Monday, June 05, 2023
Onto day 3. The night prior I had broken up the rest of the trip into short hops, each only 3-4 hours instead of the 6-8 hour days I'd had so far. Up to Kekekabic, then over to Ogishkemucie, then over to Alpine, then out to Seagull. That'd get me out on Thursday, with some time to spare. It's all reasonable, with plentiful time for breakfast, right? Oatmeal and coffee? No. Still no appetite, even in the morning. A granola bar just so I have some carbs to digest, and off I went.
Fraser to Gerund, then Gerund to Ahmakose. You know how portages are usually easy to see; a path leading into the trees, a rocky spot on the shoreline, but this one had rivulets of water coming down it which, generally, is not the case! I paddled past, just in case this wasn't the right spot, then came back and gave it a try. The runoff didn't go the entire length of the portage, but that's also because it really, really started to make its way upwards. These are the portages where I was glad I was triple portaging; having a heavy pack on my back while balancing a canoe on my shoulders while making sure I have steady footing with no one else around for hours in any direction would not be the best way to handle these.
Through Ahkamose, and through another portage to Wisini. I ran into my second group of people, coming the other way. It's another truism of solos that when you run into another group on a portage, a day's worth of words can come gushing out; I talked about my buddy the garter snake I saw on all five trips over the Ahkamose-Wisini portage, I mentioned the mosquitos, I asked about what site they were coming from, I asked where they were headed, and once that was done... I was good. I did my talking for the day. Back onto the lake, and onwards.
Through Wisini to Strup, through Strup to Kek. I got up to a site right at the armpit of the lake, before it bends eastward for some three miles, and decided to keep pushing on before the winds got unmanageable. I found a site, elevated on the north shore, with enough of a breeze to keep the bugs down and slung a hammock to nap again before setting up the tent. Two canoers came by; I heard them approach, heard them say "dang, the site's taken", and then stuck my head up to watch them move on.
I was hoping to find a good pic of a jack pine when crossing the burn area. The pinecones are fun to play with around the campfire, setting them on the edge of the grate and watching them unfurl as they're exposed to heat. I wouldn't have minded getting a picture of them at various stages of that, except there weren't any around the ground, and I didn't want to start pulling them off a tree just for pictures.
Resting in the hammock with the bird app listening, I caught a Canada jay, red-eyed vireo, broad-winged hawk, magnolia warbler, American robin, blue jay, and northern waterthrush. You could show me pictures of most of those birds and I'd have no idea what they were, but everyone's gotta start somewhere. There's no shame in being ignorant -- I'm ignorant about so, so, so many things -- but being willfully ignorant is something I try to avoid. So, while quietly swaying in a hammock, let's learn a little bit about the birds around me. And maybe I'll forget about all of them by the morning, but there's still some curiosity.
Daily distance: 8.7 miles, 5 paddling, 3.7 portaging. Total 37.8 (27.6/10.2).