Trip log - Kiosk Loop: Sept. 6 to 13, 2015 - Day 4

Three Mile Lake to Erables Lake

Today's route:

Lots of walking today

It was a noisy night, I guess that's the rule of thumb on high, windy points. It rained a bit overnight. I slept a bit better, waking up at 1:30 for a nature break, I lay awake for a couple of hours before falling asleep again. I got up at 6:20 a.m. The first thing I did was check my hammock. As I was settling in the night before, every time I turned over I heard the sound of ripping stitches. I wasn't frightened enough to get out of bed to try to figure out what exactly was giving way. I probably wouldn`t see much in the dark anyways. My initial assumption was that it was the stitching holding my down under comforter. Fortunately that was it. It was ripping along the width, also the best option. If it was along the side, it would hang down and not be very effective. Well there's always duct tape!

I filled the kettle, primed the stove, boiled some water, then went off to get the bear bag down. I dragged all the bags back under the tarp and made some tea. Breakfast was dehydrated eggs with dried canned ham. After letting it sit in boiling water for a bit, I ended up boiling it for a short period to get the last of the liquid absorbed or boiled off. I made myself a single lunch for later in the day after checking with LT if he wanted to have lunch today. He packed himself some pretty awesome snacks this trip. He bagged them in Ziplocs, two days per bag. He did a really good job planning these snack mixes, he came home with just a little bit. The key is to bring enough not to be hungry, but not so much that you're carrying food out when you leave.

We knocked out portage #13 pretty quickly. There was a funny noise at the beginning of the portage, I barely heard it. Our routine is that LT puts my backpack on for me, I get my trekking poles and set up, he puts his pack on, then he picks up the canoe. I start down the path first, jingling my bear bell as I go. I get a bit of a head start then he catches up to me.

We did portage #14 and when we got to the end LT noticed that the bailer part of the safety kit was not attached to the bailer lid. Oops. The safety kit holds a rope with a small float, a whistle, and the bottom of the safety kit is a bright orange plastic container that can be used to bail with. It screws into the lid and the constant jostling of it dangling off the back of the canoe when it was being carried on portages was enough to unscrew it and allow it to fall unnoticed. 

Okay, a bit of backtracking here, we walked back to the start of the portage. What an easy lope with no backpack! However it was nowhere to be seen. Being bright orange it would have been obvious so we must have dropped it at the beginning of the first portage of the day.  

Funky tree at portage end

My footwear. This trip I had a pair of flip flops to wear around the campsite. I only had one other pair of shoes, my Keen sandals. Today I had them on with my wool socks. I can get these shoes wet and they dry pretty easily. They are good when having to walk in water where the bottom is iffy. We've seen a lot of mussels on this trip so far. I have a toe that gives me trouble as it has decided it is going to bend itself in an exaggerated fashion and it rubs in these sandals. I'd made myself a protector out of duct tape the last couple of days. But today it was just me, the socks and my Keens.

Halfway through portage #15 today (1,490m), halfway through the day, halfway through the trip, we were walking over some boardwalks. These boardwalks are placed to help people get over wet spots, they are usually about 2 feet wide, 3 planks, and not very high off the ground, depending. And various lengths. With the rain last night they were slippery and despite the many times I've warned LT to be careful, I fell. Falling is one thing, but going down with an extra 50 pounds on your back, well, it's not pretty. I had gone over on my ankle, but I do that often enough they're used to it. But I also felt something give in my knee. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!

I had no choice. I couldn't quit. I couldn't call a cab. We rested for a bit, after LT had to put the canoe down and come rescue me. I had to take my bag off and let him help me up. After the short rest, we continued. It hurt, it really, really hurt. Not on the flats, not going up, but going down, that's where it hurt. Thank God I had my hiking poles.

We stopped at the portage end and I ate my single lunch from the Thermos here, looking into Dahinda Lake. This time I ate it ALL!

Landing at the end of North Sylvia Lake

As we started into the narrows going into Maple Lake we saw flying overhead, very close to us, probably only 30 feet up, a beautiful bald eagle! It was an amazing site!

Setting up for the last portage of the day

We crossed this on the way - why aren't the portages ON the road???

Our first taste of Erables Lake, mmmmm sweet!

When we stopped for the day, we had chosen a very hilly site. Our prettiest one so far. But OMG it was hard walking around the site. I was very lucky. I had a ton of ibuprofhen with me. Okay, not a ton, but a full bottle. I wished I had a tensor wrap. I was worried all evening as tomorrow would be the toughest portage day so far.

We landed at our campsite at 4:45. Lots of time to get set up and make dinner NOT in the dark. Dinner was pasta again. LT helped out by tearing up the tomato sauce leather I make to see if it would rehydrate faster. Dessert was raspberry crumble. I rehydrated the raspberries in the Thermos and that worked so well, I would use it from now on for this trip to rehydrate the fruit for the night's dessert.

LT set up a clothesline to dry anything that had gotten wet from the previous night`s rain. With the wind blowing through this site, it took no time at all to dry everything. 

Tonight`s hilly campsite

Our clothesline was super efficient

Tonight we had a pink sky!

Today's numbers:

Portage #13: 550m

Portage #14: 660m 

Portage #15: 1,490m

Portage #16: 390m
Portage #17: 170m

Total portage distance for the day: 3.26 km

Total distance for the day: 13.9 km

Total time spent travelling: 6:15 hours

Other posts for this trip:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 5
• Day 6
• Day 7
• Trip overview
• Food planning for a 7-day trip
• What made it back