Day Five:

Another morning that looked like rain. We broke camp at 7:30 and got on our way.

It was cloudy all day, some sun, a few sprinkles. We portaged to a small pond, saw a bear on the portage. Hard to see in these photos, but the best I could do. We weren't going to try to get closer!

There were cliffs and a rocky shoreline. Tried one place and found no portage, eventually portaged to West Lake. The portage out of West Lake to South Lake had a waterfall.

And the stream between South Lake and the North Bay of Basswood had a large beaver dam.

We encountered some chop on North Bay. This was followed by two portages to Burke Lake, a 48-rod one and a 16-rod one.

It became quite calm. We enjoyed a delightful lunch stop on a point.

The 84-rod portage from Burke to Bayley Bay (Basswood) is sandy and ends at a sand beach. We found a campsite on the southeast corner of Basswood, on a point right on the Canadian border. Can see Prairie Portage from our camp.

It was a beautiful day and this was our last campsite of the trip. The temperature was 64 degrees. The tent was still damp, so getting that set up was the first priority. However, the tent site was cluttered with rocks! Neil spent a good deal of time getting rocks out of the way and piled them up to the side. It was hard work.

While he was clearing out the bedroom spot, I was entertaining myself. I took some pictures, of course. Here is my attempt to capture a dragonfly on a rock, and the resident chipmunk.

And most of this time I wrote in my journal. Reflections on the canoe trip experience in '77.

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NOTES:

June is a good time for wildflowers, but too early for berries. Flowers included columbine, wild rose, iris, bunchberry flowers, and something like a snapdragon. [?]

GOOD:

Hot dogs, lots of snacks, 2 SOS per day, keep paper towels in the food pack, Chinese Rice-a-Roni, squeeze Parkay, Dak Salami, wool shirts.

Remember after several days to watch Neil for hunger--eating more and acting hurried. He needs more food as sugar reserve is depleted. [This was our first trip with insulin, and it was a learning experience.]

"CLOSE TO GOD" and other musings:

I have never understood the comments people make about being out in nature and feeling closer to God. To me, I feel closer to God when I am with other people and worshiping together. When I am serving God's people in some way. The wilderness experience makes me feel closer to myself--somehow it is like the last vestige of the pioneer spirit. Humans coping with the elements: rain, sun, wind, cold, mud, drizzle, rain.

When I swim in the wilderness I feel more vulnerable. But I enjoy the cold water, the goose flesh, and the warmth of body and arms when I expend the energy to really stroke and swim. There is an element of trust, too; usually Neil has to help me get back out of the water (slippery rocks.)

There is a risk to this sort of travel, but we can mitigate risk in other ways: wearing our life vests [we always did this 100% of the time in the canoe], no smoking, no climbing, no jumping off cliffs, etc. All risk is something a person has to evaluate and decide if it is worth it.

NEED:

Lux dish soap, rubber gloves (I hate the way the scrubbing of sooty pots makes my fingernails dirty), better tennis shoes or some boots, clothespins, better air mattresses, pants with pockets. [I was wearing polyester knit pants on this trip and they were better than jeans in wet/damp weather, but pockets badly needed.]

Man has left a mark everywhere. Every portage or campsite: we pick up toilet paper, twist-ties, cigarette butts, fish line, cans, bottles, candy wrappers, etc. Why can't people pick up after themselves?

PERSPECTIVE:

The first day or so I notice the "big picture": forest, sky, water, overall silence. As time goes on with no worldly distractions, I notice songbirds, small animal noises, tiny sounds more. The wilderness is not silent, but teeming with life. I am interested in plant forms and geology of this area and need to do some reading on the subject. I am also becoming interested in insects. Neil has taught me not to be afraid of dragonflies, and I am even becoming fascinated by other insect life. NOT mosquitoes!

SIGHTINGS on this trip:

Gulls, herons (lots), loons, Canada goose, bluebirds, ducks, chipmunks, squirrels, mink, bear, dragonflies.

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It was such a gorgeous day, and we had time in the afternoon to enjoy it. [That is the nice thing about camping near the exit point of the trip the night before.]

We balanced the camera up on a tall tree stump, set the timer function, and tried taking a couple of photos of ourselves. At this time in our lives, Neil's beard was still considered "temporary."

Neil built his usual good cooking fire. And then after supper we roasted marshmallows over the coals, sat and watched the evening happenings:

3 loons

2 loons courting

duck

heron

chipmunks

2 snowshoe hares

jumping fish

lots and lots of canoeists

The food pack was hung, and we had watched the sun set over a calm Bayley Bay. Then about 10 PM Neil had an insulin reaction, so the pack came down again and we had to treat the problem with food. It ended up OK, but it is always a scary experience when camping.

Tomorrow would be the "wake-up", when we would end our trip and head back to Minneapolis, and finally to Port Huron. We were thankful for nice weather on this last night in camp. It is always better not to have to pack up wet gear for the trip home.