Sunday August 12th 2018

We awoke early, showered, gathered up our overnight items and snagged the leeches out of the fridge and were headed downstairs to the truck well before daylight. The gas station right next door is always open, so it was super convenient to grab a large coffee and we were on the road towards the Echo Trail.

We were at the Mudro Lake entry point just as it was beginning to break daylight and unfortunately so was every other permit holder for the day. So much for early bird gets the worm. I decided to sit back and let everyone else go first. I wanted nothing to do with the debacle at the portage trailhead.

I am amazed at what some people go through just to get started on a trip. A little bickering, a lot of running back and forth in the parking lot retrieving things from vehicles forgotten. We sat back, enjoyed our coffee and watched the festivities.

Our gear was completely packed and ready so all we had to do was unload it and off we go. Just before it was time to unload, I pulled off the canoe and secured the fishing rods to the thwarts and strapped in our canoe seats. I really like the stadium-style seats with the backrests and small pockets. Yes, they add a few pounds to the canoe but to me, it’s worth it. I simply use small ratchet straps to secure them in. The front ratchet strap I leave a long tail on so I can use it as a balance strap for portaging. On flat portages, I can secure it to my waist and go hands-free on the trail. This was my first trip and I did not have all the standard gear but we made do with our Ozark Trail backpacks and a Goodwill external frame backpack (which we nicknamed later the death pack) In our canoe from front to back was the following: Joe’s seat and PFD (the seats fold and snap close so we were able to put our PFDs in there on the portage trail) Joe’s backpack and Leeches The equipment backpack (death pack) and food dry bag. My backpack and 2 bag chairs Fishfinder mount Rods/ spare paddle secured on both sides of the canoe using twisty things. My seat. Go Pro clamp mount.

We started out portaging with me carrying my backpack and the canoe. Joe would carry his backpack, paddles and the bag chairs half way and drop them and head back for the equipment pack, food bag, and the leeches. Everything else was in the canoe. I would drop my load at the end of the trail and head back for his halfway load. We did this for the first day and I might add it was a bit of a pain. Joe is skinnier than I am and every time he would drop, I would have to re-adjust all the straps to fit my torso.

Plus, it was heavy!

We only saw three groups that day and they were all headed at us and I presume they were on their way out. I hoped by picking a Sunday that the weekend warriors would be clearing out and there would be good sites available. On the trail between Tin Can Mike and Sandpit I had to step off the boardwalk for a lady coming at me with a canoe on her shoulders. The boardwalk was about 24” off the ground at that point and it was quite the battle to hop off into the marshy ground and get back up once she had passed.

We wasted no time in reaching the Horse River. I had read so much about campsite availability around Lower Basswood Falls that I was determined to blast my way through and reach a site in time or at least have time to find an unoccupied one. In hindsight, we had plenty of time as we only saw one other group and they were headed upstream on the Horse River and only a single campsite was taken around the falls. Oh well, had we gone slow Murphy’s Law would have had all the sites taken.

The Horse River was great. So beautiful but we were really getting worn out. Joe’s cold had made it deep into my chest and my head was pounding from the sinus pressure. The temperature was once again around 90 degrees. Those last few portages on the Horse all but had me exhausted. I just wanted a full breath of air!

We reached the falls portage and quickly slipped into Canada and around the falls. We did not even stop to check them out. The plan was to get camp set up down the river a bit and come back the next morning and check them out. We set up on site # 1550 which was a nice site. The tent pads were back in the brush down a trail. You couldn’t see the falls from this site. There was a large beaver lodge to the west of the site and the area behind camp was very thick. We ended up paddling out to the island in front of camp to the north for some firewood. We didn’t need much as we were both headed for an early night.

We had a small dinner and took a quick dip in the water and after a small cup of wine, we were off to bed where our colds would double in severity overnight.

~Mudro Lake, Sandpit Lake, Tin Can Mike Lake, Horse Lake, Horse River, Basswood River