Wednesday, September 19, 2018

The cry of the raven sounded again in the darkness and Team BeaVer Fever was up and on the water for our last paddling day. Thirty-seven miles to go to reach Fort Charlotte and the beginning of the Grand Portage. Today we will have many portages including some of the longest and toughest yet. These can become a bit grueling if you let them but JimmyJustice had other plans. One such time, I was starting to feel tired and focusing on the pain the portage pads was putting on my shoulders…when from behind Jimmy yells “I like chocolate ice cream!” I instantly laughed at this and forgot my pains and gave my opinion. Then I yelled forward to MAKK who was walking in front of me. Soon the three of us were yelling our preferences about meaningless things and the portage was done. Later, on other portages, the chants started up again. Once again, the entire team was having a blast, and soon we arrived at the Pigeon River.

The Pigeon River…well it was hardly acting like a river. The current was exceptionally slow with the flow at only 71 cfs. It was navigable in most of the swampy areas but the English Rapids area was a boulder field requiring walking of boats. Walking on the river bed is tough in that area as it is filled with slippery boulders. MAKK slipped once bad enough that all but her head got wet. So whenever the water was deep enough it was best to get back into the canoe and paddle. Instead of constantly getting into and out of the canoe, MAKK and I developed a new way to paddle…we would just sit on top of the gunwales with our legs dangling over the sides. We called this “horsy paddling” because it gave the appearance of sitting on a horse’s back. It saved time climbing in and out and helped keep some of the water and mud out of the boat. Our Horsy technique allowed us to pull away from our team and as evening approached with falling temperature, MAKK became chilled from her wet clothes. We decided to go on alone to get her off the river and warmed up. On our way to Fort Charlotte, we stopped on the river bank and loaded up with firewood. It is tradition to have a last fire here, dry clothes, and repack gear for the big portage ahead.

Deke, JimmyJustice, MeatPuppet, and WhiteWolf catch up with us as we’re hauling gear and wood to one of the two designated campsites here. With our last camp set up and the fire going good, we burn extra food and stuff that we won’t need any more to lighten our loads. We have time to spare to get to the Fort in the morning so we celebrate a little and fill our stomachs with food shared from everyone’s stashes. Feeling satisfied, I set the timer clock to give us a couple extra hours of time to reach the finish in the morning, and into our tents we crawl for the last time.

The Grand Portage trail was in great shape (i.e. not muddy) and we made good progress eventually getting split into 3 groups. MeatPuppet and Deke, both canoe bearers, got so excited near the end that they ran to the finish. JimmyJustice, with newbie to the trail MAKK following, were almost to the finish when JimmyJustice thought they were on the wrong trail and turned around and walked back up the trail ½ mile. This worked out well because WhiteWolf and I were bringing up the rear slow and steady and were reunited with at least part of the team. The last four of us crossed the finish together rejoining the runners. We bettered our group Purpose by 2 hours finishing in 122, and in doing so, my goal was accomplished too! We were greeted by a small group at the finish line including the Norwegians who had finished the day before with an awesome time of 98 hours.