Back in '09 four of us headed into WCPP through the Lund Lake access. The portages had not been rerouted to higher ground yet. The rain of '08 kept on through '09. We almost lost Jim on the first one. Fortunately John saw his hat where he sank under the surface and spotted fingers of an uplifted hand in the nick of time. The pouring rain helped with the clean-up. After that close call life jackets were mandatory on every portage.

It was an odd group with most only familiar with one of the others. The plan was to find a new route to the Walleyes of Joey Lake. It soon became apparent that some had not read beyond  "Walleye." The part about having to find our way there through various small lakes streams and swamps escaped attention. This became evident when I told them to take the day off on Indian House while I spent the day looking for a way through the next leg. Jaws dropped and murmurs of " you mean there are no portages" could be discerned. It had been so cold and wet that the Blackflies were still covering us and crawling in every opening. I kept mentioning Joey Lake and all the Walleye but the cold day we spent swatting and wading chest deep up a stream so twisty we had to pull the canoes across the corners increased the murmurs. They should have been happy the flood conditions had the stream near the top of the banks. It was a somber camp that night as the best we could find was rocky and black with insects. The murmurs now started mentioning "mutiny."