Friday, July 02, 2021

I slept in this morning and my body clearly needed it after yesterday's longer paddle. I had some trouble finding the portage from Malberg to Frond. I blame the low water...that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I saw a landing on the shore of Malberg right across from the campsite I used. But when I got there, it dead ended with a bunch of fish skeletons and was clearly just the spot everyone uses to clean their fish. Stumped for a bit, I finally waded through the shallows into the stream a little way and voila! there was the portage. Probably would have been more obvious in higher water.

The 14 rod portage from Frond to the puddle was strange. I never saw a landing on the south side as indicated by the map. After I pulled over some shallows, I found a very nice portage landing on the north side of the stream and it came out on a nice landing at the pond. As I paddled away, I noticed another big, beautiful landing a bit closer to the stream. Not sure where that pops out on the Frond side.

No problem finding the portage from to Boze. When traveling west to east, you come to a fork at the top of the hill. I chose left since cowdoc's notes said he had walked on cliffs overlooking the stream. It followed the stream and then turned right sharply and dropped down into the edge of the campsite. I'm guessing you could take the path to the right, but it would probably take you through the middle of the campsite.

Cowdoc's notes really helped on the next portage. He warned me the portage was divided into 2 parts due to a beaver dam. Based on time, the first stretch was about 40 rods and then I put the boat back in the water to paddle the stream/beaver pond. Then I took out and portaged about 60 rods more to the Louse River. These trails are not well traveled so it is a big timesaver to paddle that middle section versus trying to continue on the faint portage trail that goes around the pond.

In general, this stretch of the Louse R. from Malberg to Boze Lake was shallow. I had a couple extra pullovers. The rocks were very sneaky in some of the narrows. After Boze, the river is generally deeper and weedier, instead of rocky, but I still had a few spots I had to pullover.

Northern Purple Pitcher Plant
Louse River tamarack bog
The next 4 portages to reach Trail Lake were all very straight forward. Some of the landings were very rocky, but easy to find. None of them are well traveled but are in decent condition. This is a pretty area to paddle, lots of tamarack bogs mixed with rocky areas. I started to notice a lot of really stinky scat on the big rocks I paddled past. It smelled like rotten fish and had lots of crayfish bits in it. Otter? Mink? Fisher?

I was tired and dull witted today. The sun and heat was getting to me. I had to be slow and deliberate to make sure I didn't forget anything or injure myself. Glad it was a short mileage day. I camped at the northern site on Trail Lake and had the lake to myself until after dinner when a group of 2 canoes showed up and took the southern site. It was a very hot afternoon! Swimming was a great relief. All types and sizes of flies were very active today. Since I had reached the site at 1pm, I had plenty of time to swim, rest, swim, and rest some more.

While I was setting up dinner, I heard an animal bounding past. Thinking it was just a chipmunk or red squirrel, I glanced up and was shocked to see a mink bounding past about 4 feet in front of me. It bounded from the trees to my right across in front of me, then past the fire grate and into the thick shrubs near the lake. Then it quickly bounded back the way it had come. So cool! I have never seen a mink in the wild! And so close!

Near sunset, I was hanging out on the rocky slope near the water enjoying the evening and watching the sun go down. When I turned to head back to the tent, I startled the mink again, but this time it had a baby with it. They scurried into the thick brushy area between the fire grate and the water where I am sure there was a den. I respected their privacy and quietly slipped off to my tent to let them get out and about to catch some dinner. Now I was wishing I had brought the game camera.

Distance traveled: 5.0 miles Portages: 270 rods Time: 3.5 hours

~Malberg Lake, Frond Lake, Boze Lake, Trail Lake