Grand Voyage Day 6
Trip Start
Jun 16, 2008
1
13
26
Trip End
Jul 12, 2008
Crane Lake, Minnesota, United States
Saturday, June 28, 2008
We did indeed have a grand schlackage, as we were in the water by 5:00. That's a feat, because this is a public campsite where mainly fishermen with motorboats stay, so we didn't want to clog up the dock with six canoes. We had to carry them up the trail for a few hundred yards just to find a place to put them, so this morning it was a rush to get all of those canoes back down to the water and still break our record of a 37 minute shlackage! We're starting to get pretty good at this.
I paddled with Etienne today, front of the canoe. It was a scenic day but also a little blase.We paddled for about an hour and stopped right outside of the entrance to Voyaguers National Park, where there was a small beach and campsite
Gorgeous Gorges
. There was a houseboat anchored on this beach, and as it was still only 6:00 AM we tried to stay quiet and not wake the inhabitants. Unfortunately, there was a little Jack Russel terrier who spotted us and barked his head off until the couple woke up! Dahveed made friends with the dog and got his face nearly licked raw. I'm sure we were quite a sight to the couple, as we were all smelly, dirty, tired, speaking in French, and having the time of our lives!We carried up our breakfast gear and ate at the island's campsite. The picnic table wasn't big enough for all of us so I sat on a rock with Frambi and we had a nice conversation. I was very interested in hearing about the clown school that he went to for two years. Everyone here seems to have lots of great stories to tell. I also wandered around in search of the bathroom, and instead of a privy I found a wooden BUILDING with a faux-porcelain toilet and toilet paper inside! Oh man, am I spoiled for the upcoming Immense Voyage.
Aicha and I decided that the apocolypse was coming when it came time to wash our dishes and we realized that we had both putten our empty bowls next to each other and couldn't remember which had been ours. Such silly things seem so much more amusing out in the woods. It was hard to get back on track after breakfast. Nobody seemed to have the motivation to clean up and get going. Maybe we were all a little sad because we knew there were only a few more miles to paddle until our take-out
Group photo at the gorges
. This trip has definitely been a blast, and we've all gotten to know each other well and shared some great times. The two-weekers are leaving Saturday. The newness of it all has started to wear off and I'm definitely 'in the groove,' and not looking forward to saying goodbye to Seine, Jeanne, and Jacques.Once we got back in the canoes, we paddled past our take-out to go see the the scenic gorges. It was a very relaxing paddle over there; smooth water, singing, beautiful weather, everyone in a good mood. We started to see a lot of foam in the water, a sign of the rushing water ahead through the gorges, and had fun attacking it with our paddles. Once we reached the dock, we all climbed out and started up the trail. It was very rocky and steep. I really enjoyed this short hike. Noelle had quite a time hobbling up there with one leg completely stiff. Some of us tried to help her but she insisted that she could do it herself! Once we got to the top, we took about half an hour to enjoy the great view and take lots of pictures. We dubbed them the Gorgeous Gorges, har har har. I'm definitely glad we didn't have to canoe through there! Can anyone say capsize?
On the hike back down, we all started compulsively singing Simon and Garfunkel - The Boxer, but only the "lai lai lai, lai lai lai lai, lai lai lai" along with the emphamatic "SPLOOSH!" for the cymbals. I got so into it that I took a small tumble coming down on one of the trickier rock sections
Monos at the gorges.
. Only the ego was bruised.After this, it was time to paddle back out and end our trip. Everyone was reluctant. I think there was some deliberate feather-paddling just to stretch every last second out. It was getting a bit hot, though. Etienne and I decided to paddle as hard as we possibly could. It was exhilerating, and we were blazing by everyone else.
