Wednesday, July 26th, 2017
In the morning I reconfigure all my gear for canoe mode: I'll need all my camping stuff, a light load of clothes, plus food. The rest I'll pack up on the motorcycle and put it under the cover. I shouldn't have anything to worry about with the motorcycle being parked at the resort. The place is run by a friendly older couple. When I tell the guy where I'm going he gives me a funny look and says: you know it's more than 10 miles from here? I'm thinking: what's the big deal? Maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew but 10 miles doesn't seem like all that much in a canoe... but then again I've never canoed that far so I really have no idea. We'll just have to see. I stack my gear in the front and push off into the lake.
It's a beautiful day and I've got the wind at my back. It occurs to me that the return trip will be rough if I have to go against this wind.
It turns out such a distance in a canoe is quite a lot of work. I'm exhausted when I finally reach the dock for the trailhead at the end of a long inlet. I tie the canoe up to the dock, now I have to hike a half mile on a trail to a smaller inland lake where I will be camping. It's hot and buggy.
I'm thrilled when I finally reach my destination, it's a beautiful campsite spread out right on the shore of the lake. I've got my own little rock beach just 30 feet from the tent. I strip down and jump into the lake to wash off the day's grime.
I hike back to the dock in the evening to check on the canoe and catch the sunset. I see a deer on the opposite shore drinking from a creek so I decide to hop in the canoe to get a better look. He's a big 8-point buck in his prime.
As I'm tying up the canoe again a couple of rangers pull up in a motorboat. They are here to look for wolves... wolves?? Yes, they say, there are a few of them out here. They mimic wolf calls, try to get a response, then triangulate their location. They collect the scat to have analyzed and see what the wolves are eating. Nice job!
Despite the big, smoky fire I make the bugs chase me into the tent after dark. The chorus of mosquitos around my tent is actually loud.
Stats for canoe trip (Strava data):
Miles canoed: 12.8
Elevation gain: 134 feet
Moving time: 4:33:19
