August 30 - Day 11
Distance: 10.5km (Total 158.9km)
Time: 3hr 39m
Caltopo Map:
https://caltopo.com/m/B8MTMST
I was awoken at 8:45, I could hear the faint sound of a motor, was it a boat, a truck on the highway? It took 90 minutes of idle smoking and a mandarin orange before I managed to boil water for tea and ponder my breakfast options. I decided that a nice 4-egg omelette would be suitable, much to my annoyance my folding spatula was not to be found, the flipping process was only partially successful.
I have been up for three hours, I have not done any packing, I wonder about the odds of getting on the water by 1:00pm. There was a nice mix of sun and cloud, earlier it had been very calm but that was changing somewhat as is the norm most afternoons. As I was packing I found my salamander friend from last night, he was under my Mondo pad. He looked squashed, not moving at all but with a little prodding, he came back to life.
I managed to beat yesterday’s late start but only by less than 5 minutes (2:25pm). No worries, by the end of the day I will have covered about two thirds of the projected total distance, this puts me 3 or 4 days ahead of my theoretical schedule.
I am heading ESE toward the large island and then through the east channel. A modest headwind slows my pace somewhat as I made my way over. I paused in the calm water along with a pair of loons.
While there was a partially sunny sky overhead, ominous black clouds were gathering far to the west, it was time to move on. While paddling toward the narrows I met up with a loon family of five. Just after that encounter I heard the motor sound again, no question about it a motorboat coming north through the narrows. It is moving along the east shore at a moderate pace no doubt headed to the northern inlet where there is a cabin (the three inlets in that section each have a cabin of some sort).
When I entered the narrows, I was hit with a gusty headwind, after moving over to the eastern shore it became a strong tailwind! I had hoped to paddle for another 2 hours, if the storms are moving my way I should probably be looking for a sheltered camp and take the first reasonable one I come to. Another 45 minutes of paddling and I reached a couple of small bays, I found a reasonable spot here. Different from most of my previous camps, there was a lot of driftwood accumulated along the shore, scattered boulders here and there. Fortunately, there was a clear flat space just the right size for the POD so I set up camp.
At sunset, the gusts of wind ceased and all was calm. Tonight’s MIAB is from Happy Yak, a Quebec company that makes some good stuff (top of the price range as well) including many veg options. I am having Pad Thai with Peanuts; it includes many veggies that you can actually identify, a pretty good meal that filled me up. I followed that up with a slice of Cranberry Orange walnut cake (loaf) that I broke out a couple of days earlier. Off to bed relatively early, I am going to make a serious effort to cover more territory that today’s pitiful effort.
