Exploration Week!

 The first day of exploration week was one of few really nice days. The wilderness surrounded us with birds, tracks, trees and clear waters.

 Our first portage was short in comparison to the ones to come later in the week. There was one where we carried the canoes with some of the packs in them across the small strip of land. The longest one was on the second day and then again coming back. It took taking two trips for each person and carrying the canoes to get across to the next lake.

Aaron and Russel go through the first portage in good spirits and we all succeed in continuing that way through the week. We all were so excited to be out in the wild that we didn't dell much on the bad weather or uncomfortable living. We had what we brought and that's all we needed.

 The scenery in the portages was amazing. There was so much wilderness, untouched by man. It seemed to grow in a more natural and wild way.

This is Paige carrying her packs.

Gwen is happy to start the trip.

   At our first camp site we found lots of different animal tracks. There was deer, raccoon, birds, and maybe even a coyote. All the tracks washed away with the rain the next morning.

 

Though it rained and hailed the whole week, we had tons of fun. Aaron's shoe melted down in the fire till there was nothing left to see, while my water shoes also melted a little bit on the side. Gwen made shoes out of plastic bags duct taped over her flats. The fire would be roaring every morning during breakfast and every night after dinner. All of our wet shoes, socks and bandannas dried quickly over the fire. We roasted socks on sticks like marshmallows. On the last night we went on a gorgeous night paddle, with the moon clear above us.

After the night paddle I wrote in my journal by firelight:

"The blue of my pants and yellow of my life jacket, fade to a grey, matching the tone of my jacket till it was all the same. The water looked like a black oasis, that when putting your hand in seems as if your hand would never come out again. And the temperature of the water was so perfect that when your hand got wet, you could barely tell. The clouds looked like the sky, lit by the crescent moon. And the sky was so black, but had the stars, and the clouds did not. This was the only way you could tell which was which. The silence fills your mind and you think of nothing but of how beautiful it is."