May 2007 Bushwhack

[Beavers]

This report is not complete, as the other guys still need to write their version, and we need to edit them all together. I can't wait tho, and thought I would post it here as I get it completed. ;D


Thursday May 17, 2007


I’m heading North again!
I’ve been waiting for this trip for some time. I’m meeting up with Ken tomorrow night at the Lake Jeanette Campground, and then Paul and Marques on Lynx Lake on Sunday night.

This will be my longest and definitely most challenging trip to date. Paul, Marques and I will be bushwhacking from Lynx north to Yodeler, Achundo, Rangeline, Pageant, Brigand, and Contentment to meet up with Ken and Mick on Finger Lake.

I get an early start in the morning, leaving Nebraska at 5:30 am, my trip almost ends before it starts as I almost hit a deer a couple of miles out of town!
I pull into the Jeanette Lake Campground a little before 4pm. It’s a nice campground, and not too crowded, I find an open campsite and set up camp next to the lake. A complete fire ban is in effect so no campfires tonight or the rest of the trip. I spend the evening putzing around camp, and reading a book.



Friday May 18, 2007

Today is the day that I’m supposed to meet up with Ken. The campsite that he reserved at the campground was full last night, so I pack up and move open to the now open site. It’s a hike in site, so I lug the cooler and all the other crap that I packed for staying at a campground to the campsite.
I get camp set up in the morning and decide to take a paddle around the lake. It’s not very windy when I start out, but it sure is by the end of my paddle around the lake.
An unloaded solo canoe isn’t the most fun to paddle in the wind.

I spend the first part of the afternoon messing around camp getting the tarp set up and waiting for Ken to show up. A little while later I see a red truck with a red canoe driving thru the campground. Ken is here, I hike down the path to meet him on the road, and help him carry some of the cooking gear back to the campsite.
Ken is cooking dinner for us tonight and tomorrow, so he brought the Dutch oven and Coleman suitcase to cook on, due to the fire ban.

Ken gets his camp setup while we talk. After getting settled in Ken gets the dutch oven going for dinner. I brought fixings for stew and Ken gets the meat browning in the oven. A couple of hours later the stew is done and we dig in. Mmmmm….good!
After dinner we have a few beers and enjoy being up north again. We had a day trip planned for tomorrow, but decide to skip it figuring we will have enough paddling time during the next week.


Saturday May 19, 2007

I wake up around 4am to loud cracks of thunder and flashes of lightning. I poke my head out of the tent and decide I better get out and make sure that everything got buttoned down tight last night. The far shore of the lake is lit up with a huge lightning display. After crawling back into the tent it starts pouring rain, with the thunder rumbling so hard you can feel it in your chest and lightning so bright I can see it thru my closed eyelids.
I try to listen for any movement from Kens tent a few feet away…in between thunder claps I hear Ken snoring! How anyone could sleep thru a storm like this I have no idea!

We both get up a few hours later and Ken shares some hardboiled eggs with me for breakfast. After loafing around for a few hours we decide to head into Ely to pick up our permits.
We get into Ely and I decide to stop into Voyageur North to grab a quick shower since I’ve been out for a couple of days already. Ken wants to look for a underseat bag so I drop him off at Piragis first.

A large group of guys were getting back from a trip right before I got to VNO, so I had to wait in line for the showers. They gave me a rundown of their trip using the large wall map outside the showers, I showed them my planned route and got a few raised eyebrows, and “you are going thru there?”.

I head down to Piragis and pick Ken up. We were planning on meeting Jstroke, Nibi Mocs, and a few others at the Front Porch for a platy fest. It wasn’t starting until 6pm though, and we decided we should head back to camp instead, and get all the gear ready for tomorrows entry, and get to bed early.

Ken makes a stop to get his fishing license and we head back up the Echo Trail to Lake Jeanette Campground. Tonight’s menu is barbequed ribs in the dutch oven. Ken gets thing cooking and again, I’m tortured waiting for the couple of hours until dinner is done, smelling the good aroma the whole time.

I decide I’m going to sleep in the back of my SUV tonight so I don’t have much to pack up in the morning. I get done packing up just in time for dinner.
Another awesome meal! We both stuff ourselves and still have leftovers. After dinner it’s a couple more beers and then off to bed early.

[Beavers]

Sunday May 20, 2007

I noticed that it got a little chilly during the night and I thought I heard some rain at some point in time.
I was very surprised though when I sat up an looked outside! There was wet snow covering everything.






I bundle up and crawl out of my SUV, glad I slept in here instead of the tent last night! I walk down to the campsite to see how Ken is going with his packing. He’s almost done and I snap a couple of pic’s of the snow covered trees, and head back to the SUV to get changed into my traveling clothes and finish my final packing.






Ken gets loaded up and we are on the road a little before 8am heading down the road to the Little Indian Sioux River North entry point. We are the only ones at the put in and quickly head down the short portage to the river. With the cold weather I opt to wear my Chota Mukluks, but by the time I get both loads down to the river my feet are already hot and sweaty. I run back up to the vehicle and change into my hiking boots. I’m really glad I did, as I think I would have been miserable later on in the trip wearing the Chota’s.




