Monday, August 17, 2020 A dry morning at last! Comfortable temperatures and a sunny sky to start the day. The still surface of the water reflected the puffy clouds like a mirror. Morning oatmeal and coffee with stellar views. After another failed fishing attempt, we shuttled everything over the portage to Ottertrack Lake straight from our camp. Today will be another long paddle day but at least we will have a few portages to stretch our legs. We were all getting a bit stiff in the canoes yesterday! Ottertrack got more and more rugged as we traversed down its narrow length. Cliffs crusted in bright orange lichen and dangling purple harebell flowers rose up on either side of us. Sage rode lazily in the middle of the canoe, his chin resting on the gunwale ears flopping in the breeze.

We followed a few more border markers before turning a corner into a mucky bay at Monument Portage. As we floated off shore waiting for a group of 3 canoes to come through, we tried to prevent Sage from leaping overboard at a flock of black ducks. When it was finally our turn, we started up the brush cut power line-esque trail winding up a steep slope past about 15 other people. Other parties had dropped gear at the giant monolith marking the international border and at every uphill. We’re a single portage family: two packs and food bags for those not carrying the canoes. Day packs for those that do. Anyways…we were the only people going “upstream” so it felt like we were constantly in the way. So many people! The other side of the portage featured a long plank boardwalk that was causing a bit of a backlog of canoes. After some tense moments, miscommunication, and one rude lady, we got it all sorted. Luckily I was able to step off into the bog and find some solid ground to stand on while others could get by. I think we all needed a belt of whiskey after that suddenly onslaught of civilization.

As soon as we left the portage, we didn’t see a single soul the rest of the day. Where did everyone come from?! We left our gear in the boats and opted to carry the canoes across a 2 rod portage into Saganaga Lake. This was the last portage of our whole trip!!

We pulled over for lunch at the first open campsite. Food bags are definitely getting lighter now. We planned on making it to American Point to snag one of the 4 sites there. As Sage vacuumed up any food crumbs, we loaded up and pushed onwards. The wind had picked up and was blowing crosswise but not whitecaps…yet. Beaver float planes flew low overhead maybe re-supplying the ranger in Cache Bay? In the distance, a long sand beach appeared marking the first of the campsites. The binoculars came out (a handy tool to bring to scope out sites from a distance) and alas, three canoes were pulled up there. But as we approached, the canoes left fully loaded with gear. The gods were smiling down on us! We found home for the night: sprawling 2 leveled site that could have fit three huge tents. Both a nice rocky porch and a 100’ pure sand beach frontage. Sage immediately took advantage of the swimming hole and spent some of his pent up energy playing fetch. Too cold for us though. It was a shame to pass up on swimming at such a nice beach. Wood was gathered for the evening and there was plenty of room for a rollicking game of hacky sack. The temperatures were a bit chilly so that warmed us up nicely. Very quiet as far as traffic goes: only 1 canoe passed us the whole evening.

We started the fire and watched the smoldering pink sun set over the Canadian shore. The stars peeked out and we watched the embers fade in our fire before calling it a night. ~Ottertrack Lake, Swamp Lake, Saganaga Lake