Tuesday September 20, 2022
I was hoping to stay at Slim Lake for three days and nights. We were the only people on Slim, Section Pond, North and South Lakes. The lakes are small and quiet. But Terry wanted to head back down to Loon Lake, a much bigger Lake putting us in more open water. It meant motorboats, stronger winds and waves. But he had done what he wanted at Slim Lake and now he wanted more action.
We compacted our gear. Gratefully this facilitated one less back and forth journey over portage 178 to Little Loon Lake.
Back into the East Bay of Loon lake, Terry began looking for the campsite he had hoped for since seeing it two days earlier. We found it still occupied by the same people as before. We recognized the boats on shore.
The winds were picking up as we crossed the chop to find another camp. We saw two canoes lashed together with two men in each trolling. Terry asked if they were the inhabitants of the primo campsite. They admitted to returning every year to that same place just for fishing. They didn’t look particularly robust, so they probably didn’t arrive under their own power. They invited us to visit them, so hopefully we’ll visit and fish for more information.
It was starting to spit rain. Finding a campsite had some urgency.
As I said earlier, with no signs or directions, finding a site by looking at the triangle on the map is pure luck. And unlike other areas of the boundary waters, they have fewer beaches for landing. Beaches are easy to spot. Here it’s mostly rocks, and they all stack up the same. Most sites are on a flat rock of various heights. What identities a campsite is a circle of rocks with a grate. We usually need to make one pass by in the canoe before we spot the grate.
This site had little room to land on. “To land on” is truthfully a euphemism for “smash into and wedge between rocks”. While wedged, you try to get onto one of the rocks without leaving your other leg behind and ripping your body in half. Once again, we prevailed. After moving in, we paddled out to deeper waters as because now Terry wants a lunker. No luck tonight.
Night comes early as we race toward the equinox. We haven’t viewed any stars in the night skies yet. Still hoping for a cloudless night.
Mountain Peace 