(Barto Lake, Treat Me Lake, Pie Lake, Frederick Lake, Zenith Lake, Duck Lake, Hug Lake, Mesaba Lake)

This morning started out with the sound of thunder and rain patting down on the tent. I laid in my sleeping bag on that hard rock and enjoyed the sound. If I wasn’t going to get out of the tent and face the rain, neither was anyone else. That was only partly true, as soon as the rain let up a little bit, Chad was up and moving around camp. I got up shortly after and started to boil water for breakfast and coffee. Chad and Greg went for a paddle around part of the lake for some fishing while I caste from shore. The only thing we managed to catch was a few bluegills. We had our pancakes with applesauce for breakfast and then packed up camp. 

At the end of Barto Lake and the beginning of our next bushwhack our spirits where a ready for another crash through the tangled forest. Treat Me Lake wasn’t much more than a grassy swamp that we didn’t bother to put the canoes into. The next hike was through open forests full of enormous trees and then patches of nearly impenetrable sapling and down into cedar swamps filled with soft sphagnum moss, extremely fragrant Labrador tea that was in full bloom, and the occasional bottomless mud hole. This portage/bushwack was pretty long and soon the mind and compass would contradict one another. The compass would point the way but the mind would say, “But the lake HAS TO BE right over that ridge”. Fortunately we didn’t get too far off track and eventually found Pie Lake. We took a short break on Pie Lake before heading over to Frederick Lake. We had hopes of seeing old trails or portages here to make the travel easier but none were visible. We followed along the side of the bog towards Fredrick Lake till the stream from Pie to Fredrick was just big enough to fit a canoe into, then we paddled the rest of the way.

On a campsite on Fredrick Lake we spent a little time eating lunch and recuperating before we headed on. We were not sure what we were going to find on the way to Zenith Lake. The map didn’t indicate a portage and the little blue line on the map didn’t look very promising as far as it being canoeable but I had heard there was a way through there. When we reached the stream to Zenith lake there was an obvious portage there. It was surprisingly short and we were able to paddle down most of the stream to Zenith. As were made our way through the stream and bog we kept our eyes open for moose but didn’t see any. What we did see was a patch of little pink flowers in the bog I had never seen before. After being home and checking some references we were able to confirm that they were Calypso orchids.

On Zenith Lake we broke out the fishing rods and rigged them up. Fishing on Zenith was not very good for us so we headed up the portage to Duck Lake. The portages seemed like a walk in the park after having bushwhacked for a full day. Every time we saw some constructed steps, a bridge, or even culverts on this particular portage we had to laugh at just how much easier life is on a portage. 

The rest of the day we fished our way across Duck, Hug, and Mesaba Lakes till we stopped to camp for the night. The campsite was on the northern part of Mesaba Lake that was on a point and looked like it would be good for fishing. After setting up camp and chasing off a snowshoe hare we started fishing and pumping water. Hours seemed to go buy as nobody was getting any bites. Soon our interest faded from fishing and we went to make a fire and dinner. 

As we stood around the fire we all talked a little trash about our superior fishing skills. We had planned to have a fishing tournament day on the trip. Tomorrow would be that day and we were all eager to put the others to shame. It was decided that the winner would get to pick a lure out of everyone else’s tackle box at the end of the trip. 

Chad still had his line in the water at dusk when Mike and I heard his rod get pulled off the ledge and into the water. Mike and I rushed to save the rod, almost falling off a ledge into the water, but once we managed to get it, the fish had all ready snapped the line. The rest of the night Chad tried in vane to catch the fish that broke his line.