We shove off a little after 8am and head on down the river. A couple of bends down stream we meet up with a couple of otters, they play with us for a couple of minutes before we decide to move on and keep heading north. I’m looking forward to getting to the Elm portage and see how cool it is in person. In a short time we are there and I’m not disappointed! It’s a very beautiful portage and after taking my first load across I rock hop along the rapids and waterfalls on the way back, taking photo’s the whole time.










After loading up on the other end of the portage I’m surprised to see the waterfall where Jeanette Creek dumps into LIS. I had read about how great Elm portage was, but had never heard of the other waterfall.

We both continue heading north on LIS, I’m paddling a little ways ahead of Ken, both of us just enjoying the silence and the river. As we near the short portage into Upper Pauness Lake a group passes us heading out. One of the guys notices our pictograph decals we both have on the bows of canoes, and introduces himself as “Max” from Quiet Journey.
We aren’t really rushing, but are making good time this morning as we get to the 216 rod portage to Shell Lake. As we get loaded up on Shell Lake we notice that the wind has started to pick up a little. We hug the shore as we paddle past the campsite on the point that is packed with a boy scout troop. We then cut across the bay heading for the large white rock in the bay leading to Little Shell Lake.
This is a nice short portage, and really very scenic on the Little Shell end of the lake.
I check out the campsite on Little Shell as we paddle past, it looks pretty nice from the water. As we near the portage into Lynx Lake we are happy to find that we can paddle right thru the narrows into Lynx. In my pre-trip research I found on BWCA.com a nice large campsite that would work well for our group.

We found the site open and after a quick inspection decide it is a keeper. Ken and I get unloaded and pick out our tent sites. Ken picks one closer to the water and I grab one near the firepit, leaving a large spot for Paul and Marques to pitch there tents.






We no sooner have our tents set up when we see a tandem canoe headed our way. As it gets closer I can make out Paul in the bow.
Paul and Marques pull into the small sandy bay next to the campsite and start to unload. Paul introduces Marques to Ken and I, seems like a great guy. I’m sure we will have plenty of opportunities to see what each other is made of in the next few days.

Paul and Marques get unloaded and start setting up camp. I’m jealous of Marques’ gear already, he has a North Face Rock 22 tent, one of the models that I was considering when I bought my North Face Tadpole 23. His Rock 22 has twin vestibules weighs a little more than my Tadpole, but has twin vestibules…wish I had two vestibules.

After everyone gets settled in we start cooking dinner, I go with mac and cheese, the other guys (as usual are eating better than me). After dinner the wind picks up and it is down right cool on the exposed point that we are camped on. We find that by hiking down a trial to the north of the campsite and get out of the wind the temp. feels 10 degs. Warmer. We head around the point for thingytails and cigars. We spend a couple of hours chatting. I’m starting to realize that Marques is a real laid back easy going guy…just the kind of person you want on a trip like we have planned.

I don’t say anything to Paul or Marques, but I’m starting to get nervous about tomorrow. We will be heading north from Lynx to Rangeline and have some serious bushwhacking ahead of us. It’s one thing sitting in your living room looking at the maps saying, “yeah that looks like an easy enough bushwhack, it’s ONLY a half mile”. When you actually get there, the magnitude of the whole thing kind of sinks in.

We finish up our drinks and cigars and decide it’s time to head to our tents for the night. The fire ban kind of cuts down on social hour, but makes it easier to get enough sleep. I lay in my tent, exited and I would say almost scared about what tomorrow has in store for us.

[Beavers]

Monday May 21, 2007

Today is the big day! Let the bushwhacking begin!!
We all are up early, breaking down camp. Ken is going to be heading east toady to Oyster Lake, Paul, Marques, and I will be heading straight north to Rangeline Lake.

Ken is the first packed, and first to head out. We wish each other luck until we meet back up on Finger Lake. The rest of us are ready to go soon after. I try to get a jump on Paul and Marques, they are in a MNII and I’m in my solo, I’m worried I won’t be able to keep up.
Once we get paddling across Lynx I’m happy to see the speed difference is not that great. I have to paddle a little harder but I’m able to keep up ok.

As we near the creek to Yodeler Lake we see a guy out fishing, we say hi and Marques chats about the fishing with him. I wasn’t expecting a bushwhack right away, but that’s what we got. There were still some very faint signs of a trail but not much. As I go back to grab my second load I notice the fisherman staring our direction. I can picture him heading back to his campsite to look at his maps trying to figure out where in the hell we could be going. We get loaded up on Yodeler creek but can only go a few feet before having to pull over a good size beaver dam. None of us complain though, this dam controls weather we have to bushwhack thru muck all the way to Yodeler, or get to paddle some of the way.





