Dentondoc -

Hmmm... I covered the exact same stretch of water across Pickerel twice during that trip in late September a few weeks back. 

On a clear & sunny Thursday afternoon I paddled the entire stretch (@13 miles) from Dawson campground to my camp (a couple miles southwest of Lookout Island).  I only lost my signal for about 45 seconds, tops, in three hours of paddling.

Eight days later on what started as a fairly foggy morning it quickly became REAL foggy.  I traveled virtually the same stretch of water as before.  The GPS worked fine for the first 10 minutes... right until I got completely immersed in the soup.  The signal died and never did return. 

So I resorted to my compass for the first time in a long while.  Since my route was a straight shot eastward (& waves aren't much of a concern on a foggy day), I wasn't terribly worried.  Surprisingly, after I rounded the point at The Pines, though, it actually got a little more dicey.  I couldn't see a darn thing and needed to cross that stretch of bay about a mile or so in diameter to find the narrow entrance to the Pickerel River.

I did so by using the same tactics I use to find alleged portages.  From The Pines I took a compass heading that would put me a short but significant distance south of the river mouth.  Even though I couldn't see a darned thing, sooner or later I would HAVE to hit that eastern shore... as long as I kept my heading.  By purposely targeting a point distinctly south of the river I would KNOW when I finally hit that shoreline that the ONLY way to head was north.  There would be no guesswork involved.

Anyway, I couldn't see worth crap out there, my GPS was worthless, but my plan executed perfectly.  When I hit the far shore, I found the river easily in about 4-5 minutes.  I paddled away with a small sense of accomplishment that I had resurrected some very rusty compass skills.

I have no explanation why your GPS worked in the fog and mine didn't.  I don't have a clue.  Admittedly, I'm no genius using a GPS but the continual message "No Signal Available" after 10 minutes of travel seems self-explanatory.  I would think it should vindicate me of operator error in this particular instance.  It was 2 hours & 20 minutes of pure compass work.

I admit I was surprised about this development.  I had YOUR account from Roland Lake on my mind as I left camp that morning, telling MagicPaddler that I "should be OK since I have the purple line on my GPS to guide me back to my car."

Maybe I should upgrade to a new model of GPS???

Re: Paull Lake & Middle Kilburn in WCPP, well... I was probably just sizing up one of my "short cut ideas." It's probably a good thing you set me straight at the time, Wayne.  Those brainstorms of mine seldom turn out very well.

I'll probably put my GPS up for sale right alongside my pink wind sail in the gear forum sometime soon.

Later,

Jimbo   8-)