June 15 - For the trip out, we were on the water by 8am and Peter was catching walleyes while I looked for the Fourtown Mining Camp, the bed frame and car skeleton. Unfortunately, I was looking along the north shoreline through the channel that connects the north half to the south half. Unfortunately, my search had me about half a mile north of the actual location, as I failed to mark the spot on my map. Since we were trying to get out early to make our drives home, I gave up on the quest and we continued south to the portages into Mudro. I was intimidated by the cliff and how I would get my Canoe to the top, but Peter helped and we were on to the second portage, where I say something I had never seen before and probably never will again.
Peter started up the 2nd portage, and as I got to the top, Peter was already on his way back – he said he had to put the canoe down as this was a tough portage. That was something I had never seen before. But I agreed with his assessment and put my canoe down, just a few feet after his. We wrapped this up and headed to the third portage. This portage wasn’t long, but without care, the portage held great potential to break ankles. Fortunately, we were able to avoid any broken ankles and were on Mudro. I was really impressed with Mudro Creek and was sad when we reached the entry point. We got all our gear on Peter’s truck, and before we hit the Echo Trail, my eyes were shut. A quick shuffle of my gear from his to my truck, officially ended the trip and started the long drive home!
We have had some great trips and I am finding it difficult to rank any of them, as they are all special and have unique special moments. I am not sure what I would rank tops on this trip, but I really enjoyed seeing the power of Curtain Falls, but the paddle on the Moosecamp Creek was very special and may be the once in a lifetime paddle for me. But I have many more destinations planned. Safe paddling and portaging to all. - Smoke