Day 1: Monday, September 23, 2019

I got up at around 6:15 and made my way over to the dinning hall a little before 7 AM to enjoy some coffee before my breakfast. There was one other group slated to have Ada and Andy’s breakfast of French toast, bacon, and fruit, but they didn’t show up while I was there. I met a couple of gentlemen at one of the other bunkhouses who were going to be doing some fishing on Missing Link Lake for a few days. They offered some much-appreciated pointers for packing and steering the solo Kevlar canoe and provided some other general advice.

I finished packing up my stuff and parked my truck before getting Andy to give me and my equipment a lift up to the Cross River put-in. I really appreciated that Andy dropped me off and left before watching me load up and paddle off which I knew would be awkward. The solo canoe seemed “tippy” as Andy had warned, but I was off and into my paddling stride within a matter of minutes. I was using a kayak paddle, and it felt very natural.

I quickly arrived at the first portage and was already overwhelmed with just how beautiful everything was. The clouds were beginning to burn off, and it was shaping up to be a lovely day. I already felt very lucky. That first landing is a bit tricky, but I took my time as I figured out a system for unloading, portaging, and re-loading. I carried my gear pack and the canoe with strapped-in paddle on the first trip, and then I carried my food pack and camera pack (on my chest) for the second trip with my map bag in my hand. That system worked well for the duration of the trip.

My plan was to make it down to Long Island Lake, potentially stopping sooner if I was finding the paddling and portaging to be too much. By the time I was done with the first portage, I was fairly certain that I could achieve my goal.

I spent the next few hours paddling, portaging and snapping a few photos along the way. I brought my DLSR camera, but that equipment was packed in a dry bag as I traveled. I bought an additional point-and-shoot type of camera with a long equivalent focal length to keep in my pocket as I traveled, and that worked out really nicely. In good light, modern point-and-shoot cameras are incredibly capable, and this prevented me from having to acquire and carry a super-long lens for my DLSR. I was happy with the decision.

After finishing the portage between Rib and Lower George Lake, I stopped on the Lower George Lake side to have lunch and recharge the batteries. The summer sausage, cheese, and apple were wonderful and prepared me well for the final push to Long Island Lake. Lower George Lake was, in my opinion, the prettiest of all of the pretty lakes I had traveled, and the falls at the portage trail to Karl/Long Island Lake were spectacular.

I made it in to Karl Lake and planned to paddle to Long Island Lake rather than take the short portage on the western side because of the campsite I had selected (based on its potential view of the sky). I ended up getting a bit turned around and think I went pretty far east on Long Island Lake before turning around. I ended up at campsite #2010 at about 2:30 PM. Not knowing exactly where I was or which site I was at, I investigated it a bit and really didn’t like it very much. There didn’t seem to be a level place to put my tent, and the tarp options were pretty limited. Also, the site has an eastern exposure (with a really nice rock for sitting and star gazing), but I had really wanted views of the west and south if possible. I stood on the shore and tried to determine which camp site I was at based on the shoreline features that I could see. Looking east, I could see a fairly narrow channel, and I could see what looked like it could be a landing about 300 meters away. I figured I’d give it a shot, and, sure enough, it turned out to be my target camp site (#561). And it was fantastic! The island to the south was a bit taller than I had surmised from the map contours, and it blocked more of the southern sky that I really wanted, but it was perfect for me other than that.

The weather was still perfect, and I set up my tent and tarp. I was pretty well bushed and retired to my tent shortly after dinner and sunset and tidying up the camp site.

My gear at the Cross River put-in to the Cross Bay Lake entry.

The first portage on the Cross River.

Cross River side of the portage between the Cross River and an unnamed pond.

Unnamed pond side of the portage trail from the Cross River to the unnamed pond.

Unnamed pond side of the portage trail from the unnamed pond to Ham Lake.

Put in to Cross Bay Lake from the Ham Lake portage.

Rapids at the Rib Lake side of the portage trail between Rib Lake and Lower George Lake.

Lower George Lake side of the portage trail from Lower George Lake to Karl Lake/Long Island Lake.

Rapids at the Lower George Lake side of the portage trail from Lower George Lake to Karl Lake/Long Island Lake.

View to the south-east from Long Island Lake campsite #561.