A Through-Paddle from Ely to Atikokan
Rod Franz
Day Eight (7/14/02) Day five on the water. (Russell Lake, Sturgeon
Narrows, Sturgeon Lake, Rouge Lake, Budside Lake) 17 Miles and 4 portages
This is the fifth day on the water, and guys are starting to adjust to the
effort. Up at 5:00 again, on water by 7:00. Paddled to Chatterton Falls (the
downstream end) first to look at them and then out of Russell into Sturgeon
Lake through Sturgeon Narrows. We were told that the Narrows can be a rapid
in the right conditions, but the water was high enough that we were able to
float through. There were a few whirlygigs that we had to avoid, however.
One canoe did not, and ended up being 'nosed' into the bank by the current.
Sturgeon is a big lake, and despite starting early, we had an annoying and tiring headwind most of the way. The duffer helped paddle at least part of the way. Wave action just a little short of consistent whitecapping, and the canoes did take some occasional water over the sides. For someone who is not on the water much, it is a little spooky to see wave action that well exceeds the height of the gunwales, but when the canoe enters the wave, it lifts and goes over. Everybody made it ok, although paddling into the wind is always challenging. On a big lake, you often feel as if you are not making much headway, although you may in fact be moving fairly quickly.
The transition from Sturgeon Lake to Budside Lake involved paddling through another 'little Vietnam'. These areas were always interesting because of the amount of wildlife. They were also somewhat challenging to paddle, as they required a good amount of steering to stay in water deep enough.
We saw some more wildlife today--couple of river otters, bald eagles, osprey, and the ever-present beaver dams and lodges. One of the dams had a hole in it that appeared to be inflicted by human intervention. What a stupid thing to do. We tried, on all occasions, to practice no impact techniques--meaning that we left things better than we found them.
Getting the canoes and gear upstream through and over the dams was interesting, but still better than unloading and carrying around the end.
Also saw some loon chicks. The Loons are omnipresent up here, and once the call of the Loon is heard, it is never forgotten. Loons are also interesting to watch take off and land. They are diving birds, and therefore more dense than is typical of birds. They take off by running across the water to get enough speed to lift, and land much as an airplane does, by skating across the water on touchdown.
