Day 2 (August 16, 2008): Campsite - Grey Lake - Portage - Yum Yum Lake - Yum Yum Portage - Kahshahpiwi Lake - Campsite - about 8 miles altogether:

We got up around dawn on our first morning in Quetico and lazed around drinking coffee for a while at our Grey Lake campsite as the day came to life -

After a while, we turned our efforts to freeing our parachute-cord-threaded baseball from the tree where it was stuck. I knew David was not going to be happy if the baseball stayed up in that tree. But freeing it was no easy task. Still, after about an hour using additional ropes, throwing more rocks, jiggling the parachute cord, and swearing liberally, we finally got the baseball out of the tree. David was elated. A cheery band of Waxwings passed through the campsite congratulating us on our good work.

With that extra morning activity, we didn't get on the water till almost 10:30. As we left our campsite we paddled past these low Grey Lake cliffs -

Soon we came to the portage to Yum Yum Lake, which is about a third of a mile long. The landing at the Grey Lake end -

Stuff along the portage: fungus -

and rotting wood -

The Yum Yum Lake end -

We loaded up and paddled down Yum Yum Lake toward Yum Yum Portage. There was a headwind as we paddled more or less south, so we hoped that after we did the portage and turned north, the wind would be to our backs and push us up Kahshahpiwi. As we neared the portage, the yellow leaves on this cliff caught our eyes. At first I thought they were flowers, but on closer inspection they seemed to be the first hint of fall -

When we got to the landing for Yum Yum Portage, we drifted in the canoe for a while eating energy bars. It was a peaceful and beautiful spot. Then we unloaded and began our journey across the infamous portage.

The last time we did Yum Yum was in September 2003, on the Day of the Deluge, heading out from Kahshahpiwi to North Bay. We were single portaging, and hours of pouring rain had turned the portage into a raging torrent. Most of the path was a calf- or knee-deep stream, except for the parts that were muskeg pools or hazardous slick sloping sheets of granite. Under those conditions, the steep slopes of Yum Yum Portage were indeed hard work. Which explains why we've been angling to get back there all these years.

This time was a lot easier. We were double portaging so our loads were light, it wasn't raining, and the wind kept the air moving. Under such conditions, Yum Yum Portage is really very pleasant. You basically go up a lot, walk along a high granite crest, descend briefly into a bit of muskeg-like trail, go back up a tad, and then go way down to Kahshahpiwi - which must be lower than Yum Yum Lake, judging by the relative up and down.

There is, however, one spot on the portage not too far from the Yum Yum Lake end that is just plain absurd. It's a steep sheer granite slope about 20 or 30 feet high that the portage just goes right up (or down, if you're heading in the other direction) -

The view down the slope -

When we came through here in 2003, I hoisted the canoe off my shoulders and lowered it hand-over- hand down this rain-slicked slip-and-slide, before scooting myself down on my butt with pack on. This time I tried to walk with the canoe on my shoulders up along the edge of the slope. But when I needed to turn to continue, trees on the edge of the slope were in the way of the canoe, and I was stuck. So once again I had to hoist the canoe off my shoulders, and get some help from David to get it up the slope before continuing. On the second trip across the portage with just a pack on, though, I walked right up. I think I've got it figured out for going up with the canoe next time - as long as it's dry.

After that difficult bit, you keep going up more gradually until you come to open rocks overlooking a big bog. I call this "Inspiration Point" -

We took a break at this spot in 2003, too. It was beautiful even under the difficult conditions of that Diluvian Day. I thought then that it was great to be here, even hiking with a heavy load in the pouring rain - but it would be even better in those conditions if there was a cabin to go back to at the end of the day. I mentioned that to David, and a seed was planted in our minds. An inspiration. It's funny, a fleeting thought like that can change your life plans. True, you can't have a cabin right next to Yum Yum Portage. But you can have one not all that far away.

But I digress. Let's keep moving down Yum Yum Portage on this, the second day of our 2008 trip. After Inspiration Point, the portage follows a comparatively level granite sidewalk for a while -

You could call this giant boulder USMC Rock, because it looks like it has a high-and-tight -

Here's the patch of muskeg about two-thirds of the way to Kahshahpiwi. It was easy to walk through after so much dry weather, but beware when wet -

After that, a long steep descent brought us to beautiful Kahshahpiwi Lake. With double portaging, pausing for pictures, and soaking up the scene at Inspiration Point, it took us about one and a half hours to cross Yum Yum. Now it was time for lunch. We decided to paddle up the lake and stop at the first decent campsite for victuals and a swim.

Unfortunately, the nearest campsites were packed full. After seeing no one since just north of North Bay, we saw four occupied sites cheek by jowl in this part of Kahshahpiwi. Plus, the old island site across from the McNeice portage had succumbed to a forest fire sometime in the past few years. Now it was covered with menacing snags and towering fireweed. Just to the north of there, though, we found a rocky ait that would make a good lunch-and-swim spot. We tied off the canoe and settled in for a bit -

Virtually every inch of this islet was covered with perfectly ripe blueberries -

We enjoyed our swim, lunch, and fresh-picked berries, then pushed on. I had optimistically been hoping we would reach Sark Lake to camp this night. Now it seemed very unlikely we would get there today, given the time we spent portaging before lunch.

As we paddled up Kahshahpiwi under the bright warm sun, the congestion of the lower part of the lake was quickly left behind. In fact, we didn't see anyone else our whole way up the lake. A lot of patches had burned since we last went through in 2005 -

We were hoping for a south wind, but it was coming more from the west, which made the lake a little choppy -

Near its north end, Kahshahpiwi narrows into a creek-like channel -

At the other end of this channel is a bay that is almost like its own little lake. I'd noticed a campsite on its west side on past trips and always thought it would be a nice place to stay. We were way short of our hoped-for destination of Sark Lake, though. At this point there was no way we would get to Sark today. But shouldn't we at least continue on to Keefer Lake? It was only 4:45, so we had time to cross the short portage to Keefer. But we weren't sure where we would find a campsite on Keefer, and I didn't want to set up as late as last night. So on the spur of the moment we decided to stop here at the north end of Kahshahpiwi.

It was a good choice. We set up camp and went for a swim. The campsite is on a point with a narrow isthmus leading to the mainland, which is where you need to go for "sanitation" activities. Some downed trees were blocking the established path, so I got out the Sawvivor to clear the way. Mostly we just lazed around and watched the resident Bald Eagle as the late afternoon sun lit up the eastern shore across from us -

About 6:00 a group of Boy Scouts passed through, coming from Keefer and heading south into the main part of Kahshahpiwi. Otherwise we had this corner of the world to ourselves. As we ate dinner we watched the local Beaver begin his nightly patrol of the lake, while the shadow from the setting sun make its way up the opposite shore -

We broke out our nightly ration of Maker's Mark as night fell. Just as we were finishing up and the mosquitoes started buzzing in earnest, we noticed what looked like a fire burning in the trees high on the ridge across from us. Slowly we realized the light of the rising moon was glinting through the trees. It took a long time for the moon itself to get high enough to shine through -

In real life the light was much more orange. It reminded us of the light shining through cathedral windows. We braved the mosquitoes a bit longer till the moon crested the ridge -

Then we hit the sack in our little cove on Kahshahpiwi Lake. In the middle of the night we were awakened by the loud slap of the Beaver's tail to remind us what a great, wild place we were in.