(The lakes are mislabeled in this map. The Start lake is actually Hudson Lake. The lake labeled Hudson Lake is actually Insula Lake.)I slept reasonably well, all things considered. The ground was kind of hard and my "pillow" wasn't very cooperative. I woke up several times to roll over and reform my pillow (pile of clothes). The temp dropped really fast before bed and I could tell it was really chilly whenever I woke up. It was in the 40s by morning.
The full moon made the night bright and I kept thinking it was near dawn whenever I woke up. By the time it actually was morning, I got up around 6 and wandered along the shoreline taking pictures of the mist rising from the water.
The rest of the crew got up around 7 while I was boiling water and getting ready for breakfast. We had oatmeal, tea, and hot cocoa. The breakfast pack also had a coffee pod (for a whole pot of coffee), a bag of powdered milk (to make a quart), and orange drink mix (to make 2 quarts). We didn't make any of that.
The fishing group paddled by while we were packing up. We hit the water about 9.
Almost immediately we had a killer 105 rod portage to Lake Insula...steep at both ends, rocky and long. With all that, it only took us about half an hour to portage everything across.
Navigating Insula was a little tricky but we did better than on Lake One. We stopped at a really nice campsite on a point for lunch then paddled a little farther to The Rock.
(Luis, Kara and Storm...taken from the top of The Rock)
We traded paddlers at that point. It had been the 3 kids in one canoe and Mark/me in the other. Mark went to stern on the 3 boat and Luis took stern with me. He said he wanted to learn to steer better. We worked on it... Since he was behind me, I couldn't see what he was doing and could only give general sorts of help. He tended toward very deep, short, fast strokes that rocked the boat. Overcorrection is a problem too...mostly of inexperience.
We found a campsite near theh portage to Alice Lake. We'll head there tomorrow and plan to take a layover day there.
Luis wanted to make supper. He and Storm paddled out in the lake to get water. Mark, Kara and I set up the tents.
Luis made supper of spaghetti (yum!), green beans and pumpkin pie flavored dessert (bleah). The dessert was kind of nasty but we ate it anyway because the alternative is to pack it out. Kara and I washed dishes. Kara and Storm paddled across to explore the rapids and portage. While they were there, there were some Boy Scouts fishing below the rapids. A 12-year-old boy in their group caught a 32-inch northern and it was, needless to say, a red-letter day for him. That got Mark and Kara all excited to go fishing after supper. They did, but didn't get a nibble.
I took a bucket back into the woods to wash up. The site we're camped on is windy and I didn't want to swim. It felt really good to wash my hair but I didn't really appreciate all the bug bites in delicate places.
After supper, Luis knitted. I had to put on long sleeve as I was getting chilly. Plus, the wind died a bit and the mosquitos were coming out. Just about time to go to tents.
I had a long chat with Luis. Unique lad...he's never without ideas and plans. He's knitting a baby cardigan "for practice" that will go to an unwed mothers group and then he's going to knit the "real" one for a friend who's going to be a father soon.
Wildlife sightings for the day: a duck family, a bald eagle, a sort of rust-headed duck. Oh, and Storm found a leech at the lunch stop.
The full moon made the night bright and I kept thinking it was near dawn whenever I woke up. By the time it actually was morning, I got up around 6 and wandered along the shoreline taking pictures of the mist rising from the water.The rest of the crew got up around 7 while I was boiling water and getting ready for breakfast. We had oatmeal, tea, and hot cocoa. The breakfast pack also had a coffee pod (for a whole pot of coffee), a bag of powdered milk (to make a quart), and orange drink mix (to make 2 quarts). We didn't make any of that.
The fishing group paddled by while we were packing up. We hit the water about 9.
Almost immediately we had a killer 105 rod portage to Lake Insula...steep at both ends, rocky and long. With all that, it only took us about half an hour to portage everything across.
Navigating Insula was a little tricky but we did better than on Lake One. We stopped at a really nice campsite on a point for lunch then paddled a little farther to The Rock.
(Luis, Kara and Storm...taken from the top of The Rock)
We traded paddlers at that point. It had been the 3 kids in one canoe and Mark/me in the other. Mark went to stern on the 3 boat and Luis took stern with me. He said he wanted to learn to steer better. We worked on it... Since he was behind me, I couldn't see what he was doing and could only give general sorts of help. He tended toward very deep, short, fast strokes that rocked the boat. Overcorrection is a problem too...mostly of inexperience.We found a campsite near theh portage to Alice Lake. We'll head there tomorrow and plan to take a layover day there.
Luis wanted to make supper. He and Storm paddled out in the lake to get water. Mark, Kara and I set up the tents.
Luis made supper of spaghetti (yum!), green beans and pumpkin pie flavored dessert (bleah). The dessert was kind of nasty but we ate it anyway because the alternative is to pack it out. Kara and I washed dishes. Kara and Storm paddled across to explore the rapids and portage. While they were there, there were some Boy Scouts fishing below the rapids. A 12-year-old boy in their group caught a 32-inch northern and it was, needless to say, a red-letter day for him. That got Mark and Kara all excited to go fishing after supper. They did, but didn't get a nibble.
I took a bucket back into the woods to wash up. The site we're camped on is windy and I didn't want to swim. It felt really good to wash my hair but I didn't really appreciate all the bug bites in delicate places.
After supper, Luis knitted. I had to put on long sleeve as I was getting chilly. Plus, the wind died a bit and the mosquitos were coming out. Just about time to go to tents.
I had a long chat with Luis. Unique lad...he's never without ideas and plans. He's knitting a baby cardigan "for practice" that will go to an unwed mothers group and then he's going to knit the "real" one for a friend who's going to be a father soon.
Wildlife sightings for the day: a duck family, a bald eagle, a sort of rust-headed duck. Oh, and Storm found a leech at the lunch stop.
