Not a bad day at all. I didn’t make the miles I wanted to because most of the day was spent paddling into a stiff wind. Woke up at my tiny makeshift camp on Mud Pond. Broke camp kind of slowly this morning, made sure I left “no trace”, didn’t get back on the pond until 9 or 9:30am. Quickly reached the portage and went to check it out a second time, this time with a good night’s sleep under my belt. I walked maybe ½ the path, lots of rocks and roots, not wheelable. I went back to the pond and took another look at Mud Brook. The water was still low, I could pull over the beaver dam and the downed trees, well I had dealt with them before. I decided that if I was going to be pulling, carrying dragging the boat I would just as soon be walking along the riverbed as opposed to the trail through the woods. So over the dam we went, the first part of the brook was tree choked but I was pleasantly surprised after just a little bit of hard work. The water got deeper and I found myself being pushed quickly along a tiny narrow winding stream. It was really fun and pretty. I truly felt like an adventurer, it was easy to pretend I was some kind of explorer or Indian girl finding my way through an ancient forest.
On to Chamberlain Lake. Chamberlain was windy but nothing like Moosehead. The plan was to camp at Upper Crow’s Nest and head out to The Tramway Carry in the morning. I passed Crow’s Nest and continued close to shore looking for Upper Crow’s Nest. Never found it. Paddled back to Crow’s Nest and set up camp. This is another nice site with a long wooden walkway over a mucky area leading to a picnic table, tent site and an outhouse. There was fresh, dry firewood too! Set up camp, took a swim and had a hot dinner and a fire tonight.
I am getting close to the end of the trail and having mixed feelings about finishing, though I am ready for some creature comforts, like music and books, I’m a little unwilling to give up the peace and serenity I have found out here.
When I laid my head down to go to sleep on this night I could hear tiny creatures, (bugs of some sort I guess) tunneling around under the tent in the mud. First time I have had this experience. Kind of fascinating and a little creepy too! I wonder who and what was going on down there?
Just found this cool link about soil organisms!
http://blog.nature.org/2011/02/soil-organisms-conservation-sophie-parker-conservancy/
PS: I never found Upper Crow’s Nest because it is no longer an official site. Spoke to a Ranger who told me it had been eliminated in 2009 due to lack of use.
Coming into Chamberlain Lake