After pulling over the beaver dam the creek was a very narrow channel but plenty deep. We continued to poke along the creek trying to find the most promising channel. A couple hundred yard further and we ran out of water. I hopped out of the canoe onto the floating mat of vegetation, fully expecting to break thru and sink in over my head. I was surprised at how solid it was, ok not solid but enough to be able to walk on if you step lightly. We grabbed packs and paddles to use for sounding out the bog, and headed north to where we could se open water. You had to watch your footing carefully, step to hard or in the wrong spot and you are thigh deep in muck. We bog walk for a few hundred yard until we find open water.




As we turn back to get the canoes we notice the sky to the south is very dark and it looks like a storm is headed out way. We are in an open valley with no cover around…not a good place to get stuck in a storm. We kick it in to high gear to try to make it to Yodeler Lake before the storm hits. I notice right away that the extra weight of the canoe on my shoulder make me sink a lot more in the muck and have to pay extra attention to my footing. We finally make it to open water and I take off paddling as fast as I can in the two foot wide creek, snaking back and forth. Same thing, a few hundred yards up the creek, another beavers dam. This has got to be one of the largest dams I’ve ever seen, at least four feet tall. I hop out into the muck and horse the canoe over. Man…do I sure baby my cedar stripper! Hey, I built the thing to use not hang on a wall!




We are still racing the storm, so once over the beaver dam it’s a mad dash for the far shore of the pond, and the bushwhack to Yodeler Lake. I read there is supposed to be remnants of an old portage here, never saw any sign of one though. We ended up bushwhacking in a ways and then portaging up the slippery rocky creek the rest of the way to Yodeler.

Yodeler Lake!!!…the first milestone on our trip. I’m pumped! We don’t waste time and make a beeline for the far shore and an unofficial campsite.





We get unloaded and Paul sets up his tarp. The storm is almost here, may as well take lunch and get rested up for the next and longest bushwhack of our trip into Achundo Lake.





Soon after settling in the rain starts, we are nice and cozy under the tarp as we eat lunch and as Marques brews up a pot of coffee. I’m pooped, it took a lot more effort than I thought it would just to get into Yodeler. What the hell do have ahead of us to get from here to Achundo?!?













The rain continues and we all rest up under the tarp, I think Paul even got a little nap in. After about an hour the rain breaks and we decide now is as good a time as any to get moving and take on the half mile bushwhack. It’s amazing what a little break will do for you, we are all much more motivated now, and get packed up for a short paddle to the start of out trek to Achundo Lake.

[Beavers]

We paddle off from our lunch site across a small bay to the start of the bushwhack to Achundo Lake. This is the big one, over a half mile long, and also the reason I didn’t get much sleep last night.
Paul fires up his GPS and we take a few compass readings, the compass and the GPS jive as to which direction we need to go…always a good thing.
The three of us start off with our packs, Paul leading the way fallowed by myself and Marques. It’s slow going with a lot of deadfall, rocks, ups and downs, bottom less mud holes, and all the other things that make a bushwhack great! We wind our ay back and forth thru the wood trying to maintain a somewhat direct course to Achundo, occasionally we spot a very old blaze on a tree. Judging from how grown over and high up the trees the blazes are, they are quite old. About half way we hit a very boggy section, I think all three of us go in deep at least once. We crash on for what seems like for ever, but sure enough we finally see blue thru the tangle of trees. Achundo Lake!!!!! The shore where we come out at is pure muck, so we crash a little farther down the shore to find a good launching spot. Three packs thud to the ground, and I look around to see big grins on the other guys faces, I’m sure my grin is just as big! We made it to Achundo! Ok only a third of the way there, we still have to hike back and get the canoes here, the hardest part. We take a short break and just enjoy standing on the shore of Achundo.
It looks like it will start raining again any minute. I’m soaked from the thighs down in moose muck and from the waist up in sweat. Not much use in donning rain gear, I could use a rinse anyway. I tell the guys I’ll sit here and keep an eye on the packs while they go back and get the canoes. They think I’m joking or something and tell me to get going.

We start our crash back to the canoes, it’s much easier travel with no packs since we can follow our foot steps in the mud and not spend so much time keeping on course. It still seems to take forever but we make it back to Yodeler. I grab my small pack and canoe, while Paul loads up his barrel and Marques the MNII. Paul will lead the way and help Marques and I horse the canoes thru the real thick stuff. I’m glad Paul is leading the way, because I can’t see crap from under the canoe, on a portage you just look down and follow the trail, here there is no trail and all I can see is a thick tangle of brush. I end doing a lot of navigating by sound…ok Paul is crashing over there…head that way.

We get to the mucky section, and it’s worse this time. We have made two passes over it already and have started to churn things up, making it even soupier. I’m also carrying more weight this time across and I find myself sinking even more. Ever try to pull yourself out of thigh deep moose muck with a pack and canoe on your shoulders? Fun!!!! About this time I hear Marques yell, I don’t want to stop in the middle of the swamp so I keep trucking, and Paul goes back to see what’s up. I make it to higher and drier ground, and stop for a break. Sometime it started raining, I didn’t even notice, but it does feel good to cool off a little.

