Saganaga-Mack-Kawnipi-Falls Chain and Deep Thoughts
by pcallies
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
06/20/2023
Entry & Exit Point:
Quetico
Number of Days:
8
Group Size:
2
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (12 messages)
Day 2 of 8
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
* We woke about 5:45 to a strange sound. In our grogginess, we thought the first few calls was a wolf. After waking up more and listening to a few more calls, we decided it was a moose. Pretty cool!
* We made pancakes and sausages for breakfast while a wood duck flew circles around the camp and occasionally landed in trees above us. It obviously had a nest somewhere in camp.
* On the water at 8:55. Arrived at camp about 5:00. Long, hot, hard day. I’m in piss poor physical condition and the portages today kicked my ass, especially the one-mile portage from Ross to Cullen. It wasn’t technically difficult, but the lack of strength in my glutes and quads made it impossible for me to carry the food pack and canoe up and down the hills for that distance. My wife on the other hand is carrying her weight and also taking care of me with food and water. Lots of water. So much water to try to stay hydrated.
* As we entered the narrows from Saganagons to Bitchu, an osprey took off from a branch just above the water 10 yards to our left. We looked up to our right and saw two eagles sitting in trees.
* There are many tall, dead pine trees rising from the forest, ghosts marking the time since the last fire ripped through this area.
* The portage from Bitchu to Ross is up the creek and over one beaver dam contrary to some maps that have it starting in the lake.
* Ross was a pretty lake with high hills around it.
* While my wife was making lunch I took the canoe across the portage from Cullen to Mack. I twisted my ankle and dropped the canoe about 1/3 of the way across. I left the canoe and continued on to try to scout a way around the bog I’d heard was there. As I walked the path, momma grouse and some chicks scurried from alongside the path. The chicks scattered further down the path which left momma and me in a standoff. I repeatedly shoed her along and was eventually allowed to pass.
* As feared, the end of the portage into Mack was a bog. My wife was properly introduced to “loon shit”. Her left leg sunk in above the knee. She dug mud from around her leg with her hands. Eventually she was able to pull her foot out. Then she had to dig her shoe out.
* I tied our Wally divers at the end of the portage into Mack. I sat in the canoe while the canoe was resting on the grass of a floating bog. After paddling out of the extreme shallows, I worked on getting the depth finder ready. My wife said, “if I was my dad, I’d have already caught a fish.“ She tossed her Wally diver out and started to retrieve it. A fish hit it hard. She got it up to the boat and it was the first walleye of the trip - a nice 20-incher that would feed us both for dinner. I lifted it into the boat by the lip of the Wally diver against my better judgement but I didn’t want to mess around because we needed dinner.
* We made the long remaining paddle up Mack, stopping along the way to clean the walleye. We got our preferred 4-star campsite on the north end of the lake. Previous campers left a griddle in the fire pit, fish skin on the shore, a rubber gecko lure on the shore, and a walleye skeleton about 10 feet into the lake - sigh. (We reported this to the ranger and sent an email to Park Superintendent Trevor Gibb.)
* We saw two lady slippers near the end of the long portage into Cullen. We thought of my father-in-law, and longtime paddling partner, who loves lady slippers.
* Once at camp, we set up the tent and swam. We wrapped the fish filets in a wet shirt to keep them cool while we had happy hour. Good to sit and relax.
* Saw a family of three on the long portage, the only people we saw all day.
* We woke about 5:45 to a strange sound. In our grogginess, we thought the first few calls was a wolf. After waking up more and listening to a few more calls, we decided it was a moose. Pretty cool!
* We made pancakes and sausages for breakfast while a wood duck flew circles around the camp and occasionally landed in trees above us. It obviously had a nest somewhere in camp.
* On the water at 8:55. Arrived at camp about 5:00. Long, hot, hard day. I’m in piss poor physical condition and the portages today kicked my ass, especially the one-mile portage from Ross to Cullen. It wasn’t technically difficult, but the lack of strength in my glutes and quads made it impossible for me to carry the food pack and canoe up and down the hills for that distance. My wife on the other hand is carrying her weight and also taking care of me with food and water. Lots of water. So much water to try to stay hydrated.
* As we entered the narrows from Saganagons to Bitchu, an osprey took off from a branch just above the water 10 yards to our left. We looked up to our right and saw two eagles sitting in trees.
* There are many tall, dead pine trees rising from the forest, ghosts marking the time since the last fire ripped through this area.
* The portage from Bitchu to Ross is up the creek and over one beaver dam contrary to some maps that have it starting in the lake.
* Ross was a pretty lake with high hills around it.
* While my wife was making lunch I took the canoe across the portage from Cullen to Mack. I twisted my ankle and dropped the canoe about 1/3 of the way across. I left the canoe and continued on to try to scout a way around the bog I’d heard was there. As I walked the path, momma grouse and some chicks scurried from alongside the path. The chicks scattered further down the path which left momma and me in a standoff. I repeatedly shoed her along and was eventually allowed to pass.
* As feared, the end of the portage into Mack was a bog. My wife was properly introduced to “loon shit”. Her left leg sunk in above the knee. She dug mud from around her leg with her hands. Eventually she was able to pull her foot out. Then she had to dig her shoe out.
* I tied our Wally divers at the end of the portage into Mack. I sat in the canoe while the canoe was resting on the grass of a floating bog. After paddling out of the extreme shallows, I worked on getting the depth finder ready. My wife said, “if I was my dad, I’d have already caught a fish.“ She tossed her Wally diver out and started to retrieve it. A fish hit it hard. She got it up to the boat and it was the first walleye of the trip - a nice 20-incher that would feed us both for dinner. I lifted it into the boat by the lip of the Wally diver against my better judgement but I didn’t want to mess around because we needed dinner.
* We made the long remaining paddle up Mack, stopping along the way to clean the walleye. We got our preferred 4-star campsite on the north end of the lake. Previous campers left a griddle in the fire pit, fish skin on the shore, a rubber gecko lure on the shore, and a walleye skeleton about 10 feet into the lake - sigh. (We reported this to the ranger and sent an email to Park Superintendent Trevor Gibb.)
* We saw two lady slippers near the end of the long portage into Cullen. We thought of my father-in-law, and longtime paddling partner, who loves lady slippers.
* Once at camp, we set up the tent and swam. We wrapped the fish filets in a wet shirt to keep them cool while we had happy hour. Good to sit and relax.
* Saw a family of three on the long portage, the only people we saw all day.
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