Sunday, May 27, 2012

It rained on & off all night. The rain intensified some as morning arrived. Keeping us in the tent awhile longer than our bladders would have liked. Mercifully the rain finally relented and everyone emerged from their respective sanctuaries to have some breakfast.

Needless to say our site was absolutely soaked! To adequately define our current state of affairs would be more akin to wallowing in muck & mire vs. camping. Everyones tent had, at least some, standing water in the low corner. Fortunately no ones sleep systems had been compromised. (nor were for the duration of the trip) But, we were right on the brink. And extreme diligence needed to be maintained at all times to prevent this from happening. I think it safe to say that all our tents were on 1-2 inches of standing water & mud. With no way of avoiding doing so. While we did see loons, turtles, beavers, & even a small northern patroling the shoreline out on the lake. It seemed the small animals & birds that are commonly seen at/in most campsites were avoiding this one. I don't recall seeing one squirrel, chipmunk, or any birds while here. What Mother Nature withheld regarding these usual visitors. She made up for tenfold with slugs and the occasional gigantic earthworm.

I guess you could say we perservered?

Under these present conditions Aurora was able to complete, what I believe is, a rite of passage for all young children. I mean what red blooded person hasn't, at some point during their formative years, exulted at the absolute zenith of exuberation while rolling & playing carefree in filthy muck? While their parents spirits plummet to the nadir of exasperation upon discovery of this activity.

Since we were using the tarp we had brought to lay down for Aurora to play on as our "innie?" Vickie had to be a bit creative when it came to keeping her out of the mud.

Despite the awful weather conditions. Ross & I decide to do some exploring & maybe fishing. No one else even attempts to feign any interest in wanting to come along.

In choppy conditions we make our way to the Vera portage. In my estimation Voyageur map is a bit off on the location of this portage. It is located more to the east out in the bay. Not at the narrowing arm as the map indicated. Never the less, it is still quite noticeable once you paddle upon it.

This is a portage of extremes. It climbs up out of Knife. There are a few spots where obvious improvements have been made. Across these sections the trail is perfectly smooth & flat. As accomodating as a portage could be. Then further along are some nasty hills. Not trying to scare anybody away & by no means impossible....but, I will say that there is a section that has a very difficult rock face to go up/down. Especially in wet conditions as we had. There simply are not alot of good footholds & the exposed rock faced gradient is of such an angle that extra caution & patience absolutely need to be exercised. To add to the excitement. With all the recent rains, there was even a small creek the rushed past in this section.

Once on Vera a short paddle over to the Trader lake portage. The trail is somewhat obscured, as you actually have to paddle into the mouth of a small stream that runs between the two lakes before reaching the landing.

Once again, we encountered another cacophony of rapids in the small creek that the trail followed closely along for a good portion of the walk.

For the most part the trail was in great shape with only some minor undulation. The landing on the Trader end was less than perfect. It dropped nearly straight down about three feet. Fortunately the water was neither deep nor had any troublesome rocks along the shoreline to stumble on.

Next we headed for Neglige which is part of the Spider lake PMA. My Voyageur map doesn't show the portage. But, older maps, & the Google map on bwca.com show precisely where it is. The landing was quite easy to locate. It's in the SW corner of Trader lake right where the terrain switches from a swampy boggy environment to more of the typical rocky shoreline. Nothing like the previous landing. But, it was still fairly steep.

There was a pleasant surprise waiting for us as we exited the canoe.

A couple of pink lady slippers were just starting to bloom. Cool beans! The portage itself was easily followed. Lots of overhanging branches were the main deterrrent. The trail was quite narrow & squeezing the canoe through took some nimble manuevering in a few spots. There were no hills per say. But, there where a few short, steep, slippery (when wet) rock slopes to overcome as well. All & all I'd say a very good trail considering this was a PMA.

There's an interesting story on how Neglige lake got it's name. According to a story in "A Wonderful Country ~ The Quetico - Superior stories of Bill Magie" by Dave Olesen. A young indian girl was murdered and left there, floating on the shore, dressed in a yellow neglige by her jealous lumberjack boyfriend. If you are interested? There's more to this story & there are many others included in this great book. So check it out. Bill Magie was certainly a canoe country legend.

Explored the entire lake including the old campsite in the NW corner. It had a gently sloping rock face running down to the lake which made for a nice landing. The tent pad located just above was completely saturated. (Glad to see we weren't the only site) Could probably squeeze 2 small tents in there if you had to? There was even a faint trail running up behind camp which provided a marginal overlook of the lake.

Further explorations revealed another viable site. The small peninusula that juts out from the north & seperates the two lobes of the lake is also home to a decent prospective campsite. Indeed it appears it has been used for just that.

A small rock fire pit has been constructed. And there are two small but, viable tent pads. IMHO this would be my preferred camp if I were to spend a night or two here. Being a peninsula, it also offers shore fishing opportunities in several different directions.
There were several spots around the lake that provided evidence that others had been there. Later, when looking at the photos taken of our day here on Neglige, Vickie commented that the weather was much more placid that what they had experienced while at camp on Knife lake. Still we had the occasional shower & the wind picked up now & again. So, it wasn't all roses here either. Just pink lady slippers. :)

As we started paddling back across Trader lake we could see a couple of canoes headed for the Vera portage. Our arrival at the landing coincided with theirs. Weather dominated the conversation. We all complained but, I must admit, their story of woe easily trumped ours. They had been in for the past week. And gave us a detailed account of their shared misfortune & misery. Finding out the hard way that putting a tarp under the tent really pools the water up quickly. Almost all of their gear was wet & had been for the past couple of days. If there was any doubt of the credibility of this story? The weary, beleaguered expressions written across their faces more than confirmed it as gospel truth. They had aspirations of making it all the way back to Moose lake yet today. (It was after 4:00) In parting we wished each other well & hoped for some sunshine in the near future.

The weather seemed to worsen the closer we got to Knife. Paddled through some walleye chop on Knife before pulling into our back bay. Supper was already on the grate. Perfect timing! (at least for Ross & I)

We had put together some foil packs of hamburger with various vegetables. Added to that, was the fresh fish filets we grilled up as well. Megan & Morgan marveled at the orange meat. The finished product disappeared quickly so no one must've had any qualms about the taste of "orange" filets.

Undoubtedly what saved us from an almost certain mutiny on this trip was the fact that the girls had brought some various electronic gadgets to keep their minds occupied. What with all the cold & rain we had, it's a wonder the batteries held out!

Everyone taking time to keep an eye on Aurora, even if just for a short while, was also a tremendous help. And, simply keeping a positive attitude through these trying conditions. While everyone complained about the cold & rain at one time or another. No one did so much so, that they crossed the line & began to drag the group morale down.
Vera Lake, Trader Lake, Neglige Lake