Paul and Marques join me on the higher ground, Marques flips the canoe off his shoulders and onto the ground. His right arm is muddy clear up to his shoulder…you guessed it, he lost a shoe in the muck and had to go digging for it. I’m surprised he was even able to fish it back out. We joke about tying para-cord to his shoes and looping them thru his pants, like you do with little kids mittens. After catching our breath for a minute we saddle up to finish the rest of the crash to Achundo. By the time we make it to Achundo and our packs it’s starting to rain pretty good. We drop the canoes and each of us takes shelter under separate pine trees.








I can’t believe I’m finally here! I don’t know how many times I’ve stared at this spot on the map before and said, “I gotta make it there” or “I wonder what it looks like?”. This is the point of no return, from here there is no turning back, we have to make it to Thumb Lake now. No way in hell am I going back thru the stuff we came thru.





As I slip my canoe into Achundo and start to load up I wonder when the last time another canoe was on this lake. I paddle out a ways so Paul, and Marques can get loaded. While I wait I just soak in how happy I am to be here. It’s a Monday morning and I should be at work, but nope I’m floating in my canoe in the middle of one of the most remote lake in the BWCA.





The other guys get loaded and we start across the lake to the bushwhack into Rangeline Lake. My Fisher map shows and old portage here so we are optimistic and hope there is still some sign of it. I first check out the creek to see if we can paddle thru to Rangleine. It’s a dead end though, so we head to the shore to look for any signs of the old portage.





It’s a tangle of blowdown with no sign of there ever being a portage here. It’s a very difficult deep water landing, and Paul and Marques grab the bow of my canoe and help pull me onto shore.


We grab our packs and start off along the shore to the creek, trying to see if we intersect any kind of trail heading to Rangeline. Same thing, no trace of any trail, just thick trees and blowdown. I’m leading the way and continue to keep close to the creek as we work our way towards the lake. I end up dropping down next to the creek and bog walking while the other guys try their luck with the higher ground and thick trees. We finally see the beautiful blue water of Rangeline Lake. We drop our packs near the creek and prop up a paddle with some orange flagging tied to it so we can find them again.


We decide to follow the shore around the point to see if we can pick up a trail coming from the Rangeline side. No sign of a trail near shore, so we start off back into the woods heading back to Achundo. Paul ends up splitting up from Marques and I, taking a different angle trying to find a better route. For a few minutes we loose sight of each other, and I can’t hear him either. I yell and am relieved to hear Paul yell back. We meet back up at the canoes, and agree that we shouldn’t split up in the future. I remember reading the story of the guy in Quetico who spilt off to look for a portage, slipped and hit his head on a rock. He woke up later, dazed and confused, and stumbled off into the woods. He ended up hiking cross country for a few days before flagging down some paddlers and being rescued.

After a quick chat, we decide that it will be easier to follow the same route we took next to the creek with the canoes. It’s tough with the canoes, there are plenty of deadfalls and steep ups and down as we work our way down the creek. About halfway I decide it’s got to be easier to try to the creek. I drop down onto the bog and make my way to the foot wide ribbon of water. I drop the canoe in and try to paddle. It’s mostly just pushing muck, and sometimes that doesn’t even work. I get out and slide the canoe thru the narrow areas, and other times kneel on the seat and use a skateboard riding motion with my foot to push myself along.






We make it to where we left the packs and load them up into the canoes. It starts to rain again as we paddle out onto Rangeling Lake.






It really is a beautiful lake and I’m pumped that we made it. We slow down and paddle at a leisurely pace soaking in the rain and scenery. As we near the far shore and the campsite, we pick up the pace a little, I know that I’m ready to get to camp and relax!





It’ a very little used campsite and not the nicest one I’ve stayed at, but tonight it is great place to crash, and you can’t beat the view!






We set up camp squeezing three tents into not much room. Paul and I set up both our tarps, while Marques gets ready for some fishing. Marques has never paddles a solo canoe before and I’m more than happy to let him take mine out for some fishing time. In a short time Marques manages to catch three northern. We decide to have them for dinner, Marques cleans them and I try “Y” boning them. It doesn’t work out to well and we end up with fish nuggets, that still have a few bones in them. Marques fries up the nuggets and they turn out pretty good. We are still hungry and cook up a little more to eat.

It rains off and on throughout the evening. We celebrate with a couple of drinks and cigars. All of us are extremely pumped to have made it Rangeline. I think we have all surprised ourselves at how well we have done so far. We head off to our tents, in very high spirits. Confident that tomorrow will be a cake walk compared to today.

[Beavers]

Tuesday May 22, 2007


Slept great last night but I am a little sore this morning. Last night we discussed our plans for today. We want to make it to Brigand or Contentment tonight.

We decide to take the Sioux Hustler Trail down to Pageant Creek and see if the creek looks passable, if it isn’t we will just take the trail the rest of the way to the campsite at Pageant Lake and put in there. After our success yesterday we are all still pretty confident that today will an easy day.

