Sunday, August 28, 2011

Joel was up quite early this morning. He could be heard packing up his things. Wanting to get on the water before the wind had any chance of whipping up. His opinion on the handling prowess of the Prism pretty well etched in stone.

While waiting for the rest of us to get our things packed up; some last second fishing was in order.

Everyone had a quick breakfast of Clif bars or pop tarts. We had 2 of the canoes loaded up ready to go. With only the Pearl sitting empty waiting for Aurora to finish her breakfast so we could pack her things away. Hannah & Colton were about to shove off when Hannah looked off towards the narrows and exclaimed, "Hey! There's a moose swimming over there!"

Through the morning mist the immense "paddles" of a bull moose could be perceived swimming just across the bay from us.

Joel & I hopped into the Black Pearl and paddled over to get a closer look. My camera was still a bit fogged up so the pictures quality wasn't as good as I had hoped for but, you get the idea. Hannah & Colton paddled over as well to take a better look before starting their trek back to the EP landing. We later surmised; that it was a good thing we had to wait an extra 10-15 minutes for Aurora or we likely would've met that bull face to face in the narrows? As it was; it ended up being an awesome climatic send off.

One problem we'd had with Aurora in the canoe was that her feet were getting wet. Our wet footing entry/exiting transferred enough water onto the floor of the canoe to get her feet wet as they hung over the edge the the foam pad we had for her. Colton suggested we put a ziplock baggy over her legs. And that's just what we did.

Worked like a charm.

Yet again we were blessed with idyllic paddling weather. The good fortune we enjoyed on this trip in regards to this was not lost on me. I was very thankful.

We caught up with Hannah & Colton about half way back. We paddled with them the rest of the way. Apparently it was a popular time to leave the lake? There were no fewer than 4 seperate groups funneling toward the bay of the EP landing. We all managed to stay out of each others way. It probaby helped that after unloading our gear & setting everything off to the side; Joel & I took the Prism back to Sawbill Outfitters while Vickie and the kids waited.

To pass time while waiting Hannah & Colton set about catching several frogs that were there in the weedy shallows. Not sure if Hannah tried to find out if one of them were her prince charming? :)

We returned with cold sodas and loaded everything into the vehicles. We stopped in Tofte to fuel up, then in Schroeder for pizza and ice cream.

And since it was within walking distance............we headed over to the bridge that ran over the Cross river to burn off some of the pizza while enjoying the sights.

This was definitely a trip full of new learning experiences. There were some bumps in the road. But at the end of the day it was still a very good trip. Beyond just having a safe trip we achieved 3 of our primary objectives; 1.) Vickie got her walleye supper. 2.) Hannah got to see her waterfall. 3.) Colton got to see some wildlife up close & personal. And, looking forward, I think we've gained enough confidence to try more ambitious trips with Aurora in the future? Hopefully this was the beginning of many more?

Brule lake

Lakes Traveled:   Brule Lake,