Saturday, August 31, 2024: Didn't We Say We Wouldn't do the Louisa Falls Portage Again? 9.3 miles (7.6 c, 1.7 p), 7 portages (960, 520, 200, 200, 520, 60, and 270m). Sunday, Meadows, Agnes, Louisa, Arp, Star, and Fauquier Lakes.

Tia awoke at 1:30 for a potty break and thought she was seeing the Milky Way in the moonless sky. Then it flashed and she realized she was seeing the northern lights! She woke me up, and we watched the light show for 15 minutes or so. The photos aren't great, but the light show was. We'd been in Iceland in March to see the northern lights and barely saw a glow; what a great treat to see them in Quetico.

We were back up around 6:00 to a beautiful day. Breakfast was Gallo Pinto, a Costa Rican black beans and rice dish to which we add rehydrated ham. We have a three breakfast rotation this year: Gallo Pinto; hash browns with freeze-dried sausage; and oatmeal with nuts, dried fruits, and protein powder. All are strictly hot water meals, so require minimal cleanup. Last year we simplified our breakfasts by using instant coffee sticks, and packed four sticks with each breakfast bag. This year we took it a step further and added the morning's medicines to each breakfast bag.

We broke camp and headed for the portage into Meadows. About two-thirds through the portage we encountered a pine across the trail that was too big for our saw, so we passed gear under the tree and carried on. It's only a couple hundred meters across the tip of Meadows; we were quickly portaging into Agnes. We paddled up Agnes to a view of Louisa Falls, then to the Louisa portage. We hadn't seen anyone since our Friday lunch stop, but when we stopped at the 'bathtub' section of Louisa Falls for photos, another couple started their portage, too. We single-walked the portages, realizing they weren't nearly as tough as we remembered. Our original route plan was to camp on Louisa, but we were on the lake before noon. The site we had hoped to use was taken and wind on the lake was picking up, so we paddled into a calm cove for a lunch stop. After checking Tia's “data map” (through the years we've marked up a 1992 Quetico Foundation map with portage and campsite information) we decided to move on through Louisa, Arp, and Star to Fauquier. The next three portages had the standard Quetico challenges: steep climbs and descents, the edge of a boggy meadow, a couple rock jumble landings, some beaver muck, and some slick rocks. Our favorite part of continuing to Fauquier was paddling past floating sphagnum masses covered with pitcher plants, sundews, and cotton grass.

Fauquier is a smaller lake, but we still had some wind and whitecaps to deal with. The data map showed three campsites on Fauquier. The first had a terrible landing so we paddled on by. The second was in the western arm of the lake, meaning we would have to fight the wind to check it out. We would make the third site work! At one time it appeared to have been a nice site, but it hasn't been used much in recent years, allowing understory plants to crowd the tent pads and grow out of the fire pit. We had only been on the site a few minutes when we heard thunder, so we quickly set up the tent, got sleeping gear inside, and covered the pack just as big raindrops began to fall. We sat out a brief shower in the tent, and heard a couple people exit the portage from Dumas, then paddle our way. It sounded like they were hoping to use our site, saw our tent, then continued down Fauquier.
The rain was never serious and didn't last long. We had appetizers of hummus and crackers, followed by a dinner of hearty, meaty Suwannee Stew. As we hung the bear bag we saw a heavy cloud to the northwest, which had been clear at dinner. We covered the gear pack and got back in the tent to play Farkle and read McManus as rain and wind started again.