We may earn commissions if you shop through the links below. A Journal by Bryan Hansel 9-22 Day One Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address Subscribe Baker Lake, Peterson Lake, Kelly Lake, Jack Lake, Weird Lake, S. Temperance Lake, N. Temperance Lake, Sitka Lake, end on Cherokee Lake (site west of last portage) approximately 11 miles. Put in today at 10:00 AM after driving threw the night and only stopping at a rest stop for 3 hours. I missed the turn for Baker Lake and drove a little further, so I’m going to cut the gas close for the return trip to town. On the drive from the ranger station to Baker I saw a dog like animal standing in the middle of the road in the haze from slight fog and rain. It was huge. It looked at my car and then took off into the woods. I assume it was a Wolf — a lone wolf just standing in the road in the mist and picking its own way in life. Join REI and Earn $30 towards your next gear purchase. The portages today were tough. With no sleep and little memory of how hard it is to portage, they were a surprise. My back is killing me right now. The leaves are turning colors. They are beautiful, but I didnt get much of chance to shoot pictures. It was raining, or misting, or sprinkling the whole day. South Temperance was my favorite lake today. The lake is high in elevation, islands dot its surface and the blow downs from the 1998 windstorm were growing back. The fall colors were red, yellow, and orange all saturated against the white trunks with no branches of the aspens and birch left standing from the storm. It almost seemed like you could touch the clouds. Another soloist had taken the campsite on the South Temperance that I wanted, so I pushed on and both of the sites on the North Temperance were occupied. I tried to find the third, which the map marked on an island, but it looked like blow downs had destroyed it. My only option was to get over to Cherokee Lake. 245 rods (3920 feet) later I managed to find an open site. As I walked to the lake I looked to the north site, which was taken. I about gave up, but I loaded my boat and pushed out into the wind and found a site that was close-by. I could see the other site to my north from were I was at, but the joy it gave me to come ashore and know that I was staying here filled me. I can’t believe the number of people up here this fall, and I wanted solitude. I’m a little lonely after day one and wondered why I came up here alone. Is it for the solitude or companionship? I Cliff Jacobsoned my food today, because I was too tired to hang it. My trip could be over in the morning if Cliff’s scheme of scent proofing the food and putting it in a dry bag and stashing it on the ground outside of camp fails. I’m so tired I wouldn’t mind. Tomorrow is another long day. I head into the Frost River System, or maybe I’ll sleep late and then paddle six miles to the next site. Should have brought a fishing pole. I’m a little concerned about being alone this long. I may cut my trip short. I’m not sure yet. Before I left Wes and I had a conversation while leaning up against the map case surrounded by boats at the local canoe and kayak shop. “What if you get hurt?”” he asked. “I’ll paddle out.”” “What if you break your leg?”” he asked. “I’ll fix it and limp out.” “What if you break your wrist and can’t paddle?”” “I’ll tie my paddle to my arm.”” “What if you get sick?”” “I’ll get better.” “What if the lakes freeze up?” “It’s too early.” “What if your tarp blows away? Don’t you think you should bring a tent?” “No, and I’ll sleep under my canoe,” I answered. 9-23 Day Two Cherokee Lake, 15 rd, Gordon Lake, 140 rd, Unload Lake, 40 rd, Frost Lake, camped on northwest most site next to a stream. 6 miles. The quiet here on Frost Lake is so overwhelming that any sound falls like the end of the world. I can hear my ears ringing. To recount the day& Woke up at 8:00AM to rain and drizzle, so I started to get ready for the day but stopped. Spray blown under my tarp all night long pelted me. I slide further under my tarp and my feet stuck out the door. I redid my tarp and got back in and fell asleep until 12:30. The rain stopped and I packed up. As I ate lunch on the rock in front of my campsite, the clouds started to part, and the sun broke. By the time I paddled out of the site, the day had become partly cloudy. So, I spent time photographing Cherokee Lake. The portage out of Cherokee and onto Gordon was easy. I remembered it from last year. At the start of the portage to Unload Lake, I met Bob, who was also doing the Frost River. We talked about how excited we were to do this river. I recognized his rain jacket, canoe and dog as the same who were at the campsite I wanted on the North Temperance. His dog was very friendly and loved to be petted. I shot some photos across the portage and burned a roll at Unload Lake. My packs are much better today. I put my lunches in my Daypack and used my Therm-a-rest as a frame for my Duluth Pack. It also fit into the