Saturday, September 12, 2020

Up at 6:30. Ate Cliff bars and an apple. Tuscarora shuttled us the short trek to the Cross Bay entry point just down the road. They helped us carry our gear to the water, and we chatted for a few minutes. We were off by 8:15. 

I bought a SpotX gps tracker/satellite communicator to help put my wife’s worries at ease. She’s be able to track us as we move, and we could call for emergency services if I were to break my leg (see below) or have a heart attack carrying a pack across the Muskeg/Kiskadinna portage. Of course, it appeared to have frozen right as we shoved off. However, I now suspect it was user error. It was tracking us fine, and we were able to send messages later that night. I was worried I’d have to find another group with a communicator just so I could send a message to my wife not to rely on the Spot. Right away, we could tell the water was really low. This was a portage between the ponds before Ham Lake.

I’m assuming water is supposed to be flowing down this creek bed. We had to get out several times to pull the canoe off submerged rocks.  The portages through this stretch were pretty rocky, so I ended up carrying R’s second pack. She paddled her butt of, though, even making sure she kept paddling while I took snack breaks. (Travel day snacks were home-dried apples and bananas and homemade beef jerky).   

Our goal for today was the eastern island site of Long Island. Most of the sites were taken up through Cross Bay, so we were wondering if Long Island was going to be full, if we made it that far, and whether to stop at the first open site we found. On the Cross Bay/Rib portage we ran into a family where one member was carrying another on his back. She apparently had fallen on a portage and possibly broker her leg. I really hope their group got out ok. And it reaffirmed by happiness to have the Spot with us. To our surprise, the sites on Karl were open, as well as the first several sites on Long Island. Then, the 2 island sites and the peninsula site in the middle of the east end of LI were taken. We were starting to get really nervous. It was already 2pm and we were really running out of gas. But, to our surprise, Site 585 was open! 

We had a quick lunch (summer sausage and cheese on a tortilla), got camp set up, and then relaxed in the hammock for a while.  Then R wanted to explore the island. We followed the numerous trails for a while. This is a pretty big island to have to ourselves. Site 585 has kind of steep climbs from the water up to the main area, which was also very open. The best tent pad was also lacking any real cover from the NW winds. Latrine was a short hike into the forest. With the cut trees and large rock behind it, it really felt like a throne. 

Later in the evening, we decided to get back in the canoe and do a little trolling – another first for me in a canoe. Lure of the day was a Rapala Taildancer in Purplescent. We paddled around our corner of the lake looking for the lakers that are supposed to be in LI. I have yet to catch one, and that would have been another first, but no luck. We did get several pike to bite, so we counted that as a win.

~Cross River Lake, Ham Lake, Cross Bay Lake, Rib Lake, Lower George Lake, Karl Lake, Long Island Lake

Lakes Traveled:   Cross River Lake, Ham Lake, Cross Bay Lake, Rib Lake, Lower George Lake, Karl Lake, Long Island Lake,