibits with sharpened spears and guidance missiles, we began our unorganized retreat to the land within netted walls. ~Bonnie Lake

Lakes Traveled:   Bonnie Lake,