canoe better that way. I would still have to place the pack into the canoe sideways and then twist it between the narrow gunwales of my Bell Magic to get it into position to lay flat on the floor of the canoe. Frost Lake is a huge lake protected by big portages. On the map it looks very deep, many topo lines. In the center a single rock sticks out of the water. I paddled to it on route to my campsite. There were rocks underwater around it, so I wedged my canoe onto them and took pictures. Some minnows at the surface of the water seemed to stare at me. I bet this lake has some bigger fish just waiting to get their mouth around these small minnows. When I reached my campsite, I could see that the shore was a large curving sand beach. I pulled ashore. I walked up and down the beach before checking out the campsite, and found moose and deer tracks. There is a swampy area to the sites north, which I bet fills with moose in the morning. I set my alarm early and will check it out in the morning. I spent time taking pictures. I almost wish that I had taken a site on the east shore, because the sky lit up with red at sunset. I bet it was something to behold. I imagine Bob and his dog watched it from their east shore site. The after dinner fire sputtered out in a pathetic attempt. A small fire burned slowly and then went out before starting anything else in the tepee of wood I built. 9-24 Day Three Day Three started at 1:30AM when a thunderstorm blew in. This disrupted an otherwise clear and starry night. The Northern Lights were even out. “You missed a great display,”” said Bob the next morning. “I wondered what that was?”” I said. I thought it was just the Milky Way, but trees cut off most of my view to the north. I still think it was just the Milky Way. “At about 9:00,”” he said. “You didn’t see those?” The storm blew in, saturated the sand and forced one of my stakes out of the ground. The stake held the string to a log I was using for a tarp pole. The log crashed down onto my head. I saw a flash of white not lightning and dazed I took a second to figure out what happened. The rain torrented in a while until I finally figured out that a tarp on my face was not good. The head of my down sleeping bag was getting soaked. I jumped to action out of the tarp, set the log upright, staked the rope out, and threw an extra log over the stake. I fought to stay dry the rest of the night. The wind blew so hard that the waves hitting the shore of the beach vibrated through the ground. I felt every break of every wave until the storm ended at about 3:00 AM and I found myself curled up in the middle of the tarp. I woke up too tired to shoot much of the sunrise. The clouds were receding over the lake and at about 7:30 the sun broke through. I ate cereal and milk. It was great to be in the sun. I packed up and paddled off towards my first portage from the Frost Lake into the Frost River. As I lifted my first load, my canoe, I looked out on the Lake and saw Bob and his dog about a 10-minute paddle away from the portage. I thought that he and I must have the same patterns. On the return trip, he labored up hill, and as he passed said, Imagine this. Out of all the times to do the Frost. It looks like we will do it together. I felt a little apprehensive. This was supposed to be a solo trip for me. I wanted to do this without running into another person all day. So, I high tailed the portage and set off down the Frost. The first portage on the river was canoeable, so I canoed it. And as I turned the corner, I saw a moose crossing Octopus Lake. It was huge, and when he saw me he stopped. I snapped a picture, and he did something that made water splash up around him. I had no doubts that his huge rack could easily slip under my canoe and flip me into the cold water. I backed off, and he crossed, disappeared onto the shore. I sped up and saw him shake off all the water in his fur like a giant dog. Then he walked off. The Frost River is mainly small creeks and streams that are dammed by beavers and surrounded on both sides by granite cliffs. It has several runnable rapids. I don’t recommend doing them in a Kevlar canoe. I now have some gel coat repair to do. The leaves where in full fall color today. It made the trip a fiery sight on the eyes. It seemed like a perfect day until mid afternoon when the hail started. I quickly put on rain gear and the sun peaked back out by the time my pants were on. The sun lasted about twenty minutes, and then I saw a wall of rain coming my way. I buttoned up, zipped up and pulled my hood over just in time to be hit by the wind that was blowing the rain sideways. Then the rain. I paddled my hardest into the rain and got nowhere. I burst out in laughter. Then sun. Then rain. Then the rain got old and I opened up the Magic and made up some ground. I got to Afta Lake at about 4:00. I knew that Bob would need to camp here. I paddled on. I didn’t want to have to share a site with him. I made it to Whipped Lake in a...