Day 16
It was raining at 4 , so dozed until 6. Rain stopped and I packed up. Set
up wet. Pack up wet. Need a little dry time for equipment and me. The tent
is taking a pounding. Cold breakfast this a.m. with coffee made last night.
The wind is starting to howl, and there are already some pretty good rollers
coming down Lonely. Draper is going to be next to impossible. I stop for a
moment at the next site down to chat with a group of younger people as they
are packing up. Urged them to use caution, and pushed on. It stopped raining,
but the rock faces are wet, and I take them cautiously. One slip with the
canoe, but controlled. A quick hop and I am at the portage to Draper. Thank
you once again to the portage crews for your efforts. A recent pass has been
made here. I was half way over on my first trip when I went down hard. Smooth
rock. Wet. Got me. Threw the arm out to break the fall, and the right wrist
is tingling. Got up slow... (maybe I should have taken the pack off). Things
are ok, but it will be sore for a couple of days. As expected, the wind is
still howling when I finish the portage. I have brunch and hope it will let
up a little. It doesn't. I strap stuff on and go for it up the pipe. Whoa
baby. Smoked that one. 
Thank
goodness the campsite is open, or I would have probably gone back to Walter,
not knowing of any other good spots on this lake. Got the tent and pack up
between showers. Now for the tarp. Probably foolish. The winds were sustained
20. But... really wanted a fire. Everything damp and I was hurting. So, what
do I do? 
I
get careless while trimming up a small downed tree that I am wanting to use
with the tarp. I was leaning hard on it and the branch broke, and I ended
up stabbing myself with the saw.
Left index finger. Ow.... that's gonna leave a mark. At least
for a poke wound, it bled well. Gave it a dose of Neosporin and bandaged.
Managed to get a rough tripod set up, and was glad to get out of the wind.
Tough light on the fire, but there was a downed birch on the portage that
had donated some of its outer wear to the cause, making it doable. Ok, fire
going, water on for coffee, and spaghetti sauce rehydrating. I am nursing
two sore spots now... and I add to that when the grill slips and I grab the
handle bare handed to save the sauce. I'm losing it. LOL. I let being careless
snowball and it sure bit me in a hurry. Mental fatigue. At least the coffee
is made, and the spaghetti was great. I relaxed by the fire for awhile and
got things back in perspective. 
That was probably a good idea... it helped when I did some shoreline exploration
later and found bear sign. A bear has been active here... Recently. Oh well,
camp is reasonably tight, the food pack is in a good way, and I'm going to
sleep.
