Thursday, September 08, 2022 Camp taken down by 9:15. Hot chocolate and M&Ms for breakfast. Now just have to wait for the wind to die down. It kicked up at 11:30 last night and blew all night. I preferred that to Tuesday night’s complete calm and silence when I could hear every creature moving around outside my tent.

Wind did not die down and clouds formed overhead so I decided to hit the lake at 11:30. Wind picked up and it was hard to keep the bow headed into the waves. Got some relief from an island but it was hard paddling all the way across Disappointment north to south.

The Wenonah solo canoe was awesome. Really light for portaging and easy to paddle with the kayak paddle I brought. A little tippy when there was no gear in it. More like a kayak.

It was calm in the south side of Disappointment. I checked out the campsite near the portage - very nice but you’d have traffic going by all day to and from the portage.

Took the 85 rod portage into Parent thinking it would easier paddling in the smaller lake and worth the extra portage. Was I wrong! Parent was bigger than I remembered and there was a huge wind right in my face. I waited 30 minutes to see if it would calm down and then set out. Toughest paddling yet. Two-foot waves. Paddled hard to move and harder to keep the bow into the waves. If I got sideways, I would have capsized for sure. Had to paddle straight into the waves across the lake and then tack back to the portage entrance. Half hour of hard paddling.

Took the portage into Snowbank and it was calm! Outfitter told me Snowbank has more hills surrounding it to break up the wind than Parent. Relatively easy paddle across Snowbank to the landing. Arrived at 3:25 for my 4:00 pickup.

It was a great solo trip and I’m glad I checked this off my list, but next time I will invite friends.