Thursday, July 27, 2006
I was awakened by the sound of people moving around the campsite....guess my new job working
overnights at the Emergency Vet Clinic has ruined me as far as being the first one up! I was last up
every morning on this trip..weird but true. Anyhow, I got coffee and breakfast going while the rest of
the crew packed up camp. Breakfast was scrambled eggs with ham and fried potatoes, bagels toasted
over the fire, french press for the grownups and "crappucino" for the youngsters. We discovered last
year that 1/2&1/2 can be frozen, which has improved morning coffee for us- it separates but otherwise
suffers no ill effects, so if you don't mind it looking odd it tastes just fine.

We waved goodbye to Sam and headed for the "freeway", as we affectionately dubbed the portages
between Lakes One and Two. After the relative quiet of the portages around Confusion, it was a shock!
We spent a fair amount of time trying (in vain) to comply with the 9 and 4 rule, and finally just made a
break for it. As we finished the second portage, Alex's pack finally gave up the ghost...after 20 years of
service, the straps broke. I managed to tie them back to the pack, but it was clear that this pack wasn't
taking on many more portages. We talked about it and decided that with the congestion and the pack,
we would hunt for a base camp and take daytrips for the remainder of our trip.

We paddled through Lake Two and into the start of Lake Three, and saw a beautiful site perched up on
a big outcropping of granite just as Lake Three begins to open up. Some members of our group wanted
to try for an island campsite, but we agreed to drop most of our group off to hold the spot while Jesse,
Alex, and I paddled around to check it out. Sure enough, every site we passed was taken- and it was
early in the day, probably before noon. By the time we got back to camp, the kids were busy swimming
and we decided that this was going to be a fine base camp. The tent pads were shady, the kitchen area
was flat and out of the afternoon sun, and there was a huge white pine gracing the latrine. I set up 1
tent while Bob and ML set up the other, and Jesse and Alex went off in search of wood. We lounged
round camp eating beef jerky, gorp, and oranges, taking naps in our shady tents, and getting settled. I
was astounded at the shear volume of canoes that kept pouring past our camp....I have no idea where
all those folks camped that night!

Finally the kids started looking kinda hungry again and we got dinner going- a huge pot of chicken wild
rice soup and fresh biscuits with butter. It had been a hot day but the night was pleasently cool and we
fired up the french press again. We hung out by the fire drinking coffee and telling stories- the kids
never tire of hearing stories about the old folks when we were young, especially stories about my
adventures on the canoe trails as a kid. Night descended and the stars came out, and eventually the
kids got tired and went to bed....we weren't too far behind them.
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