Sunday, September 09, 2012 Today has been an… interesting… day. We did not end up making it very far today. Our first portage was supposed to be 2 140’s but the creek that connected the portages was dried up into a mucky pond with no way around so we basically ended up loading the boat and used it as a bridge to get across then unloaded and continued with the portage. Another long portage after that too. We hit the zenith of our trip on a rare splitting portage. The east for takes you towards Little Saganaga or down to the Lady Chain, the west takes you towards Fraser and Thomas (where we were headed). We paused enough to hoist our bags up more securely on the hips and carried on.

By now, the wind had gotten noticeably stronger which made the crossing of Roe and Cap Lake harrowing to say the least. I was too busy churning up a froth to notice any pain in my arms. My eyes stayed fixed to the farther shore willing it to get closer. We found out later that the gusts were up to 27 mph! The next lake was a little better wave wise but the gusty winds made me wish for a decent camp and pronto. Finally we made the quick portage into Shepo Lake and, after taking a look at the numerous whitecaps on Fraser Lake, we decided to stay here. The only site on Shepo is open and rocky only offering a little protection from the swirls of wind. Naps were taken, a few games of Yahtzee played and hot beverages consumed. We had a lot of time to kill and not a whole lot to explore.

Turns out my Dad left his Nalgene at the portage into the lake so we had to paddle back out to retrieve it. While returning, we spotted a few distant plumes of smoke to the north signaling a wildfire. Of course that unsettled us and even though we knew it was VERY far away, all sorts of scenarios start running through your head. Every wispy cloud turned into potential smoke plumes and our site faced away from it so we couldn’t keep tabs on the situation. Dusk started to fall and the excitement continued. Strange noises were occurring across our bay: Grunting and rather large trees falling. We assumed this to be a beaver since we had heard and seen much beaver activity earlier in the day. At least that’s what we were hoping. On top of that, we haven’t seen a soul in two days. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but if crazy things are happening its kind of reassuring to know there someone else nearby. Night fell and the crashing continued to get closer and closer to our site and then it all fell eerily quiet. We vowed to leave at first light tomorrow to beat the wind and leave the strange creatures behind. ~Cap Lake, Roe Lake, Sagus Lake, Shepo Lake