A Through-Paddle from Ely to Atikokan
Rod Franz
We slept in this morning until 6:00. Great weather today. Everybody is still very tired from the stress of yesterday. The duffers in two of the canoes are trolling, and caught a small Walleye and a couple of Smallmouth Bass, but no keepers. Set up camp a little earlier than normal on Cairn Lake. The boys did some swimming and jumping off of a low ledge (4 feet or so) into deep water. This seemed to help relax and renew them. Daniel, Matt, and Andrew went out in the canoe, and caught a good-sized Northern Pike. They all got real excited, and almost dumped the canoe. They did lose the Pike, but not until after getting up close with it's teeth.
Great dinner tonight--some sort of spiced rice concoction with lemon poppyseed cake for desert.
Rod now officially on disabled list and light duty--the ankle is swollen and foot is black and blue.
Mike's knee is also giving him some problems.
Considerable discussion of possible routes to avoid camping more than one night in the problem bear area. Considering a detour west through Sturgeon and Quetico Lake to see Indian pictographs, but this will add at least 15 miles to the trek, and eliminate possibility of layover day. Concern over fatigue level. We will make final decision tomorrow.
Typical Camp Routine:
When we arrive at a campsite, the canoes are unloaded, and the three tents
are erected, typically by two crewmembers each. The remaining two scouts will
be setting up the cooking area, will collect personal nalgene drinking bottles,
and the water buckets and paddle out into the lake to collect drinking and
cooking water. These are then purified with iodine drops or chlorine bleach.
Even though the water here is very clear and clean, there is still a potential
for 'Beaver Fever' or Giardia, so we faithfully treated the water.
A couple of the scouts cook, while at least two others attempt to find a bear tree set up the bear rope to hang the bear bag before we go to dinner. There is typically some time to fish, wash clothes (as best we can), or just chill for a bit before supper. There is always a rope strung with wet clothes from the day hung on it. One of the first personal orders of business is to get out of wet socks and into dry socks and camp shoes. The campsite usually has a somewhat littered appearance, with gear and clothing spread around to dry or for convenience.
A couple of nights the crew would swim in the evening, which was always refreshing.
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