Day 9

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=185 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="04ab9c00dduajq.jpg"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="70" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 76 WIDTH="66"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="76" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="66" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <A HREF="id156.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 8"><U><B><<<BACK</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>TROOP 433</B></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TROOP 433"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id152.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="More Crew B"><U>More Crew B</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id153.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 4"><U>Day 4</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id154.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 6"><U>Day 6</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id155.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 7"><U>Day 7</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id156.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 8"><U>Day 8</U></A>   |   <B>Day 9</B></div> <div> <B>Day 9</B></div> <div> As we predicted, when we awoke at 7:00 a.m., the lake was quite calm and the boys were relieved. They didn't want any harsh weather keeping them from a hot shower back at the High Adventure Base. We had the last of our blueberry pancakes cooked on the griddle and broke camp. We were on the water by 9:30 a.m., but Glen forgot his PFD on shore, so his canoe had to go back and retrieve it.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="d1442850.jpg" border=0 width="578" height="389" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0">It was a straight run south on Basswood Lake, splitting between Lincoln Island on the left and Washington Island on the right.</div> <div> We stopped for a "grumper" break on Norway Island where our three adult leaders took one final group picture in the wilderness. During the break, Glen picked some wild raspberries which were abundant on this small island. We continued to work on our rhyming skit as well, trying to keep it as clean as possible.</div> <div> We left the island and headed into Wind Bay to locate the 140 rod portage that would take us to Wind Lake. This portage was a particularly nasty one. It had an uphill elevation and was extremely rocky. Care had to be taken on each step especially if you were carrying a canoe. Everyone was "sweating bullets" after this portage.</div> <div> Wind Lake was a little swampy to start off with. We found ourselves needing to rock up and down in our canoes in order to free ourselves from some downed trees submerged in the water.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="d29ce4b0.jpg" border=0 width="462" height="331" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> On the other end of Wind Lake was the final portage of our trip, a 175 rod trail which would lead us back into Moose Lake. Talking about ending the trek with a bang! This was our last portage, a little over ½ mile. We were in no hurry, since we were ahead of schedule once again today. The basecamp will not allow crews to enter their dock area until 3:00 p.m. on their return day. Since it was only 1:30 p.m., we were in good shape; but this was going to be another nasty portage. The sun was high in the sky and this portage was not shady. Mr. Bailey made it 2/3s of the way up the trail before needing to stop and get the sweat out of his eyes. Kelsey and Mr. McCarthy stopped a few times to get their breath as well. The food storage boxes were now pretty much empty, so Kelsey took one of those while Mr. Jack took a graywhale. Some of the maps had accidentally dropped out of a canoe onto the trail, so when John doubled back to check on us, we sent him to retrieve the maps.</div> <bR> <div> But what a thrill it was to see the water of Moose Lake! We set our canoes in the water and loaded them up one last time. Since it was still only 2:00 p.m., we had to look for a campsite to have our last lunch and kill some time.</div> <bR> <div> There are very few established campsites on Moose Lake and the two nearest to our present location we found to be occupied. Finally, we just crossed Moose Lake and had our lunch in the canoes just north of the dock. Kelsey reminded us not to talk to anyone in our sister crews who would be coming in as well. The reason was that there still would be some work to do and having long conversations with the leaders and scouts from the other crews would just delay us in getting things done and put away.</div> <bR> <div> We put into the dock at 3:05 p.m. The staff member there instructed us to remove our gear bags from the canoes. He gave us some brushes to scrub out the interior of the canoes, swamp them in the water, lift them onto the shore, carry them up the trail a short way and place them on the canoe trailers there.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="d21f4480.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="328" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="d23f4480.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="328" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> We then returned the kettle to the Bay Post where the staff ran down a checklist to make sure every item was returned. Down at the paddle house, we washed and hung up our PFDs, hung up the tents to air out and placed the paddles back in the bins. Mr. Vogeli volunteered to bring the garbage over to the base dumpsters which have bear guard on them. We kept some non-perishable food items like dried fruit, gorp and coffee packets and Kelsey and the boys returned the food boxes to the commissary. We retrieved our car keys from the locker room under the Bay Post so we could get into the vans and get our fresh changes of clothes!</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="d25f4480.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="328" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="d27f4480.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="328" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> We discovered that the "in-bound" cabins are hotter and more cramped than the ones we had on our arrival night. They have bunk beds with real mattresses. Everyone eventually gets to the showers, which feel great, and to the pay phones to call home. The cell phone coverage up here is spotty at best.</div> <bR> <div> In all, our crew found this to be a wonderful experience. To be truthful, we had a lot of things go in our favor. We had great weather; we only had rain at night. Despite hearing some horror stories, we did not have a problem with mosquitoes at our campsites. You would have a few now and then, but not swarms of them, even on the portage trails. Unlike Philmont, you do not have a "program center" everyday. You basically canoe and camp at Northern Tier. How much distance you cover is entirely up to you. Our total distance was a whopping 127 miles! And unlike Philmont, you have an Interpreter from the time you enter the base until time you leave to go home. Everyone agreed that they would do it all over again.</div> <bR> <div> On to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Charter BT" ><A HREF="id148.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rendezvous Departure"><U><B>Rendezvous....</B></U></A></FONT></div> </td> </tr></table></body>