DAY SEVEN

July 8th, Sunday, 2029 hours

Argo Lake, the campsite just south of the portage that goes to Darkwater Lake

Lakes traveled: Minn Lake, McAree Lake, Namakan River, Iron Lake, Crooked Lake, Siobhan River, Little Roland Lake, Middle Roland Lake, Siobhan River, Argo Lake

GPS Location: N 48 degrees 16.387’, W 091 degrees 48.002’, Elevation 1314’

Total time: 8:14

Total miles: 16

The bird chorus was going strong this morning at 0438 hours when I woke up. While listening to the birds I was able to doze off, because when I looked at my watch it was 0522 hours. The first thing I did was to begin my lower back stretches.

Argo Lake is a clear lake. This is a very large lake and it has a greenish tint to it. I’m on the campsite near the portage that goes to Darkwater Lake.

Today, was a much better day to travel? It wasn’t as hot as yesterday. The sun was behind a thin layer of clouds for most of the day, but it was still very warm and humid.

The northwest wind started right up this morning about the time I got on the water. I was at the first portage that goes to McAree Lake in about twenty minutes after I left my campsite. This was an easy short portage.

I had to go along the north shore of McAree going to the west before cutting to the south toward the cut. The further south I went I could hear the roar of McAree Rapids, but when I kept looking over in the direction of the sound, I didn’t see anything. I then realized the flow was going the opposite direction.

From these rapids it was a long almost straight shot south to Rebecca Falls. I negotiated the turbulent water from Rebecca Falls with no problem and made it to the portage. I had to maneuver the canoe around some dead trees that were in the water at the landing. The portage was well worn and it appeared it had been recently brushed / cleared.

I was now on Iron Lake in the vicinity of where I paddled last year. I got to the east end of Four Island when I saw people for the first time in a couple days. There were 9 people in 3 canoes. I turned to go east toward Curtain Falls. I got up near the entrance to get to the portage when I saw there was more water flowing through than last year. Last year I had to track my canoe up the shallow swift current to get to the portage in the little bay. This year I would be able to paddle right up to the portage.

I set up my canoe to hit the two converging currents at the correct angle. Once I was in the swift water I just paddled up through the current to the landing.

I began the 139 rod portage with my large pack and the sweat was just dripping off my body. I got to the end of the portage and I continued on for several more rods to the high water put-in. It really wasn’t necessary, but I didn’t want to take a chance. Just one missed paddle stroke for any number of reasons would have ended my day.

There were two guys from Kentucky at the end of the portage on the Crooked Lake side. They told me they had been fishing up on Darkwater Lake. They were making their way back to Lac La Croix to be picked up by Zup’s tomorrow.

We talked about the wind and the temperatures. He said he was listening to his weather radio yesterday at heard it was 91 degrees. I new it had to be high. The one guy told me he was 70 years old and he had retired from Ford. He asked me what I did for a living and I told him. The other guy appeared to be about the same age and was a retired optometrist. I thought to myself that these guys must really enjoy the area to contend with all the portages to fish here in Quetico. I think that’s so great. They could be going fishing somewhere else where it was much easier to get to.

I had lunch and took a few photos of the falls. Last year I was able to walk a ways across the top of the falls, but not this year. There were a couple more canoes coming up the portage from Iron Lake when I shoved off toward the north shore of Crooked Lake.

I crossed Crooked Lake upstream of the falls. I needed to get to the north shore because of the strong northwest wind; I wouldn’t be able to just angle northeast toward the portage going to the Siobhan River across the wavy Crooked Lake.

This portage was to the left at the end of the creek. I took my pack across the portage and after about 20 rods there was another take-out that I could paddle up to further into the creek before starting this portage. That’s exactly what I did; I got my canoe and paddled up to the new take-out. Now my portage would be 62 rods, not 80 plus. I really liked this area of the Siobhan River. It was a nice change from all the large lakes I’ve been paddling.

I paddled a little more than a mile when I saw what I thought was a portage northwest of the narrows. When I read portions of Kevin’s book I remember reading that he did a little lift over at this spot. Well, I could see it wasn’t through the waterway as it was blocked with some trees. I though it must be over the large rock outcropping next to this area. Once again, I got everything out of the canoe in this very rocky section. I struggled to get the canoe up on the rocks. I grabbed my first pack and walked up the steep rock face to go to the other side. To my surprise the other side was a sheer drop off with no trail leading away from it.

I scrambled back to my canoe and dropped my pack. I walked back up the rock face to the top and followed the very top of the bedrock in search of the portage trail. I found it where I originally saw it when I paddled up. Now it was only a matter of going back, throwing everything back into the canoe and paddle over to the portage. It sounds so easy on paper, but it was actually more difficult due to all the sharp rocks getting my canoe and packs back into the water.

This would be called a portage not a lift over as Kevin described. I consider a portage to be any time where I have to take my gear out of my canoe. I guess I don’t know when Kevin did this section, but it doesn’t appear anyone for some time has gone through this stream in years, if ever.

I got to Middle Roland and crossed the 60 rod portage. On Roland Lake I needed to hug the right shore, because of the northwest wind. Although the waves were bigger, the distance to the next portage was shorter by going this way.

I paddled the Siobhan River again after crossing the 8 rod portage. The water is so crystal clear in this river. The rocks and dead trees appear much closer to the surface than they actually are due to the clarity of the water. This whole section is very quant and scenic.

When I got to Argo Lake it was very calm in the north section of the lake because of the high surrounding trees. The campsite just south of the portage to Darkwater Lake was where I headed to check it out, since I’d be headed that way in the morning anyways.

I arrived at this campsite at 1602 hours. It’s on a high outcropping of granite. The flies have been pretty bad on this site. I had to pull my socks over the end of my pant legs and put on a long sleeve shirt even with it so warm out. They have been biting the heck out of me. This is another west facing site that I don’t really care for since the sun is still very strong. I have to push myself to get things accomplished because it’s so hot, but it has to get done.

Now that the sun went down the mosquitoes have come out in full force. For supper, I had venison spaghetti, pudding and coffee.

I took some photos of the sunset and took a couple of myself. I’m going into the tent to protect what ever meat I have left on my body from the flies biting me earlier and now the mosquitoes have been doing their share of the damage. This has been the worst day for the biting insects of the trip.