Friday, June 18, 2021

We were concerned about Morgan's back. It was still pretty tender and sore. Fortunately, she was mobile, but wouldn't be able to carry anything and paddling was only marginally possible with lots of breaks to rest. Even as we prepared to leave around 8 am, the wind was noticeably strong out of the west (and we were in a narrow sheltered area.

So new plan. Stew and I would book it to the Sawbill parking lot as planned. We could move fast and handle any wind. Joey and Morgan would exit at Baker Lake since that had very short portages and would not require paddling into the wind since they were primarily paddling south. Then Stew and I would come pick them up at the Baker Lake landing. The planned rendezvous time was noon. We redivided some gear to make sure everyone had what they needed if something went awry with the plan. Since Stew and I had the riskier route, we took the SPOT. They were under orders to contact Morgan's mom if we didn't show up at the expected time, so she could see where we were on the tracking app. Stew and I pulled away from the campsite at 8:20am while they finished packing the last few items.

Wow, wind started really blowing! It was much stronger and gustier than had been predicted. Stew and I cruised the 240 rod portage into Burnt in 19 minutes flat. Yikes! Wind coming strongly out of the W and NW. Good size rollers. We had to pound straight into them before we were able to start using some land features for protection or do some wind ferrying. The next portage into Smoke went faster than our usual 10 rods per minute pace as well. When I got to the landing on Smoke, I was prepared to fight the wind to get the canoe off my shoulders and safely into the water, but not prepared enough. A big gust hit me and plucked the canoe up off my shoulders. I clung to the gunwales, but then it started to take my feet off the ground! I quickly spun the bow to the left and forced it down into a moss patch. I braced both feet in a wide stance and held on tight until the gust subsided. Then I quickly stood back up fully, flipped the boat down, and slid it into the water before the next gust could hit. Even without the canoe, the gusts were trying to knock me off my feet! Glad I was able to keep the canoe safe since we had borrowed it from a friend.

Smoke Lake was tough and we were glad we're strong, experienced paddlers. We had big rollers from the north bay and big rollers from the west bay. It was a chaotic mess of rollers colliding with each other and us. We had to pound really hard to make any headway. We finally got to the slight shelter of a small point, but were still getting hit when the gusts would shift from the W to the N. We decided to wind ferry to the north shore of the west bay. That helped a bit. We were worried about what we would find when we reached Sawbill.

Fortunately, we were able to battle straight across to the west shore of Sawbill where we found some calm. Our arms were pretty lactic upon arrival. We stayed on that shore as long as possible, wind ferrying across the bay that leads to Alton Lake. Then we turned and rode the ever increasing rollers across to the landing dock. Got there at 11:20, completely spent.

The landing was full of families waiting forlornly to see if conditions would improve enough for them to use their entry permit. One poor father was trying to take his teenage daughter on her first trip. They had checked weather reports and nothing like these winds had been in the forecast. As we chatted, his Kevlar canoe started skittering across the gravel area.

We quickly loaded up the car and drove to Baker Lake with tree branches falling on the road in front of us. Joey and Morgan were ready and waiting with their own adventure tales. First, they had come across a massive snapping turtle laying eggs in the middle of the 3 rod portage. This meant they had seen turtles 4 out of 4 days.

They also spotted an otter in some shallow water. It stood/sat straight up to watch them. On the last portage, they ad libbed because they didn't find a landing where the map showed it. They had to wade the stream before they found a take out. At the end of that portage, they had a nasty surprise. Someone had abandoned a bunch of bathroom supplies including a pink toilet seat, a bunch of soiled toilet paper, and a bag of rotting food! They wanted to carry it out, but decided it was a biohazard and they didn't have the right equipment to do it safely.

We all got changed and started for home. The winds were so strong and gusty, we had to keep stopping to adjust and tighten the canoe ropes. We stopped at the Rustic Inn for pie and then in Duluth for Chinese food.

Bunchberry False Lily-of-the-Valley

This trip I kept a list of flora/fauna we saw. The flowers were especially spectacular this trip. List of blooming flowers seen: Wild Iris, Spotted Coralroot, Pink Lady's Slipper, Bunchberry, False Lily-of-the-Valley, Prickly Wild Rose, Labrador Tea, Bullhead Lily, One-flowered Pyrola (Wood Nymph), other multi-flowered pyrolas, Raspberry, Columbine, Sarsparilla, Clintonia, Twin Flower

What a wonderful trip with wonderful people!

Travel time: 3 hours (Stew and Kris), Distance: 6.7 miles (S/K), 3.7 miles (Joey/Morgan), Portages: 408 rods (S/K), 39 rods (J/M)

~Kelly Lake, Burnt Lake, Smoke Lake, Sawbill Lake (Kris/Stew)

--Kelly Lake, Peterson Lake, Baker Lake (Joey/Morgan)

Lakes Traveled:   Kelly Lake, Burnt Lake, Smoke Lake, Sawbill Lake,