On the paddle back to camp we stopped in a shallow bay for some nice dry driftwood that was stranded up high. We had a quick lunch back at camp. Pita bread and peanut butter filled me up. No one else was at camp. Sal is still out fishing and Dave, Stainless and Guncho are in sight coming back. We got on our way and passed them near shore. They were coming back from the fire tower. As I find out later, Dave H climbed the tower! Son-of-a-gun! I was jealous as heck when I was told later………errrrrrrr. To be honest, I thought he would be the last to try it…I have to think of him as a wild dude now! LOL.

From the river, towards the tower

The paddle across the bay was a long one with some cross wind. It was 12:30 now and I looked hard across the way for the portage from Hogan. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the portage. A wooded dock area had no gear on it. No canoe either. I left Laurie at the landing and walked up the trail to find them. I walked about 1.5km before I saw Joan. First word she says to me "what took you so long!" I laughed…"Sorry Joan".

After a short welcome, how do you do, I took off farther up the trail to grab some gear for them. I told her to stay at the landing and relax with Laurie. Joan had a large canoe pack and there were still 2 barrels and canoe to come across. I came up to the large barrel first and a little distance farther down the trail was the small barrel. I went back and picked up the large barrel. The sucker was heavy! I took this down the trail in a hurry, dropped it off at the landing, said hi to the girls and went back up. About a 1km, Markus was in sight. "Hey buddy, good to see you" Markus had the small barrel and had his camera in action. I told him I would go get his canoe. He was happy that I did. This portage was brutal with a large hill around the halfway mark. I’ll take their word for it. I am sure Markus will have a trip log of this portage in the future. I headed up the trail and found his canoe up on a canoe rest, waiting for assistance. I headed back down to the landing with his canoe. Markus, Joan and Laurie were chatting up a storm and everyone had smiles ear to ear. The weather was beautiful today with temps in upper 70’s (25 c).

We got Markus’s canoe loaded up and on our way to camp. We took our time and made some chit-chat along the way. About halfway back across Big Crow we thought we heard someone calling and a horn. Not sure. With some wind and making some small talk, I could not tell where it was coming from. I could see Sal trolling toward the fire tower. Few minutes later, we could see another canoe come out of the shadows of the south-west shore. 2 people in this canoe….could this be Racoon? Not sure.

Markus and Joan leaving the portage

Their loaded canoe

At the far right around the corner, Racoon was arriving.

We got back to camp around 3:00pm. 5-10 minutes later that canoe we saw was coming to our camp…Racoon! He had someone else with him, not his wife as was planned before we left for the trip. It was Swedish Pimple! What the? We had a great AA reunion!

Markus and Joan arriving at our site

Racoon and Swedish Pimple arriving also

The beach is getting full of canoes. Sal’s is missing .. still fishing.

Swedish Pimple had some boat motor problems and decided to stay on Proulx. Racoon was going thru Proulx and saw a guy by himself on shore. After a few words back and forth, Racoon and Swed had a drink together. Swed decided to go for short trip into Big Crow. Racoon could not stay long, as he had to be home Sunday afternoon. By 5 he would leave to be back at his campsite on Opeongo before nightfall. That way, he just had to deal with Opeongo on the way out. Racoon quickly unloaded the supplies for Markus and Joan. They spent an hour sorting out their supplies for the rest of their trip. As I sat and watched, Raccon was busy making up something. He made up a plate of shrimp with sauce in the middle. What a guy! He walked around and offered everyone a treat. Cool dude. We took a group picture before Racoon and Swed left by 5:30. A little later then he wanted too.

From top left .. Markus, Dave H., Guncho, Stainless, Racoon
From bottom left .. Salvelinus, Swedish Pimple, Joan, Laurie, Mike B

Markus and Joan organizing.

As I find out after the trip, Raccon did not get to his site before dark at all! It took him a ˝ hour to find the portage sign (no flashlight). He headed up the portage 400 meters before he tried looking for his flashlight again. He was thinking before this that he would just camp on the trail. He found it this time. He finally got to Opeongo to hear waves breaking on shore! He paddled to his site near-by on Opeongo. He was smart to leave a glow stick by shore before he left and had campfire firewood ready to be lit. Next morning he paddled all the way out fighting winds and brutal waves. He got to the docks around 2:00 pm.! It took him 5 hours to make the distance. I think that was awesome with the conditions he had to deal with.

Rest time .. learned this from Markus!

End of Part 4 - Mike and Laurie Burns