We did not start as early today as we fired up the stove and had hot tea and coffee, before hitting the portages. We left Pan Lake around 8:00am on the 65-rod portage to Panhandle Lake. Then a 90 rod into an unnamed pond. No time to rest as we portaged 50 rods to Makwa Lake. Wil keeps singing little ditties that stick in our heads. They say if you sing the Flintstones theme song that it will clear your mind. We kept trying it. While in Makwa Lake we fished a little without any success. Another portage of 60 rods and we were in Elton Lake. Didn't see John anywhere, however we did see some girl scouts and their leader, who did not look all that old herself, portaging the opposite direction. They said they were on a training mission but they wouldn't tell us exactly where they were going. They sure looked strong handling those aluminum canoes.

            After lunching in the noontime heat and pulling ticks off our clothes, we had two 19-rod portages that would put us in Little Saganaga Lake. The problem with these two short portages was mud. The beaver activity on the unnamed ponds created deep mud. When Ted was attempting to set the canoe down in the water at the end of the first portage, the mud grabbed him and over he went. It was like slow motion with Ted falling and the canoe covering him. When he stood up, there was muddy water all over him. We met two other groups of canoers portaging out of Little Sag and we could tell that we were in a more popular area now.

            The wind started picking up as usual, as we made our way up this wide-open lake, heading to the west central part and a campsite that is on a finger of land. Again, we had the wind blowing into camp to help keep us mosquito free. Harold rounded the point and fished in a windless bay, while the rest of us set up camp. When he came back, beaming with pride and a medium sized pike, the fever hit Paul. Out he went and it wasn't long before he was back with a pike also. However, supper that night was spaghetti. Today was the buggiest day yet. Tony had five ticks on him and the mosquitos were bad on all the portages. Luckily, the black flies haven't been bad.

            Wil had some homemade parched corn that he shared with us and all we could sing was "Wil's parched corn and we want more, Wil's parched corn and we want more". Wil's favorite ditty seems to be "Oh there ain't no ticks on me, there might be ticks on some of you chicks, but there ain't no ticks on me". Time to sing that Flintstones song again!

            Little Sag's north shore looked burnt and we were pretty sure it was not from the Ham Lake fire of this year. We later found out that a fire last year called "The Cavity Lake Fire" burnt this and much more. We still haven't had a campfire at night. It's too hot and our stoves work just fine.

 

 

            Woke to a breezy morning and it looks like storms may be coming in. While having tea, coffee and oatmeal we saw a cow moose swimming across the lake. What a strong swimmer she was and when she reached the shore it was too steep for her to get out, so off she swam until finding the right landing. It was a beautiful sight. We canoed across the wavy water to the 30-rod portage into Rattle Lake. The fire damage here was very intense. The hike across the portage looked like a scene from some Sci Fi movie. Nothing but dead sticks that used to be trees and rock and more rock. From Rattle Lake, it was only a 25-rod hike into Gabimichigami Lake. The south, east and part of the northern shoreline of Gab was fire killed trees and again it looked so sad. Gab is a wide open lake and we had to paddle northwest, with the wind, to reach our next portage of 15 rods, which put us in Agamak Lake.

            At the opposite end of Agamak was the holy, killer, grail of portages. Approximately 100 rods (that's 1650 feet or 550 yards) of rocky, up and down hill walking, in heat and bugs, with way too much weight on our backs. The sun wasn't shining now, but the humidity sure was rising. We were now in a small lake named Mueller and it was a very short paddle to the next portage of 80 rods, or 100 as Harold paced it off to be. No rest for the wicked and off we went, carrying all our gear to the next lake and our next campsite.

            Ogishkemuncie is a long lake that appears to be broken into three small lakes. With the wind blowing and us being very tired after the killer portages, we were concerned about finding an open campsite. Paul went to the island campsite closest to the portage to check on availability while the rest of us were completing the portage. Thank goodness it was open. We got the tents and a tarp set up just as a short light rain started falling. It quit, then another short rain came. Then a longer, steady rain began. We didn't mind as this was a special campsite. Across the way was an Eagle's nest and we had the pleasure of watching mom and dad, come and go while feeding the chicks. We couldn't see the chicks but the parents were beautiful. We had an early supper of chili over rice that night, then tried fishing from the rocks off the island. No luck!! We even had our first campfire of the trip and man did that wood smoke. Everyone was worn out after a hard day's portaging, so we decided that this was a good campsite for a layover. Tomorrow… is a day off.      

 

 

            You heard of the phrase "Shut up and Paddle". That's been changed to "Shut up and Portage". Everyone slept in today. We had a morning fire, more for our spirits than for heat or cooking. We sipped hot drinks and watched the eagles fly around, in the blue cloudless sky. We choose to eat more food just to lighten the packs a little, so a brunch was put together with miscellaneous food items. It didn't look so good but it sure tasted great. We started with dehydrated ground venison, added some dried vegetables, instant potatoes, fresh grated parmesan cheese, last nights left over chili and rice and topped it all with brown gravy. Sure stuck to the ribs!

            Wil and Tony went paddling all the way to the east end of the lake and walked the portage to Jasper Lake. They saw a lot more of the burn area. On the way back to camp, they saw two guys and inquired about the fire. That's when they were informed about the Cavity Lake Fire of last year. How many years will it take to recover? Everyone fished today but nothing made it to the frying pan. We are better canoers than fisherman, that's for sure. Later in the afternoon, Harold produced the left, right, center, dice game and everyone got down to playing. Tony could not believe that these people carried quarters into the backcountry and over all those portages. Whiskey yes, but quarters? Supper was chicken breasts and refried beans and later as we sat around the fire, the clouds moved in. However, it still was a warm day.                                      

           

                                                        

 

 

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