Thrusday, August 25, 2022 Day 4 Knowing we had a bit of paddling ahead of us, we tried to pack up a little faster this morning after enjoying some more blueberries in our breakfast oatmeal. Navigating the many islands also gave the kiddos a great chance to practice some orienteering. Once we did a final walkthrough of our site we took a bearing and started out on an absolutely windless day. It was almost eerie to see Sag as smooth as glass as we glided our long way toward the portage to Red Rock Lake. In hindsight it would have been no problem getting to Hanson or Ester.

As we neared the portage, we got a great show in the back of the bay. I have never seen this before, but there ware a few dozen mergansers being chanced around by a loon. The loon would be underwater and pop up right next to the young ducks and they would frantically try to get away, running across the water. Quite entertaining! The rest of the travel through Red Rock and into Alpine was uneventful, with a stop for lunch at the North campsite on Red Rock. We dipped the paddles into the waters of Alpine lake around 1:00PM, with hopes to grab the island site mid-lake. We were hopeful as Red Rock was more or less empty as we only saw one campsite that was taken. However, as we made our way down the lake, we saw that the sites we passed were all taken. When we got closer, we saw the site we were hoping for was also occupied. We continued to make our way around the other islands and to the East side of the lake and site after site was full. Finally at 3:30 we found that the side closest to the Rog Lake portage was empty. We were not felling great about this site as we assessed it from the water. Rayn and I pulled up and started looking around while Gavin and Eric decided to check to see if the portage across from the Jasper Lake portage was open as we could not see this from the main lake.

Rayn and I after surveying the site a bit more decided that this was actually a pretty good site. There is a huge rock behind the site thar rises about 30 feet and affords wonderful views. Better yet, I don’t know if I have ever seen a site with as many blueberries as this one. Yum!

Eric took Gavin out for some fishing later that afternoon and caught the one walleye we were to catch the whole trip, but it was a bit on the small size for eating so back it went. After a half hour or so our forward scouts came back and reported that the site was open, but it was not that great. So with that we knew were we would be staying that night. We enjoyed a quick swim to cool off and set up camp once again. Rayn decided that she would grab the sleeping pad and her sleeping bag and spend the night on top of the rock that night. She was rewarded with a wonderful view of the night sky when the clouds broke up during the night. It put the Thermacell to the test as there was no wind to keep the mosquitos away, but she reported that they largely left her alone.

~Alpine Lake, Red Rock Lake, Saganaga Lake~Saganaga Lake, Red Rock Lake, Alpine Lake