We all pack up quick and head off down the Sioux Hustler towards Pageant, carrying our packs. The first part of the trail is pretty clear with only a few windfalls to climb over or under. The amount of moose crap on the trail is amazing…must be a regular moose superhighway.





As we continue on the trail seems to get a little worse, with more windfall and elevation changes. We reach the small stream flowing out of Rangeline into the small un-named lake to the north and decide it’s a good spot for a break.

We did a bunch of pre-trip research and discovered that the small lake that we stand on the shore of, is actually known as Underwear Lake. Underwear Lake was supposed have dried up and we had considered cutting across here and bushwhacking into Pageant Creek. I’m guessing the beavers must have dammed up the creek going into Lucky Finn Lake, thereby filling Underwear Lake and returning it to its former glory.





After a short break and a couple of photo’s we start off again headed towards Pageant Creek. The trail continues to get rougher, the windfall starts to get pretty thick as we get closer to the creek. Finally we can see the creek and carefully make our way down the steep drop to the creek. Break time again!





After scouting out the creek a little, it doesn’t appear to be passable into Pageant Lake. We debate on slogging down the creek or taking the trail the rest of the way to Pageant. We decide that we may as well take the packs all the way to Pageant and see what the trail looks like. If we slog down the creek with canoes it will be much easier with unloaded canoes anyway.

It’s a steep climb up from the creek. Up and down, up and down, and up all the way to Pageant. Remind me to look at the contour lines a little closer next time! We make it to the Pageant Lake campsite and we are all a little pooped.






After a short break we start the two mile hike back to Rangeline Lake and the canoes. Even without a pack the hike back is still tiring with all the windfall and elevation changes.

Once back at Rangeline we decide we may as well take lunch now. Paul and Marques share their jerky with me since my food is in my pack back at Pageant Lake. Lunch is pretty quiet today, we slogged bogs all day yesterday just fine, but a hiking trail with some good hills is taking us down a couple of notches today.

I quit smoking a couple of months ago, and Paul has been nice enough to hike off a ways any time he has a smoke. There is just something about camping and smoking, they just go together. I see Paul head down the trail, and I know he’s going for a smoke. I take off after him and bum a smoke from him, aahhh….it sure hit’s the spot! After lunch and a little nicotine, I feel much better and am ready as I will ever be to hump the canoe to Pageant.

At least we have a trail to follow today, and you can actually see where you need to go while carrying the canoe.
I like to walk as fast as I can when carrying the canoe, I figure the longer I have the thing on my shoulders the tougher it is. As I go slowing down to climb over the windfall, I decide to take a break when I get to Underwear Lake. It seems like it take forever but I finally get there and drop the canoe. It’s getting hot out and I wade out into the creek a little and splash some water on myself while I wait for the other guys. They show up shortly and we all take five. The canoes aren’t going to get themselves to Pageant, so I shoulder the pack and canoe and trudge on.

The windfall starts to thicken up again and it’s slow going, rest the canoe on top of the windfall and crawl under or around then slide the canoe over the top and continue.

Just before the drop to Pageant Creek there is a very large snaggle of windfall. I slide the canoe up on top of the mess and shove it as hard as I can ,it makes it far enough that I can grab it when I get to the other side of the mess. I hold up at the top of the steep drop to the creek, no way do I want to try getting the canoe down this by myself. Paul and Marques show up and we help each other lower the canoes down to Pageant Creek.





We have another strategy planning session and it’s a unanimous vote that it has to be easier to bushwhack the creek than continue down the trail another mile to Pageant Lake. We load up at the beaver dam across the creek and head towards Pageant. We don’t make it far before we run out of water to paddle. Out of the canoes and more bog walking it is then. This stuff is especially soft with large holes that look bottomless. There is no way we could carry the canoes over this stuff, the added weight would sink you in for sure. So, we drag the canoes, I’m in the lead and have a paddle in one hand to sound out the footing and my other hand on the canoe incase I start to go under.

It’s not portaging in the traditional sense of the word, but you gotta do what you gotta do!






As we work our way down the creek the valley starts to narrow in and changes from an open swamp into a boulder filled creek with lots of small brushy trees, and of course more windfall. It’s hard work dragging the canoes and we stop for a quick break. We are finally on solid ground and can now shoulder the canoes without fear of sinking.

It is about this time that Paul goes temporarily insane.

He shoulders his canoe and takes off, boulder hopping, then wades right across the thigh deep creek, sinking in the muck on the other side. The break must of really done a lot for him, he powers on thru the muck and tries to crash the canoe thru a tangle of trees. He rams into the tangle hard but he bounces back, and is into the muck again…deep. He flings the canoe off his shoulders and picks a new spot to aim for in the brush. Flipping the canoe back on the shoulders he charges again, this time his aim is true, and he crashes on thru to the other side.

Marques and I exchange somewhat bewildered looks…“guess we are going that way”, I say.

We hurry up and try to keep the possessed man in our sights. Crash, crash, crash….we finally make it to open water and Pageant Lake!

