Day Three (Friday): Moving Day

We packed up Friday morning and headed to our next sight. We maintained a leisurely pace as we didn't need to go very far, and the lakes were relatively small. We planned to paddle from Disappointment, through Ahsub, Jitterbug, Adventure, Cattyman, Gibson and Swing Lakes to Abinodji Lake. There is a single campsite on Abinodji that we hoped to stay at. If it was not available, there are sites a couple of lakes away on either side. The highlight of Friday's paddle was stopping at and exploring Cattyman Falls. Chris took a lot of great pictures from above and below the falls. The water flow was so low that we ate a snack sitting on the jumbled logs at the foot of the falls with a slow trickle of water passing by our feet. Chris commented that he'd like to camp near moving water sometime. The sound of moving water being would be very soothing.  I'd imagine that it would also inspire more late night bathroom trips, but the white noise would also be an interuption to the snoring of Chris's canoe partner… me.

It is easy to see that a lot more water used to go over the falls. There is ample evidence that this was a low water time. There are a number of full sized trees jumbled at the top and bottom of the falls. There are exposed rocks with strange striations where you can see and almost feel the effects of a very strong current. The "active" portage was quite a bit closer to the falls in this time of low water, another farther back portage entrance is available during high water times. A neat item if interest was a dried out tree stump that was hollow in the center. The stump was about 4 foot high. I was able to stand inside of it while Chris took a picture.

The campsite on Abinodji was available. It was a bit different from most of the sites I've used before in that it was about 20-30 feet above the water on top of a fairly rocky and steep bank. Wind damage from the '99 Blowdown was very evident. While there were still many trees standing around our site, the path back to the latrine would have been impassable after the storm. A lot of log cutting was evident to open the trail back to the latrine. 

Since our travel time was relatively short, we arrived early afternoon, we had ample time to set up our camp. We selected a tent pad and assebled the tent along with a rain tarp. We did not get any rain, so we didn't use the rain tarp at all, but we got to practice using Chris's tarp bungies. 

I also found out what kind of person has the patience and persistance to flatten the top of a log… my canoe partner Chris. (see day 1 comments) I'm glad we didn't have a watch in this case. Chris set about making 90-degree cuts about ¼ inch apart across the top of the log. From there, he used the saw as a kind of sideways rasp to chisel the narrow cuts down to a flat surface. This was not a two-minute job.  Apparently he'll do anything to work up an appetite to make choking down my cooking an easier task.