Day 10: August 20 Glenn Lake

“And then they rested.”

Today we hung out over a leisurely breakfast of freshly baked chocolate chip pumpkin bread and extra hotdrinks.

Next, we explored around camp comparing the amount of trash on lakes with motorized access (some to a lot) with our more pristine experience in the SW section of the park (none). Then we waxed philosophically about how with the increased commercialization of the WCPP comes the responsibility of outfitter and park personnel to educate its users to keep it clean. We are admittedly self-righteous about this topic so this went on for a while. . .Finally, we launched and drift fished in the wind down to the portage to Mexican Hat Lake. Tony caught one walleye at the base of the shallow falls. Oh, and it was windy, again. We strolled up to the top of the first pond above the falls, exploring tomorrow’s route. It is VERY windy today from the NW. We trolled our way back into a little bay trying to get out of the wind when Tony and I hooked into a couple of walleyes simultaneously. A double :) We kept Tony’s for lunch and released mine. We cleaned the fish on a nearby rock out of the wind and then rounded the point for a power paddle back to camp for a late lunch of fish tacos revisited and leftover pumpkin bread from breakfast.

Ya, we’re not losing weight.

After that it was a nice nap in the tent, a swim, and a short fish up the leeward shore where I caught and released a nice pike.

We had a light dinner of red curry noodles with cashews for dinner watching a smoke plume billow distantly to the northeast. Tony shared he’s having a wonderful trip. Our annual summer pilgrimage to Canada is the highlight of our year. No digital distractions. No work distractions. It was a heart-felt moment :) The night was highlighted by a BIG wind storm with some rain, but the tent was snug in a protected nook. Tony was concerned about the tarp but it weathered it well. (Thank you Dan Cooke.)

Day 11: August 21 Glenn to Mexican Hat

“Day of the Crowds”

We dried out a bit in the am over oatmeal and hotdrinks and then launched at 900am. I trolled up a walleye on the way to the first portage (90m) out of Glenn into the small Beck’s lake.

We paddled slowly out of the wind and crossed the 150m and 90m portages into Mexican Hat. All the portages were well used and easy, just follow the blue paint on the rocks. We crossed a large sand bar and landed at the first campsite south of the portage on the east side. It has a long sandy beach, covered in bear and moose tracks. It definitely looks like they dance on it regularly. We had lunch and discussed camping. The site has two long sandy beaches sandwiching nice grassy tent spots out of the wind. It is a lovely clean spot with great views but in the end, we decided it was too early so we trolled southeast (2 pike) toward the falls. We discovered to our surprise that all the other campsites occupied (3) except the camp near the falls which was windy and beat up, so we paddled back (against the wind) to our former lunch spot and set up camp. The extra tour of the lake made us feel like we earned it, I guess. While we had been paddling around another couple set up camp across the lake on the next point. After 10 days in the WCPP we apparently found all the people. Lots of heavy clouds and wind today but no rain. We wandered up and down the beaches for a while checking out the variety of tracks. Then wandered back to camp to make Mexican Hat Pie for dinner. There was enough for three hungry paddlers so we sat around in our puffy jackets and ate it all.

Day 12: August 21 Mexican Hat to Nutria to Amber to Streak to Wrist

“Into the Suck”

We motivated out of the tent about 630am (48 degrees F) and ate our regular moving day breakfast of hotdrinks and oatmeal while packing up camp. Our neighbors across the way appeared to be fishing the shoreline in a bright yellow-orange canoe. Us? We shoved off and made a beeline to “the suck.” I mean if your gonna do it, why waste time?

We were stopped first by “seasonally shallow” beaver muck of the thigh-deep variety. Yup, unloaded the boats and pulled it over, then reloaded. Standard drill. The section between the two beaver dams was a complete no-paddle zone. We lined the entire section, sling-shooting the boat around the corners, only getting stuck in thigh deep mud a few times. We didn’t even loose a shoe or find any leeches, but man were we muddy! In the end we agreed it wasn’t all that bad, or minimally we had experienced worse in the Quetico. We met a couple of gents fishing on Nutria. They had flown into Haven and were headed out. “How’s the beaver dam?” Tony: “Hope you’re not wearing your clean clothes.” Me: “Pretty muddy.” Shortly thereafter we saw a 4-person crew just finishing up the Amber to Nutria portage. They we all decked out in their backcountry finest and looked like a photograph from an Orvis catalog. Bet they got pretty muddy. . . Amber Lake is long, narrow, and stunning with many charred, rocky islands and outcroppings. We had lunch on one such spot and discussed how happy we were to be back in “the Burn.” Before making the short hop into Streak we cruised by an otter sitting on a rock just as we made the turn toward Wrist. There we crossed the final 100m portage onto an expansive beach at the southern end of the lake. We’re back in the land of fireweed and blueberries! I quickly trolled up a beauty of a lake trout from Wrist’s crystal-clear waters. Deciding that the trout was too large for the two of us to eat we released it and headed out to search for a camp in our first nearly windless day in many. We found the big island camp empty except for an eagle circling around. But it quickly glided away as we landed and we claimed it as home for a couple of nights. After setting up camp we decided to go out for an afternoon fish and of course, to gather some blueberries for breakfast pancakes. I soon caught an eater size trout near the first island and we made our way to a nearby rock to fillet it well away from camp. We gathered our blueberries on a nearby hillside and returned to camp around 500pm for a swim, rinsed our mud-caked clothes, and hung them on a line to dry. It was grilled trout with adobo seasoning over a small fire in a large majestic firepit some earlier voyagers had created on the point, our first and only fire of the journey. This camp is expansive on a large rocky point with two landings and two firepits. The tent pads are on rock or further back in the trees. It is the premier site on Wrist and obviously gets a lot of use, though unlike some of the other sites on Glenn and Mexican Hat is amazingly free of micro trash and TP bombs. I did discover one “dumpsite” under a rock directly in front of the firepit. Not Kidding. So, we did our best to burn the TP and dispose of the rocks in the forest. What compels people to do that? Really. . .We heard some voices from behind the nearby smaller island about dusk (800pm) but didn’t see anyone.