We have been at it for close to six hours today and I’ve spent less than five minutes paddling! It feels great to be back on the water and paddling.






We have to head down to the campsite on Pageant to pick up the rest of our gear. They sure didn’t think about canoes when they put this campsite here, there is almost no place to land a canoe! We manage though, and decide it’s time for a break.

[Beavers]

I’m beat! I suggest to the other guys that we call it a day and set up camp here on Pageant. Neither one of them go for it, they both want to push on to Brigand.

I’m glad to be traveling with these guys, Marques is turning out to be superman, he never complains, and if Paul or I are dragging botty he always looks on the bright side of things and gets us motivated again.
So, we load up the canoes and head back across Pageant to start the bushwhack into Brigand.

We land on the north shore of Pageant and find an Inukshuk, could there be an old trail here? We are hopeful…
The wind has picked up so we haul the canoes up on shore a ways and tuck them up so they won’t blow away.





It’s clear pretty fast that is no sign of a trial here, why and how would someone get over here to place an Inukshuk? The woods here are very thick, we shoot compass bearings and Paul has his GPS out. As we continue farther into the woods with our packs it gets thicker and thicker. We decide there is no way in hell that we are going to get the canoes thru this crap, we turn around and head back to Pageant and the canoes.

I kick the Inukshuk over in disgust. There is no way that this is the best way to get to Brigand! IMO random Inukushuks have no place in the woods. Later on we found more random Inukshuks on an island...winter campers? They were only accesible from the water, and I can't imagine someone else putting forth the effort to get a canoe in here having the energy to build Inukshuks for no reason.

We all agree that we aren’t going to make it to Brigand tonight, but before we head back and set up camp we decide to check out our other option for getting to Brigand.

Swamps have been good to us so far, so we head to the east end of Pageant to scout out the bog leading to Brigand. We land the canoes and start off with nothing but paddles in our hands to check footing as we go.

It’s a bog, but there are still quite a few small trees, it starts getting pretty tight squeezing between the trees, but after a little ways it opens up some. The footing it treacherous, large holes and very uneven footing make for an ankle busting walk.

We decide that this route looks much more doable than our previous attempt at Brigand. We make our way back to the canoes and make our way across Pageant one more time...

[Beavers]

We are back at the campsite on Pageant Lake again. We were at this campsite for the first time today at about 9am, it’s now after 5pm. I can’t believe how slow the progress was today. I can say without a doubt that today was my toughest day ever in the BWCA! We go about setting up camp, and by the lack of conversion you can tell that we are all beat pretty good. This is a very small campsite and Marques and I end up having to set up our tents about two feet apart, Paul squeezes in his tent a few feet away.










Today has been a big day for the ticks, I first noticed at least a half dozen crawling on one lag early this morning, after that it has been a constant battle to pick the little buggers off. Every time we stop for a break we do a quick tick check.

It looks a little dark off to the west so I set up my tarp as well, we have had rain everyday so far this trip, so we have gotten pretty good at setting up the tarps quickly. I’m so beat that I’m not really even hungry for dinner. I know I need to eat something though, so I fire up a quick pot of hamburger helper. We all start to gain a little energy after dinner and the mood improves a lot.







The sun starts to set and I really notice how beautiful this lake really is. I’m really starting to love these remote lakes, I get a special feeling being here. These lakes aren’t much compared to the beauty of the bigger and more popular lakes, but I get a special satisfaction from these lakes that I don’t get from “regular lakes”. As hard as today was, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now. I’ve come here to test myself and I think I’ve accomplished that goal.

Our bruised and battered bodies have earned the adult beverages tonight! We sit on the shores of Pageant Lake and sip on our drinks. It doesn’t get any better than this!





It is still pretty warm out tonight and I have a hell of a time getting to sleep. I keep feeling imaginary ticks crawling on me, and toss and turn most of the night.

[Beavers]

Wednesday May 23, 2007

This is the day of the shindig on Finger Lake, so we have no choice but to make it all the way there today.
It is light out so early this time of year, and we are up very early again . We are packed up and ready to head out to try bushwhacking into Brigand Lake for a second time. I hope we have better luck this time.





Even though I slept like crap last night, I feel up to the challenge. We paddle hard as we cross Pageant Lake for the last time.





We paddle our way the couple of feet up the small creek until we get to ground solid enough to walk on. Solid is a relative term, as we still sink in deep if we step wrong.





We again start off with the packs first. I know a lot of bushwhackers swear by single portaging, but it’s got to be pure torture for the guys carrying the canoes. A lot of time is spent just picking the route, and backtracking around large obstacles.

The first part of the swamp is pretty open, there are still a lot of trees but at least it’s not thick forest.





Looking at the maps there should be a large hill to our right as we head to Brigand. Paul and I differ on where we are as we hit the thick forest. The is a hill to our right and I think that we need to stay to the left of it. Paul and his compass don’t agree, but I know for sure that we need to go “that way”. We strike a compromise and pick a route between the two. It seems like we have gone way to far already and should be able to see the lake by now. Paul climbs the hill to our right to see if he can see any sign of the lake…nothing.

