Day 4: Hunkered Down
Tuesday, May 21st, 2024
Even with every intention of sleeping in as long as possible today, I am awake at 5:15. The weather remains calm, so I immediately get to work rigging the tarp near the fire grate, which has never been my strong suit. The initial set only takes an hour, but then I realize it is angled poorly to shelter me from the expected winds of the storm. Re-rigging takes another 90 minutes. But I now have a cozy spot with a view to keep my gear dry that doesn’t require completely hiding under my small hammock tarp. After this I explore a bit out of the back of the campsite, up the hill beyond the latrine, where I find a wealth of perfectly dried cedar. I work up a good sweat sawing and splitting this wood for over an hour. Once processed, I move the wood into my large IKEA “tarp bags,” one bag of smaller thin sticks, and one full bag of split mini logs. These bags have been a surprise “unsung hero” of new gear this year, because they make transporting the firewood out of the forest much easier.

The whole time I’m processing firewood, I am constantly hearing multiple bird songs, so when I’m done I take 30 minutes to wander the elevated rock face area near the latrine in hopes of getting a closer look at more birds. This part of the site is thick with new birch growth and appears to have burnt, so I actually have a pretty tough time getting a good look at any. Again, like my unsuccessful fishing last night, it feels good just to take a few minutes to try.

At last I have a seat under my tarp to eat some breakfast and relax a bit. With camp organized, wood chopped, and plenty of water filtered, I feel well prepared for the coming storm, albeit stir crazy. I can’t help but think about the distance I could have covered this morning while the waters were glassy. But I also know that likely would have meant trying to set up a new camp as the wind and rain moved in, which can be a miserable experience. As it stands now, I feel I will be able to relax here for a while no matter what the weather does, and that’s a great feeling. The wind finally begins to pick up around noon, and the rain begins at 1:30. A sudden wave of fatigue rolls over me so I retire to my dry, cozy hammock in the cedars for a nap.

When I wake after an hour, it’s still raining so I spend a while catching up my journal. Periodically, I hear rain running off of my tarp, but I am scared to look because I am cozy where I am and I don’t want to spend more time messing with the tarp in the rain. But eventually I do head out and spend another 40 minutes better rigging the tarp to shed water and it’s much better!

Now well rested, I sit under the tarp eating lunch at 4:00. This is the perfect day for dehydrated tomato soup, a new addition this year. I also try to shake up a chocolate milk protein shake using hot water, and find out that doesn’t work at all! Whey protein needs cold water and stays pretty chunky in hot water, so I won’t try that again. The only thing missing from this cozy meal is a fire, so out of pure sport I decide to see if it’s possible to get a fire started in the rain. It’s a little tricky, but if I place an “umbrella rock” over the initial fire kindling, I can get a decent fire going. But due to my tarp set, it doesn’t provide much warmth back where I’m sitting, so I let it burn out.

After a few texts on the Garmin back home to check in, it’s back to the hammock to get my journal completely caught up. I absolutely love this cozy, warm nest! The weather report for tomorrow is more doom and gloom, with the rain decreasing in intensity tomorrow afternoon, with winds 15-20, gusting to 45 mph. On Thursday, the winds are forecast from the east at 5-10 mph with gusts to 30 mph. I take another look at the maps to evaluate my options. From here, it looks like a hard 12 hours to Grandpa Lake. Aside from completing the Frost River, catching some Northern Pike was my number one goal for this trip, and I feel that Grandpa is my best chance to do so. Tomorrow looks to be another day in camp due to the wind, so it looks like my next travel day will likely be another big one. However, if the weather doesn’t cooperate, I plan to paddle back to Round via Crooked and Tuscarora. Spending a day on Tuscarora fishing and maybe even checking out Thelma Lake for some pike fishing sounds pretty good to me. But I’ll just have to take it as it comes at this point.

Incredibly, the rain stops for a bit, and I get out of the hammock to go have supper out in the open by the fire grate. But as soon as I get the camp kitchen set up, it starts raining again. Back to the tarp I go, thankful to have brought it along, even though it’s strung so low my head touches the ceiling. This day of rest has gone surprisingly quickly. On past trips, bad weather days have been a great struggle for me mentally, but it wasn’t the case today. While I’m a bit stir crazy, I’ve been able to stay warm and dry all day. In order to combat my unrest, I spend 20 minutes listening to a podcast before turning in for the night.

Stats—>Total time messing with tarp: 3 hours, 10 minutes|Nap time: 1 hour|Time processing firewood: 1 hour, 40 minutes

~Little Saganaga Lake