Wednesday, May 29, 2024 12.3 miles traveled (10.7 miles paddling, one portage (1.6 miles double portaging))

It’s a short travel day today so we opted to sleep late and relax. This gave us time for a nice cooked breakfast (potato pancakes) and time to explore the lodge and outbuildings. This is an eerie place which gives the impression that people were here working and living life one day and the next they were gone and never returned. So much equipment (furniture, kitchen supplies, boats, motors, ATV, etc.) just left behind…it’s hard to fathom. I believe the lodge shut down about fifteen years ago. There is evidence of visitors stopping by, probably mostly by snowmobile guests in the winter I presume. The place is pretty trashed and many of the log cabins are sinking into the ground. It’s a fascinating piece of history to explore. Interestingly, their website is still active???

After a lazy morning, we finally began paddling around 11 am. Unlike any other time I’ve been on Sanford Lake, there was no wind and no waves to deal with. After a long paddle we reached the island on the southern portion of Sanford Lake where a couple years ago I had taken refuge from the wind. Despite knowing the site had a great camp location, it still took me 30 minutes circling the island before I found the landing site-it’s very obscure. We spent half an hour on the hilltop site, admiring the views and the crystal clear water.

The weather remained beautiful and we spent some time catching and releasing bass and pike. Then we continued on south and reached our single portage for the day, the Wasp Lake portage. This was another portage that crossed a logging road. The first half of the portage was a dream…the second half was a nightmare. After crossing the logging road we continued south towards Wasp Lake, and the trail became more and more boggy. After slogging through several hundred yards of muck, often up to mid thigh, we knew we were not on the right trail. But we had come so far already it seemed crazy to go backward so we struggled on, dragging the canoe by a rope, JJ in front pulling and me behind pushing. We finally got to Wasp Lake, taking over an hour to cross 0.7 miles. I immediately began scouting (in the wrong direction) for the correct trail, then backtracked. JJ soon discovered the correct portage immediately adjacent to the one we took! Only then did I remember doing the exact same thing a couple years ago, only coming from the opposite direction so it did not click in my brain. This time I decided to make clear notes on the map so I never have to do that horrible portage again. The correct portage, located north of the bog portage, is a beautiful walk in the forest! The trail we took was a winter crossing used by snow mobiles only. We walked back over the real trail and carried the next load in less than 30 minutes. I really regret not taking any video footage of this portage, but I didn’t have the heart to stop for even a second and make JJ work even harder. After that it was a peaceful paddle to a large campsite on Wasp Lake for the night.