Day 5: Friday, June 11th (Part II)

By perhaps 1:30, I’m inspecting the first campsite.  It sits on the southern end of a small island.  It looks acceptable, but there is supposedly another campsite on a point that lies just beyond.  So, I decide to paddle on to see if better options lie ahead.  I search around the supposed location of this peninsula campsite, but find little evidence of its presence.  It could be obscured by deadfall, so I don’t really have any interest in spending a lot of time clearing out a place to stay.  I decide to press on toward the next set of narrows.  However, as I reach them, I also take a look at my map.  The next camp site could be a good 3-5 miles away.  There was not anything wrong with the island campsite, so I decided to reverse my path and claim the island campsite for my stay on Glenn.

I’m back at the island campsite by 2:45.  By this time the rain has stopped, but the wind had begun to pickup.  I have to carefully negotiate the landing spot in the cross wind, but I’m soon ashore and unloaded.  I decide to take advantage of this lull in the rain and make haste to pitch my tent.  It is up quickly and as luck would have it, the same items that were dry on the last dunking are also dry this time … tent and sleeping bag.  In addition, one side of my Thermarest is completely dry and the other side only slightly damp.  Yet, like the last time, I have several items that need drying.

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Glenn Lake:  My "Welcome mat" indicates it's a tad breezy.

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Glenn Lake:  Tent pitched at a bit of an angle, but at least it is on duff and should drain well.

Since I’m going to be here for a layover day, I take the opportunity to pitch my rain fly.  The sky is still overcast and I imagine that the rain could return at any time.  This time, I choose to go with a ridge-line set-up.  This gives me quite a lot of exposed cordage that I can also use for clothes line.  After it is up and all available spaces are occupied with drying apparel, I add additional lines to offer drying opportunities to the balance of my gear.  I’m fortunate that the wind continues to be active until about 6:30.  This gives me lots of drying time.  And by dinner time, most all my gear is now back in the “dry and usable” category.

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Glenn Lake:  Rain fly pitched in "ridge-line" mode.

As before, I decide to use the area under my rain fly as a cooking area.  This is a fortunate choice for a couple of reasons.  The rain fly lies on the western side of the island and the wind is coming from the east, so there is a way I can place my stoves so that they are not significantly impacted by the wind.  The second reason for the rain-fly cooking option is that the rains eventually returned.  So, my cooking gear and other camp gear collected under the fly remained mostly dry.  

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Glenn Lake:  Fire ring is on the east side, but fully in the wind.

With the cool and damp of the day, I decided to go with Chili for dinner.  So, I began early because I needed to re-hydrate my hamburger meat.  However, this didn’t take all that long by 6:00, I was into full meal-prep mode.  So, just about the time the wind died down, I was able to consume my dinner in relative peace.  The Chili was warming, tasty and filling.  I even threw in a few chips to give extra texture to the meal.  And, as I consumed my dinner, I finally reach the point of being satisfied with about a third of the meal still in the pot.  So, I transferred it to a plastic container for overnight storage.  

I didn’t let any moss grow under my feet as I was soon in clean-up mode and with all my dishes cleaned, I took the opportunity to set out on the point of my campsite with a little adult beverage.  However, before I could completely savor my libation, the rain returned.  I scurried back under the rain fly to continue my after-dinner treat.  It was nice to be in out of the rain and it was nice to hear the patter of drops on the fly.  It was holding up well, and pitched in such a way that most of the water drained easily away.  However, there were a couple of spots where the rain collected.  They were near the edge and when about a quart collected, the weight of the water was sufficient to droop the tarp at that spot so the water drained out.  One of these drained down and away from my fly, but one was on the up-hill side.  So, after a few dumpings, I had to create a small trench to insure the water didn’t go through the middle of my little refuge.  And after a few more draining episodes, it was clear that my work was going to be successful.

I stayed out for perhaps another hour, but it seemed clear that the rain had set in and it could be a while before it subsided.  So, along about 8:30, I did secured the camp and checked to make sure my canoe was safely tucked in.  As I crawled into the tent, I was glad that I had had the opportunity to do some drying work before bed time.  Clearly I would be comfortable tonight since I had dry clothes to change into.  Yet, as I started to recline my old nemesis returns.  WHAM!  The back is BACK.  This entire day, it has never been much more than a slight inconvenience.  However, if my back muscles have to hold my torso at an inclination for any period of time, I’m getting a convincing argument that I shouldn’t do that.  So, it’s back to rolling to one side to get myself up.  Before lights out, I pop a couple of pain killers.  Hopefully, I won’t have a repeat of last night’s on-and-off agony!

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Glenn Lake:  Canoe tucked in for the night.

Next:  Day 6:  A day spent fishing on Glenn Lake.