Sunday, December 27, 2009

Day 18: Thursday, 09-03-09

Lakes / Rivers Traveled:


North Annette Lake
South Annette Lake
Butland Lake


Travel Time: 6:06


Distance: 6.0 miles / 9.7 km

I was able to write some in my journal last night. I also slept pretty good. I slept on an incline last night, but the pad kind of slid kitty corner in the tent so it worked out.


I woke up at 12:24 am then a few minutes later it began to rain. Just a few sprinkles to start with then some more bigger drops. Not sure how long it rained, but it was enough to get everything wet. When I woke up again at 04:00 am it wasn’t raining. Woke up again at 05:00 am knowing I had one more hour of sleep if only if I could do so.


At 05:30 am there were a few more sprinkles or rain drops dripping from the tree. I think it’s rain.


Finally at 06:05 am I decided to get dressed. It took some time getting the fire started this morning due to the wood being wet. The real small stuff was burning, but I needed to keep adding a bunch more smaller stuff to dry out the slightly bigger pieces to get some coals. Dave got up and gathered some more wood for me. It took a long time but finally the coffee began to perk.


The lake is very calm with lots of mist in the air. Very few clouds so maybe it will stay clear.






We were all packed up at 08:33 where we started hauling our gear down the trail we cut yesterday to get back to the canoe. The campsite has a nice view, but the access is a different matter. It’s warm out already.


We got the canoe in the water at 08:51 am. At 09:13 am we got to our first beaver obstruction. We were able to paddle over the beaver activity while scraping over the rocks. The second part of this area we just dragged the canoe through.







The next area we needed to portage. (UTM # 73). The portage was 63 meters long. Put-in (UTM # 74). This portage begins at some rocks then goes through some low lands. Wet!



Done with that portage at 10:06 am and back on the water.


At 10:33 am we were at the start of the two longer portages. Take out (UTM # 75). The length was 404 meters long, the last 105 meters were really wet, There were 17 trees over the portage. Put-in (UTM # 76). I’m across at 12:11 pm. Dave was here a couple minutes later. This portage comes to a deep little pond with a floating bog surrounding it. While standing at the edge be careful as you’ll quickly sink and possibly fall it.







It’s only a short distance across the pond to begin the second portage to Butland Lake. (UTM # 77). It’s 12:28 pm when we started across the portage. Dave took the food pack with his saw this time and I took a pack and saw. Dave was ahead of me cutting our way across the wet portage. We got to the put-in at 01:03 pm.


We had lunch at the put-in. (UTM #78) Afterwards, it was time to bring the remainder of the gear across. It was a sunny, hot day. This portage was 547 meters long and was pretty much wet the entire distance. It took me 21 minutes for my second carry. I took my shirt off and walked into Butland Lake splashing my body with water in an attempt to cool off.


Done with my third carry at 02:57 pm. I saw some more bear scat on the trail. We were back on the water at 03:10 pm. The top part of Butland Lake is very shallow.


We came upon the Butland Outpost at 03:57 pm. (UTM # 79) There was no one around. We saw some trash thrown in the fire ring so someone had been here recently. We hoped that they wouldn’t mine us using their lawn to pitch our tents. The sign does say, “Welcome to Butland Lake”.



We set up our tents and air dried our other gear including our sleeping bags. Afterwards I went to the lake and took a much needed bath. It felt so good.



We made a pot of coffee while I sat and listened to Dave talk about some of his past fly-in adventures to the Brooke’s Range in Alaska.


I’m not sure which outpost this was because the map inside the cabin said, Wawaig Lake Outfitter’s, but on the propane tanks had WNO (Wilderness North Outfitters). Probably the latter.



Dave cooked dinner, then he made some “hippie pancakes” for dessert. We each had a mocha, also.


We burned up the trash that was still in the fire ring from the last guest who stayed at the outpost.

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