Coolest morning of the trip right around 40º. I was just a little chilly in my Warbonnet Blackbird set-up, good incentive to follow through on some ideas I’ve had to modify an old sleeping bag into an under quilt of sorts.

The best thing about this morning is that I finally get to enjoy some calm after having the wind blowing into camp since I got here. The bummer is this will be the only low wind day as the forecast calls for increasing wind once again, this time from the SSW starting Tuesday morning and not letting up until late Wednesday.

After my typical breakfast I quickly pack up camp and do a couple of walk throughs. Whoever is the next one at this camp will find it clean with a nice supply of all sizes of firewood and kindling. I load up and start the short paddle to the Battle Lake portage to start my day. My goal is to find a campsite somewhere between the Northern part of Crab and Cummings.
Since I took the southern route from Crab to get to Phantom I am now taking the route through Battle, Hassel, and Saca to get back to Crab to see different scenery. Originally I had planned on traveling through Lunetta to Little Crab, but when I asked about this at Piragis they thought this creek might not be passable right now.

Travel on this route was largely uneventful. I took a nice look at the Battle campsite as I paddled by, from what I can see I understand why someone gave it 5 stars. I would say that all the portages along this route need a fair bit of maintenance. I don’t recall if it was the Hassel-Saca or the Saca-Crab but there is a significant detour needed because of a large fir that has dropped across the path. I wouldn’t say any of these portages are what I would call hard, but the collective almost 400rods adds up to a nice challenge.

Once back on Crab I make my way through the narrows and turn north towards Little Crab. I see that many of the campsites on Crab are taken, but not the one on the west side of the Lake up near the portage to Little Crab. I take a few minutes to pull up and check this out just in case I need to backtrack. Pretty small site but would certainly be well protected from the wind. Also had a very nice beach-like landing zone that would make for excellent swimming. Although compared to the nice looking sites across the lake I can see why this one often gets passed up.

Next up is the portage into Little Crab. This short portage is about as easy as a portage could be. Super wide and flat with nice landings on both ends. As I put in on Little Crab, I am feeling I might be ready to call it a day and tell myself I will take the Little Crab Site if it is available. As I come up to the site I see some movement and realize it is not available, but at this point I could use some intel so I call out a guy that turns out to be Fishscramble. We had exchanged some messages on the trip planning forum the previous week. He lets me know that he thinks the Korb Lake site might be open but there was another group asking about it earlier that was heading that way. He also tell me the creek going to Lunetta is indeed navigable but he’s not sure on the status of the one campsite on that lake.

I know that if I go the Lunetta way and that site is taken I’d likely be turning around or facing some significant distance and multiple portage to the next option. On the other hand, if I head to Korb and it is taken, there are many sites on Cummings if necessary. Plus, I have heard some nice things about the Korb river, so it doesn’t take me long to decide to proceed to Korb.

The Korb river is pretty neat and even this time of year has plenty of water except for the beaver dam toward the Korb Lake side. If the water was any higher, this would be a pretty easy pull over, but in the rivers current level I opt for the short portage. For a short portage this one was kind of tricky with a boulder field landing on the south side and deep muck on the other.

As I come out onto Korb Lake I see a group is at the campsite, but they are not set up and suspect they are just scouting it out. Turns out this was the case and as a large group of 9 they find that there just isn’t going to be enough room for them, so the site is all mine if I want it. Being as I am feeling pretty darn ready to be done for the day this was welcome news. A very quick look around confirms there is at least a couple of nice hammock spots and I unloaded, started the water filter, and had some lunch before I set up camp.

Enjoyed a relaxing/lazy afternoon at this site, which is situated on top of a high cliff. Had one tandem canoe go by mid-afternoon but otherwise saw nobody else. Great view but going from the landing up to camp is a bit of a chore. Mid afternoon I took a nice little swim and took advantage of the quick drop off and a good size rock to jump in! Later in the afternoon I debated doing a loop through Cummings and/or exploring up to Silica Lake and Coxey Pond but decided to just stay put. I did go out in the Canoe just before sunset and did some fishing. Caught a largemouth, northern, and a big plump bluegill…all of which went back into the lake for someone else. Paddled back in, did some reading, and called it a day. Forecast had the wind picking up overnight and through the day tomorrow. Wanting to get an early start so I could get a campsite near my exit I turned in at dark. ~Phantom Lake, Battle Lake, Hassel Lake, Saca Lake, Crab Lake, Little Crab Lake, Korb Lake