Saturday, July 03, 2021

I had wanted to get up by 5:30 this morning and be on the water by 6:30am. However, I slept until 5:50. I scrambled and managed to get paddling by 6:40. The 3 portages between Trail Lake and Bug Lake were pretty easy to find from this direction. The 1st two had steep climbs to start out, but decent paths. Except the first one has a ravine around the midpoint. It is easier to do in this direction (west to east) because you go down the steep rock face, not up it. Definitely fit for a mountain goat (where is my son when I need him). Tool Lake doesn't seem like a lake, just another part of the river. Make sure you keep track of where you are and turn east on the stream before looking for the portage.

After Bug is when things got...well, LOUSED up! The portage after Bug that takes you into Louse Lake is pretty screwed up by beavers. First, I had a little unmapped portage around a big beaver dam. Then I found the landing for the main portage hidden away. The trail was quite rough, rocky, and muddy. It was thin and overgrown in places. The nicest stretch was alongside a beaver pond because the trail went into a nice open forest area. In places, the trail is slanted sideways, and I was glad it hadn't rained and made it slippery. The portage comes to an end at a BIG beaver dam with a very steep slope on your left side. No more trail so I put the canoe in the water to cross the pond in front of me.

Where's my map?! Oh, crap!!! It had fallen out of my pocket, but where? Feeling really stupid that I had lost the most critical piece of survival equipment I had, I scurried back along the path frantically scanning the brush. About 10 rods before the start of the portage, I found it with a branch caught in part of the map case. It must have caught on the brush and gotten yanked out. Adrenaline still pumping, I swore to myself I would never put a map in my pocket again.

Now strolling back to the canoe, I took time to enjoy the sights and found some little dewberries to eat. Yummy! Once I was reunited with all my gear, I started paddling east to where Louse Lake should open up. I pulled over another small beaver dam and came to a dead end of grand rockiness. Based on notes, I knew there might be a 2nd part to this so I looked for a portage path. Saw something promising, but it came to a dead end. Found another landing which also dead ended. Hmm... Went back over the small beaver dam and started looking for a path near the big beaver dam. Found 2 more possible paths which both dead ended. Now I was getting pretty frustrated. I was tried, chewed by flies, and wondering how I was going to get out of here.

Times like these are when I miss having another person along with whom to troubleshoot and brainstorm. I stopped and reflected on my options. I could keep looking a bit more, I could bushwhack one of the dead end paths, or I could go back to Bug Lake and then head north into Dent and go around that way. Feeling calmer that I had an out if I needed it, I decided to look again. I tried the south side. No portage landing, but I found a reasonable way to bushwhack to Louse Lake. It was only about 15-20 rods and didn't require fighting any large or overly dense sections of trees. It spit me out at the top of yet another beaver dam. I did it!!! I was feeling really good that I had solved the puzzle. I was feeling so much relief that I was only slightly frustrated to see a beautiful portage landing on the north side as I pulled away. Though I was curious where it ended up going, I decided to push on.

The boulder garden portage between Louse Lake and Poe Lake lived up to its reputation. I just took it slow and steady and was glad once again that it had not been raining. In general, the portages east of Bug are much fainter and more overgrown than those west of Bug. This is not a well traveled route and the split off to Dent probably cuts the traffic at least in half.

On Poe, I had the wind at my back and was relaxing so much, I almost forgot to watch for the little portage into Mug. It is just a short walk over a big rock. From Mug to Wine Lake, the portage climbs a LOT. I had to put my legs into low gear to get up some of the slopes after all the other portages I had completed. BTW, I was feeling very proud that I had single portaged everything through the Louse River including the bushwhack. This is a new era for me.

Every solo trip needs a green frog buddy
I made it to Wine Lake around 11:00 am and set up camp on the island site. I had a big green frog buddy and the site had beautiful shade for napping on a hot, hot, hot afternoon. Plenty of swimming today again. There were no bugs at the site either. Well, a few flies, but they were too stupid to ever find the open door to the tent. For the 1st time that I can remember in ages, I was able to roll back the screen doors on the tent and not get bitten during the day. I fell asleep after dinner and woke up just in time to close the screens before the dusk squadron of mosquitoes showed up.

Distance traveled: 5.7 miles, Portages: 583 rods, Time: 4.5 hours

~Trail Lake, Tool Lake, Bug Lake, Louse Lake, Poe Lake, Mug Lake, Wine Lake