We keep on trucking along thru the thick stuff. Somewhere about this time the Rolling Stones song; “Break on thru to the other side” pops into my head. I find it to be a very fitting song for the task at hand. I can only remember the chorus, but I sing it over and over in my head as we go. Finally we see blue thru the trees, we made it.





We are not where we were aiming for though, we are to the bay west of where we wanted to be. After looking at the maps closer, the hill I thought we needed to stay right of was only a small knoll shown on the map, not the large ridge I thought it was.
We drop the packs and take a GPS shot on them so we can find them again, and take off hiking along the shore to the bay we wanted to make it to. We take another GPS shot here and start making our way back to the canoes.

The woods are thick and it again is a struggle even with no gear on your back. Back at the canoes I grab my small pack and lift the canoe to my shoulders, Marques grabs the MNII, and Paul leads the way GPS in hand, scouting the way. We crash, slop thru muck and climb over windfall for what seems like for ever. I’m past the burning stage in my shoulders now, and have just become numb. We stop for a break, and chug some water.

We estimate that we are about a third of the way there, and the roughest stuff is ahead of us yet. We dig deep, suck it up and crash on. Paul helps to pull some of the thick stuff back while Marques and I get lined up and charge on thru with the canoes. I know we are getting close and suddenly have a burst of energy, I can see the lake now and don’t wait for Paul to lead the way, it’s a headlong charge down to the shore.

Splash…my canoe now floats on Brigand Lake!






We need to paddle around to the other side of the point to get our packs.





We hold off on our break until we can find the old campsite on the other side of the lake. It’s another tricky landing to retrieve the packs. We then start off across Brigand with hopes of finding the old campsite. As I get closer I can see the fire grate perched atop a large rock hill. It has to be at least 50 high on the rock bluff.

I check out one side and don’t see any place to land, so I head to the other side of the bluff and find a spot that will work. I then scramble up the bluff to watch Paul and Marques as they paddle across Brigand.









The campsite is huge and has an awesome view. There is a virgin fire grate with no signs of ever being used, and no signs of any tent pads, but plenty of room you would just have clear some rotting logs out of the way. We decide this will be a great place for lunch. Afterwards Paul, passes out smokes to all of us, and we celebrate making it to Brigand. Time for a group photo!



(L-R Paul, Marques, and Me)

I wonder if there is still a latrine at this campsite and head off in search of it. Back in the woods I find a rotting old wood latrine. I yell for Paul and Marques and they join me. It is falling to pieces and is full of nothing but forest duff.

Marques poses as Paul snaps a picture.





Our lunch and the celebration is over, we still have two more bushwhacks until we make it Thumb Lake and the land of actual portages. Time to get going…

[Beavers]

We leave the great campsite on Brigand and head for the bushwhack into Contentment. I looks like it should be about the same length as the last one, but at least here we have a creek to follow, making navigation a whole lot easier.





We are able to paddle a short ways down the creek and pull over a beaver dam. After that there is no more navigable water. The other guys are able to pull a little farther ahead and reach more solid ground than I have. I step out of the canoe, take one step and sink thigh deep in beaver muck. I’m able to make it to better footing and get the canoe unloaded. We start off with the packs walking down the side of the creek on the bog. The trees start to thicken up and the creek turns rocky. We decide to walk in the creek for a short time, then find ourselves in a mess of tag-alder trees.

We can know we are getting close to the lake now, so we crash on thru the alder swamp instead of trying find a way around. It’s tough but we make it to Contentment just fine.

We are finally starting to get the hang of this bushwhacking thing now. It seems like it easiest just to pick a line and just crash ahead. If you try to keep picking a line thru the open areas it takes for ever, and involves a lot of backtracking.

We get back to the canoes retrace the same route back. The canoes are always such a pain to force thru the trees but the alders turn out to be especially tough. I’m glad I’m wearing gloves or my hands would have been shredded holding the gunnels and crashing thru the trees. There is always at best only room for one canoe to load at a time. I load up and paddle out so Paul, and Marques can get loaded.





We head out onto Contentment Lake and find that the wind has started to pick up a little. We decide to pass on looking for the old campsite here, and just head straight to the last bushwhack into Thumb Lake.







We paddle into the mouth of the creek that leads to Thumb, and lo and behold we find an old portage sign! Have we hit the jackpot, is there actually still a portage here? From where we sit I don’t see any sign of a trail.





We get unloaded and head off with the packs. There is no sign of a trail as we head down the west side of the creek. As we get close to the lake we finally pick up a trail, it’s not in too bad of shape and shows some use. We follow it the rest of the way to Thumb. On the way back for the canoes we find that the trail crosses over to the east side of the creek and we are able to stay on it except for a few rods of bushwhacking near the Contentment end. We are delighted to finally have a trail to portage the canoes on almost skip along the way back to Thumb.


