Friday, September 05, 2025
Guess what's back? Yep, its the wind, already gusting over 20mph at 5:00 AM when I wake up in my hammock and start the process of changing out of my warm and dry sleeping gear and back into my wet portage gear. I slip on my portage shoes (I wet-foot, even in this weather) knowing I only have so much time before I need to change out of this uncomfortably cold gear and get warm. Two last minute grabs from my car have proven invaluable these last 2 days- my salt life hoodie sweathshirt and a pair of gloves left under a seat in my car from early this past spring. I used them both when they would stay dry around camp and would have been quite uncomfortable without them. An intermittent rain fell throughout the morning and afternoon hours and the thick brush along these seldom used portages was literally dripping with rain and the only choice was to walk through it. I didn't notice the coldness on the first few lakes, but by the time I was in the home stretch to my site for the day, I was cold, soaked to the bone in mid 40's temperatures and in a generally miserable mood, a fine recipe for hypothermia if I wasn't careful. My biggest challenge for the day included paddling right past the portage from Roe into Cap, then ending up in a nasty, thick, boggy area with narrow paths leading every direction. To turn around from this, I had to get out of the canoe and into the muck, which is about as fun as it sounds in those conditions. Another challenge arose between Cap and Boulder, where you have multiple options to go, all fraught with challenges thanks the ever industrious beavers in the area. I made a few bad choices, but pushed through them (literally) to right the path.
Eventually reaching Boulder Lake, I see my first "beautiful" lake of this portion and instantly wish A) that is wasn't so cold and still raining and B) that I could spend more time than the afternoon/evening I have slotted for this lake. But alas, the plan must be seen though, and I make the most of my short time here. The site faces S/SE and is thus mostly spared from the wind. Firewood is plentiful on this island (likely due to the rugged routes required to reach it keeping visitation low), but of course its all wet from the day's rains. I find enough to keep a fire going for about an hour and get to sleep through my first non-rainy night of the trip. Lakes traveled- Wisini, Ahmakose, Gerund, Fraser, Shepo, Sagus, Roe, Cap, Boulder