Day 7, Wednesday, June 14 - Whipped Lake to Tuscarora Lake

In the morning, we awake a little later than planned. The sun is already up, and my opportunity for a beautiful misty lake sunrise photo has already evaporated. As Heidi prepares freeze dried blueberry cheesecake to go with our breakfast (hey, what can I say, we had a taste for it), I spend some time photographing the campsite and surrounding scenery.

The Whipped Lake campsite is located at a really nice place on this very pretty lake. It's on a point at a narrows across from a varied landscape that includes rocky shoreline and marshy bog. Again, it looks like an ideal moose hangout, and the usual evidence of their recent presence in and around camp would seem to back this up. The campsite itself is a little cramped and somewhat overgrown, and finding a nice flat tent spot that does not lie in the direct path of one of the many moose trails can be a challenge. But there's a rock ledge out in front of the site, at the very tip of the point, that provides a wonderful panoramic view. I can imagine spending an entire day here bathing in the sun or casting a fishing line. In fact, just last evening, the fish were jumping so much right off this point that I fully expected to have one land in the pot sitting on our fire.

It's too bad we can't stay here longer, but today we need to make enough progress toward our exit point so we can enjoy a final layover day without the worry of being surprised by bad weather and possibly having to travel long distances on our last day. As we pack up and head out, I'm already thinking ahead to a possible future trip that could include another visit to this remarkable area.

Today's route to big Tuscarora Lake will include five portages and four intermediate lakes: Mora, Tarry, Crooked and Owl. The first 100 rod portage to Mora goes very smoothly, as our portaging efficiency continues to improve and our muscles learn to ignore the now ever-persistent aches and fatigue. Reaching the next portage to Tarry requires walking the canoe past some rocks and over submerged tree limbs, but by now this is beginning to seem routine. At the third portage to Crooked Lake, we see something we haven't seen in quite a while - people!

Yes, emerging there at the shoreline are four young men with two canoes. As we wait for the group to clear the portage, we calculate that it's been well over three days since we've seen anyone. We knew we'd begin seeing people again today at some point, but the moment still catches us a little by surprise. As we're watching the group, it becomes apparent that at least one of the canoes is stuck among some boulders. "Great!" I think to myself. "Another boulder field." After some uncomfortable sounds of groaning and scraping aluminum, the canoe is finally freed and the group departs, but as we approach the boulder field we realize that the correct location of the portage is actually about 75 feet up the shoreline to the east. We breath a sigh of relief as the real portage turns out to be a fairly unremarkable one. When we eventually pass the boulder field on our first trip over the portage, it appears that it's an extension of the river bed that we're portaging around. Heidi and I guess that the group had either tried unsuccessfully to run the rapids or maybe just took a wrong turn off the path.

Once on Crooked Lake, we begin to see a lot more people, both on the water and at campsites. Crooked had originally been a place where we had planned to stay, but after spending the extra day on Bologna Lake and with some weather concerns about the next two days, we decided instead to head for the far east side of Tuscarora Lake and get as close as possible to our final day's portage out.

On the portage from Crooked to Owl, we are joined by a group of scouts who are also headed to Tuscarora Lake. Luckily, we have enough of a head start and they're a large enough group that we don't slow them down. After a quick paddle across Owl Lake and a final 63 rod portage to Tuscarora, Heidi and I finally set off onto the largest lake in our entire loop. Shortly after getting under way, we're greeted by an eagle who watches us pass from a nearby treetop. This must be his lake, and he appears to be keeping a very close eye on things.

Fortunately for us, the lake is reasonably calm this evening, and the wind does not cause us a lot of problems. We travel the full length of the lake, following the southern shore from west to east, hoping to find one of the eastern-most sites vacant. As we approach the east side, we notice that most, if not all, of the sites to the north are occupied. In stark contrast to the seclusion we've enjoyed up until this point, it's clear that tonight we'll be sharing the wilderness with a lake full of people. We head around another peninsula toward a campsite in the southeast corner of the lake, and after some searching back and forth, we finally locate it. We're relieved to find the site both vacant and facing the setting sun.

The campsite is perched atop a large rock outcropping, and you must first climb a steep little slope to get up to it from the water. Down at the water's edge, long slabs of flat rock equip the shoreline with a really nice platform that drops off sharply into very deep water. This arrangement makes for a particularly attractive swimming area. Up above, on the large rock outcropping, is the fire grate and a log bench. For some reason, we have trouble keeping a good fire going in this grate, and after unsuccessfully trying a number of fixes, we conclude that maybe there's a draft seeping up from beneath it, possibly from a crack in the rock slab.

One thing that definitely sets this campsite apart is the wilderness latrine. Unlike most of the bug infested rat's nests where the latrine is usually found, this one is instead surrounded by beautiful wild roses. I've never seen such an organized arrangement of wild roses in a camp before, so I'm guessing this is the product of someone with a good sense of humor. The rest of the site is not all that large, and there's really only one or maybe two places for a tent. But the site is attractive, well suited for two people, and Heidi and I are very pleased with it.

As the sun sets, it soaks our entire campsite with a warm golden light that gradually blends into a soft rosy pink. Our site provides a great view down the full length of the lake toward the setting sun, and we sit out on our rock above the lake admiring the sky as the pink turns to purple and then dark blue.

With a layover day tomorrow and the most difficult portion of the trip behind us, we stay up a little later tonight and watch as the stars increase their numbers. Somewhere off in the distance, singing erupts from one of the lake's nearby campsites. Heidi and I are "treated" to a tonally challenged and somewhat disorganized rendition of Joan Jett's classic, "I Love Rock n' Roll". The wilderness is starting to become a little less wild tonight, but that's okay with us. We're still having a great time, and a little dose of civilization is not totally unwelcome at this point.