Sea gull to little sag not
by riverrunner
We found a nice site about 2 miles in and set up camp there was a nice sloping rock to the lake. It looked like some weather was coming in so were preparing camp for the storm.
The rain started lightly and my partner was headed down to the lake to fill a water container so we could allow it to filter over night. As he walked down the now wet rock to the lake his feet went out from under him and down he went hard on his left thigh . I didn't see it happen as I was up in camp doing chores also.
He came back up limping very hard he told me what happen. It didn't seem like any thing was broke but he had a scrap and was really sore and bruised. We decided to go to bed and see what happen in the morning.
The next morning he told me because of the pain he hardly slept and I could tell that he would have a hard time walking and could see a visible limp in his walk.
I made the decision that we wouldn't move that day and stay where we where ne seemed to be improving some but still wouldn't be able to carry any weight.
We did a little fishing but he was in discomfort sitting in the canoe.
The next day was a bit better but still he had pain and the thought of carrying any weight over a portage was out of the question. We hung around camp fished a little found some fire wood read the book we brought along.
The third day he was feeling enough better we decided that we didn't have time to finish are trip so it became a base camping instead of the loop. We tripped into Alpine lake with only the canoe and fishing gear we fished and walked the portage to Jasper for a look. my partner still had pain over the rough ground of the portages with out any weight. The fishing was poor we only had minimal fishing tackle as this was suppose to be a traveling trip instead of a fishing trip.
The next day the wind was strong with white caps on the lake we stayed in camp and watched others fight the wind and waves. About 10am it died down a bit and we decide to travel to the 527 rod portage form sag to Jap lake and check it out.
We caned the 2 miles and decided to walk the portage across with a light day pack. With all the stops looking around and picking blue berries it took a hour and 27 minutes to make it to the Jap end.
It took 55 min coming back to little sag with one 5 minute stop. I most likely could have cut that a bit but my partner was traveling slow.
This portage was maintained no trees across the trail was fairly easy to follow a few tight spots to get a canoe around and the Jap end there is a 30 foot or so very steep climb out of the lake one most likely would have to pull a canoe up it instead of carrying it.
One could tell it had been used a couple times this year.
I would prefer not to do it if given a choice.
We did find a lot of blue berries this year in the burnt area along the trail.
We went back to camp my partner say he did the walk ok but his leg was hurting.
That evening we decided to head out the next day as fishing wasn't good and we were getting bored with are camp site.
We headed out and arrived but at the landing about 1130am. We hit Grand Marais about 1.30 parked to have lunch and walk around. We did see a white pickup with canoe and flying moose on it. But there was no one around so I didn't get a chance to introduce my self.
When we got back from lunch they were gone.
Weather for the trip except for the rain the first evening was fantastic. Some of the best weather I had had on any of my trips up there.
Made it back home safely. ~Sea Gull Lake, Alpine Lake, Jasper Lake, Japanese Lake