Just as we get loaded and start making our way across Thumb towards the portage to Finger Lake it starts raining. We don’t even bother with the raingear, the rain feels great!





There is a portage around the creek leading into Finger. We see a beaver dam and a shallow rocky section in the creek before open water. We don’t even try to look for the portage. We hop out pull over the dam wade down the creek and take off again. Who needs portages?

The wind has really started to pick up as we cross Finger Lake, and I have to really start paying attention as the waves are starting to get a little big for a solo canoe. We make it across the large part of the lake, and get into the lee shore as we near the island where we are meeting Ken and Mick.

I can see someone on the shore watching us. As we get closer I can tell that’s it is Ken, good he was able to grab the island campsite for us! We are here, and in time for the shindig tonight! Earlier today Paul promised a victory smoke to Marques and I once we got to Finger. We plop down around the fire pit and enjoy a smoke as we fill Ken in on all the fun we have had.

[Beavers]

After relaxing for a couple of minutes I figure I better get my camp set up. This campsite is huge and has plenty of room for all of us. I find a nice spot back near the latrine trail, Paul sets up near me and right next to a huge boulder, Marques finds a nice spot near the kitchen area near Ken.





We’ve been at it for a few days now, and are getting into the groove again, camp gets set up very quick.
We are starting get pretty ripe after a few days in the bush and we all decide to take a dip and clean up a little. The ice has only been out for a couple of weeks but, we decide to go for it anyway. We all strip down to our shorts and wade out in front of the campsite. I figure we will all jump in at the count of three or something, but Ken beats us to it. He jumps in, and when he comes up it looks like someone just hit him in the chest with a sledge hammer…gasping for air with a shocked look on his face. That’s it no one else is going to try that now! The rest of us just splash some water on ourselves to get some of the grime off. Brrrrr…… I get toweled off and change into a cleaner set of clothes.


Ken already has his tarp set up over the firegrate, we are going to layover a day here, and decide we may as well go all out and set up all the tarps.
Paul gets out his lacrosse ball with a rope attached and gets a line high up in the trees. Ken is providing tips as we go…we are going for the perfect tarp set up here.

We get Paul’s tarp setup perfect and decide to pitch mine at an angle to his to make a nice windbreak. We kill over an hour with this task, but it is a thing of beauty when we are done.





Mick is coming up from Moose River, and I’ve been keeping an eye to the narrows east of us since we got to camp, expecting to see his red solo paddling around the bend at any time. The wind is really blowing hard now and I wonder if he didn’t hole up somewhere waiting for it to die down some.

It’s getting to be dinner time, and we have a hell of a feast planned for tonight. We all pooled together each of bringing ingredients for a chili dinner with biscuits. Ken is by far the chef of the group, so we all hand over our ingredients so he can started with working his culinary magic.








As dinner cooks the wind still blows hard. Still no sign of Mick, I figure that he must of called it a day and decided to set up camp instead of chance it in the wind. I hope that he might be able to swing by in the morning before he has to head back out.

The dinner is done and it’s time to chow down. The chili is AWSOME, and the cheesy garlic biscuits just add to it! We all eat and eat until we are stuffed. Marques really subscribes to the Leave No Trace philosophy, and one of the ways he accomplishes that, is he believes in eating ALL the food and leaving no trace. There is just too much chili though, and Marques is forced to compromise his strong ethics, and we are forced to dispose of some leftovers.

After dinner the wind dies down and Paul, Marques, and Ken head out for some fishing. I don’t fish so I head out to explore the island and look for some photo ops. There are all kinds of trails around this island, and I hike over to the west end. As I sit on a boulder I notice Paul and Marques troll past.
I snap a couple of photo’s and head back towards camp, and see Ken fishing to the east of camp.









Ken returns to camp, saying he was unsuccessful with his fly rod. About this time Paul, and Marques come trolling past the campsite. Actually Paul is laid back in the bow while Marques shuttles him around the lake…must be nice.





Marques’ rod bends over and he thinks that he is snagged. As he paddles backwards, I can see the rod tip moving around, kind of an active snag. He starts to real the line in and soon figures out he has a fish, and a large one at that.

Ken goes and grabs his DSLR, and gets ready for the action. Marques reels the fish in close and reaches down to grab him. Even from shore I can see it’s a large northern, just as he reaches for the fish, it violently thrashes and breaks the line. So close… Marques is bummed, but at least Ken and I got a few photo’s of the event. They return to camp shortly, Marques still bummed out about losing the big one.

[Beavers]

The rest of the report is still in the works. ;D

I will post it as I get it done.

[bwcapaddle]

This is gonna take me while to read. I'll give my comments when done.

[Beavers]

Yeah, I guess I am a little long winded...

And this is only half way thru the trip! ;D

[deepdave]

it wasn't a Stones song - "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" is a song by The Doors from their debut album, The Doors. It was the first single released by the band and was relatively unsuccessful

[fishguts]

Great Report! I loved all the high quality photos!
Thanks!

fishguts