Lost Canoe Again

 

Early August is a good season to be outside. Dry enough to keep the bugs down and usually avoid the rain too.  Amy and I played host to Scott and Sonya again this year but on the lakes and in the canoes rather than under the harness of a backpack.  We hadn’t been back in the canoe since our first trip a few years ago and we were both eager to get back on the water.  We headed to Hidden lakes Canoe area again.  We had some new canoe packs to try and packed more drinks and underwear this time too, although we did far less skinny dipping.

I was impressed at how well/efficient we portaged. Amy carried her Duluth pack and we were back and forth in two trips.  We set up camp along the portage trail to Lost canoe lake.  It was a nice flat site with plenty of room to spread out the tents and hammocks.  Amy cut some firewood for the fire, we planned soldi meals: kabobs the first night and grilled steaks the second night.  We weren’t exactly roughing it. We fished on all three lakes, spent one day portaging and canoeing the loop from Pallet to Lost Canoe to Escanaba back to Pallet.  We had good fishing on Lost canoe and found a really cool back water grotto with a small entry point on the west side of Lost Canoe Lake.  Lost Canoe also gave us a great lunch spot on an open spit knoll of land.  We ate apples and salmon with tortillas.  With our bellies filled we completed the loop to a near hidden portage.  It was a long haul to Escanaba and I was glad to have the new portage pads.  We lounged around camp and watched a chewed up little vole giving it his all in the leaves near the table.  I set up a tarp before the rain came and we laughed at my attempt as the wind billowed it and we sat dry under Scott’s tarp.  The second night the moon was full and we sat in awe at the beauty of the stars and moon reflecting off the surface of the lake.  We spent plenty of time paddling and fishing on Pallet Lake and Amy caught a big bass and netted it too. She did refuse to ‘lip’ the bass preferring instead to dip the net for the release.