Day 11: 08-20-08 Wednesday

Lakes / Rivers: Scrag Lake, Grayson River, Arril Lake, Grayson Lake and the Grayson River

Distance: 21 km (13.1 miles)

Portages: 2

Swifts paddled: 2

Swifts lined: 2

Time: 6:41

Pete got up out of the tent so I decided to do the same until I realized it was 0445 am. The alarm would be going off in 40 minutes. Pete didn’t hear it. I eventually got out of the tent at 0538 am.

Dick was up pulling out of the food pack what Dave would be cooking up for breakfast. I started the fire and put the coffee on. This was one of the few mornings some loons were calling at the end of the lake. The fire was crackling and popping to the sounds of the loons in the background.

Dave was up at 0606 am and he started making breakfast. I took some photos of the sky at 0609 am while there was an orange glow in the east. There was a cool breeze, but not a cool as yesterday.

Once breakfast of bacon, buckwheat “hippie pancakes, dried fruit and coffee was done we got packed up and on the water at 0749 am.

We started paddling to the NE from our campsite through the narrows and found a campsite to our left on a point. It hadn’t been used this year and it appeared to be a 2 x 2 campsite.

I had a swift marked on my map, but I don’t recall if there was any fast water or not.

The next portage was on river left. I stepped it off at 290. There were a few trees over the trail.

The Grayson River is a very, clear river. We actually noticed a change in the water clarity on Scrag Lake yesterday, but with the shallow water on the Grayson it was really noticeable. There was an old beaver dam blocking the downstream of the river.

The next portage I stepped off at 493 and from Phil Cotton’s records showed the portage at 490 meters. There was some flagging at the beginning of the portage and one cairn along the trail.

A total of seven trees were across the trail. Three of them were Jack Pines, one right after another. Dave and I stopped to pick some nice size blueberries for a couple minutes on our walk back across the portage.

The portage was marked as 89 meters long. We paddled the river up until the last 30 meters when we got out and lined that section.

We were now less than 1 km to the opening of Arril Lake when we came across the first of two campsites. This first 2 x 2 campsite hadn’t been used for some time. Less than 1 km away on the south shore of the lake was the second site that could be used as a 2 x 4 site, although it had only been used recently as a shore lunch site. Inside the fireplace were two cans, two single coffee filters/ pouches, and some foil pouches.

I find it simply amazing that most of the culprits who are leaving cans and other junk at the camp sites are those who are flown in by float plane to an outpost, then use a motorboat to go fishing. They are the ones who could very easily pack up their junk, put it back in the motorboat and throw it in the garbage can at the outpost. I know it isn’t all of them, but so far that seems to the majority of what we’ve seen so far. Just plain laziness!

There was an outpost about 2 km to the east, so Pete and I paddled over in that direction while Dave and Dick paddled NE across Arril lake. Just south of the channel that goes east was a large sand beach. I made a notation on my topo map of its location.

We stopped on an island campsite for lunch at 1122 am. This was our destination spot today, but we all agreed it was too early to stop. We decided to paddle another 10 km to another campsite, so that tomorrow’s paddle would be shorter. We left the island at 1145 am.

After leaving Arril Lake we paddled down a short swift. We lined the next long one that was a couple hundred meters at least. If we wanted to take a portage we would have had to paddle into a bay prior to paddling through the first swift. In hindsight even if we took the portage it probably came out along the swift that we lined, so it wouldn’t have done anything for us.

On Grayson Lake we could feel the full effect of the intense hot sun and there wasn’t any wind. I could tell Pete was getting tired due to his ever increasing slower recovery rate of his paddle stroke. He finally crawled from the bow to the middle of the canoe so he could get his water bottle out of his pack. He was also wearing one of those long sleeved nylon shirts that don’t breathe. I don’t like to wear those types of shirts unless there is a cool wind then I use these shirts more as a windbreaker.

Last year I did a solo trip to Quetico of 161 miles, http://www.bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=forum.thread&threadId=50925&forumID=19&confID=1 , and just about everyday it was in the high 80 to low 90’s. One day I put on a similar shirt to keep the burning sun off my skin and within a short time I could feel my body temperature dangerously increasing. I wasn’t wearing a PFD like we have been on this trip. I knew Pete had to be over heating.

We turned to the east at the south end of Grayson Lake where we came upon a portage on river left. Phil Cotton had it marked as 223 meters while I stepped it off at 262. There was a rock cairn marking the start of the portage.

There had been very little use of the portages that we have traveled today. The campsites that we have checked have had no use because there has been grass or moss growing in the fire rings. Only one site had some use and it appeared to have only been used for a shore lunch site based up the cans in the fire ring.

We got to our current campsite at 0220 pm. This site hasn’t been used this year. I re-did the fire ring to accommodate our grill for cooking. Pete put up the tarp. Dave set up his tent. I put up Pete’s tent after I was done with the fire ring. Dick gathered firewood.

Dave and I went over my notes on today’s route and we both made notations to each of our maps.

Today was very hot, very little wind. There was nothing, but blue skies for paddling. Now at camp the clouds have been rolling in. Dave said most of the inclement weather comes in from the west in this park.

Dick didn’t carry any packs across the portages today, but he did help line Dave’s canoe with him.

Pete cooked Tortellini with a Cheddar and broccoli soup. He added some sausage to it, also. It was very good.

I washed dishes and Pete rinsed while I put some coffee on the fire. Next, Pete is going to mix up some blueberry muffin mix for dessert.

Earlier when we had just crossed the first portage out of Grayson Lake we saw a helicopter circling the skies to the east. They also had a rescue basket attached to their landing gear. They circled a couple times, and then flew over us. It appeared they were checking us out, but they left when they saw we weren't in any trouble.

Pete cooked up the muffins. They were a nice treat tonight. Dick went to the tent shortly after having his muffin. The mosquitoes came out around 0900 pm so I went and put on my long sleeved wool underwear shirt. The three of us went to our tents at 0945 pm. I needed to take the long sleeve shirt off while in the tent because it was too hot. It was warm outside.