The Best Trip Yet (Well, Mostly)
by TrailZen
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
08/27/2023
Entry & Exit Point:
Moose Lake to Prairie Portage (EP G)
Number of Days:
10
Group Size:
2
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (26 messages)
Part 7 of 11
Day 7, September 2, 2023. Our 51st Anniversary. And the Swan Parade. 9.3 miles, 7 portages. Saganagons, Slate, Fran, no-name, Bell, 2 no-names, and Other Man Lakes.
Yesterday's winds finally calmed as the sun set, and we were able to sit on the rocky point of our campsite and play Farkle and read Patrick McManus stories. Hoping to avoid wind today, we were on the water before 8:00. The paddle down Saganagons was a pleasure on the smooth water. We almost overshot our turn toward the portage to Slate, but didn't go far off-course. As we worked our way toward the portage into Fran, Slate Lake tapered into a waterlily-choked stream where we spotted a family of trumpeter swans. I expected them to fly, so we stopped paddling and I started taking photos. Instead of avoiding us, however, the swans swam toward us so we moved as close to the opposite shore as we could and let the swans glide by. What a beautiful sight! The cygnets still looked a bit fuzzy—not sure they were capable of sustained flight yet.
Trumpeter Swans spotted up the creek.
The swan family glides by, with the adults keeping a wary eye on us.
From Fran we went through a no-name into Bell, where we saw evidence of major wind damage near our portage into the lake. We stopped on Bell for lunch and watched a group paddle by in two canoes. We don't always pull our maps out when on a series of small lakes, thinking we can remember the map details, but leaving the maps in our pack while doing the two no-names between Bell and Other Man cost us some time because the portage was no longer in the location shown on Tia's '92 map (now updated!).
We decided that with our route revisions we don't require long travel the next few days, so we stopped early after finding a nice campsite on the large island in Other Man. We set up camp, enjoyed baths and rinsed clothes. We've seen and heard several bald eagles today. Our dinner was shrimp with garlic shells, something we've had for our anniversaries in several Canoe Country campsites in recent years. This year we added a dessert of blueberry cheesecake. Here's to a few more anniversaries in Canoe Country! We did an evening paddle around our campsite island, and left the fly peeled open on our tent until we heard a few raindrops around midnight.
Another anniversary celebrated in Canoe Country.
Not sure what this Bald Eagle was doing on this partially-submerged log, but it spent 15-20 minutes there.
Yesterday's winds finally calmed as the sun set, and we were able to sit on the rocky point of our campsite and play Farkle and read Patrick McManus stories. Hoping to avoid wind today, we were on the water before 8:00. The paddle down Saganagons was a pleasure on the smooth water. We almost overshot our turn toward the portage to Slate, but didn't go far off-course. As we worked our way toward the portage into Fran, Slate Lake tapered into a waterlily-choked stream where we spotted a family of trumpeter swans. I expected them to fly, so we stopped paddling and I started taking photos. Instead of avoiding us, however, the swans swam toward us so we moved as close to the opposite shore as we could and let the swans glide by. What a beautiful sight! The cygnets still looked a bit fuzzy—not sure they were capable of sustained flight yet.
From Fran we went through a no-name into Bell, where we saw evidence of major wind damage near our portage into the lake. We stopped on Bell for lunch and watched a group paddle by in two canoes. We don't always pull our maps out when on a series of small lakes, thinking we can remember the map details, but leaving the maps in our pack while doing the two no-names between Bell and Other Man cost us some time because the portage was no longer in the location shown on Tia's '92 map (now updated!).
We decided that with our route revisions we don't require long travel the next few days, so we stopped early after finding a nice campsite on the large island in Other Man. We set up camp, enjoyed baths and rinsed clothes. We've seen and heard several bald eagles today. Our dinner was shrimp with garlic shells, something we've had for our anniversaries in several Canoe Country campsites in recent years. This year we added a dessert of blueberry cheesecake. Here's to a few more anniversaries in Canoe Country! We did an evening paddle around our campsite island, and left the fly peeled open on our tent until we heard a few raindrops around midnight.
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