Tuesday, June 12, 2007       Kawnipi Lake – Carin Lake Up at 4:00am, it was already light, the lake was still with steam gently rising out of it. A solo canoe ride trolling for breakfast seemed like the right thing to do, soon another northern pike found his way into the canoe. This one will not get away.    Fresh breaded fish and pancakes made a hearty breakfast. 

It’s now hard to distinguish the cause of itching to be from mosquito bites or poison ivy, there would be no more portaging in shorts.

Off to an early start we continued paddling through the rest of the eye-catching islands of Kawnipi towards Kashapiwi Creek where we would begin our return southbound through a chain of lakes and rapids. Distance-wise we were at the mid-point of our 70 mile journey, and had earned the ability to take twice the time for the return home. We cautiously approached the first set of rapids, and with the wind now in our faces we could hear the roar a half-mile away. It sounded like we were about to head over Niagara Falls; we were searching for the portage, it was a little too close for comfort, until after walking around we noticed how it sounded meaner than it looked.

At the next three rapids, we found the portages on the right side of the creek while the map indicated left side. On one portage, we were unsure of where the trail was leading, so Dusty went on ahead with the packs to check, while I stayed back and tried a few casts. This was the spot! Dusty and I had a fish on nearly every cast. Northerns and nice size Smallmouth Bass were loaded at the base of these rapids. 

We let all go except four nice Smallies, which were filleted on the spot for dinner later. Dragonflies were out in force today and the mosquitoes didn't stand a chance, what a relief! By the time we reached Carin Lake it must have been 90 degrees; a rock platform on a small island made a nice place for a cool down swim. The first of the two beers I brought with, got put in a net sack with a small rock and sank 40ft down for a cool down as well, Ahhh…priceless! Too bad they don’t make instant beer; I checked. But, God bless the youth of Purdue University for working on such a worthy cause, I understand their beer mix is only used for cooking so far.

Paddling into a straight-line wind seemed like a payback for yesterdays sailing stunt. We called it a day at an island on the south end of Carin and set up camp at a very nice hidden site. It was a hot sticky night, no wind, 80s for a low.