When we entered Crane Lake, it was a bit wavy and we all enjoyed this last push. At one point a motorboat passed very close to us without slowing down. We all held our hands up and "rode the waves". Then Frambi took a picture of us all in the canoes and it was time to face the facts and paddle towards the parking lot we saw in the distance. I tried to cherish every "sploosh" of the paddle. We reached the take-out and unloaded the canoes. What a huge load of gear! We put it all back in the vans and put the canoes up on the trailer, packed up our paddles and life jackets, and walked onto the dock for a last look at the lake. We performed the ceremony of sprinkling tobacco onto the water, just like the real Voyageurs did to thank the spirits for allowing a safe passage. I tried to think of something profound, but all I could do was stare in amazement at the beauty of the lake and the trees and the sky going on and on as far as I could see. I think that's good enough.
Zoe in the kayak.
After this ceremony, Dahveed and Frambi unexpectedly ripped all of their clothes off (except for bathing suits, of course) and jumped into the lake. It was still pretty hot, and the cool water was oh-so-tempting, but none of us wanted to go into the van soaking wet.We had a long ride back to base camp in Bemidji. I found myself exhausted for the first time this whole trip. I can wake up at the crack of dawn and paddle for hours a day and never once feel tired, but put me back in civilization and I immediately conk out. After a nice nap, we all pigged out on the last of our gorp and apples, and I wrote a final entry in the journal that is due tonight.
We stopped for lunch at Parc Rules, the same place we stopped on our way up before this trip. Flushing toilets! Mirrors! Running water! All of the girls disappeared in the bathroom for about fifteen minutes simply to enjoy the conveniences. Then we went to the pavilion and ate lunch. By now we're all very sick of summer sausage, bagels, and jelly. Ugh. We couldn't find our knives so we all had to use our own pocket knives to cut the sausage. They tried to get us to finish it all off but I could hardly stand the taste of it.
When we finally got back to base camp, I was very excited to be back. I love it here; it's very quaint and cozy. However, the temperature went up in the last week and the mosquitos are simply unbelievable
We are Les Voyageurs!
. We were all unprepared - our island this morning had no mosquitos so none of us even had any repellent on, and we were all in shorts. The mosquitos had a feast, and I wanted to run for shelter - but there is none! It seemed to take forever to unload the vans and sort all of our gear again, put our tents back up, etc. I'm very glad that I'm once again sharing a tent with only Zoe! Not that it wasn't...cozy with all five of us, but having room to relax in the tent and put my gear is nice, and Zoe and I get along perfectly.As soon as we were all ready... bath time! We had a mandatory swim/bath, and it was absolutely wonderful. I lathered my hair for what felt like ten minutes, and I was honestly smiling the entire time. The water was quite chilly, but feeling clean for the first time in almost a week was simply wonderful. The monos practically had to drag us out. I'm not even going to try to explain any further how great it was. Everyone ends up smelling more like funky lake water than like shampoo, but at least we're clean.
After I had dried off and changed, I started to work on the xylophone which I'm making for my 'artistic project' over the course of the month. I picked out the wood before we left but now I've got to saw it all down to size. Who knew what major time this takes? I'm not even halfway done with the first of eight keys!
Unloading gear at the take-out.
And for dinner? Steak! Our first real meat since Friday. The smell as it was cooking was tantalizing. I ate two steaks. Gilles beat everyone by eating five. It was very impressive. Mama Linda, the head camp nurse, came over for dinner with us to give everyone a post-voyage checkup. She was very impressed that we all spoke French at the table. She should have heard us this afternoon in the van, it was something of an English-fest.After we ate, Mama Linda checked out the burn on my leg. It's completely blistered now, but in the last two days it looks like it's slowly, slowly starting to recide. It still doesn't hurt at all, but it does look nasty. She told me that it looked like I was healing well, though, and taught me how to put my gauze on the right way. Maybe now I won't have to sit down, unroll, and re-roll it half a dozen times a day anymore. The only bad news is that she thinks it'll probably be there at least another two and a half weeks, which is how much longer I've got left. I was hoping to have it cleared up before the Immense Voyage.
We were all glad to be re-united with Mireille again, but upset that Paix was transferred to Lac du Bois, the non-wilderness French camp, in our absence. Mireille enjoyed listening to us tell stories about the Grand Voyage, though. We had a very relaxed evening of reflecting about the trip around the fire. We were all very tired, though, so we're having an early night. I'm in my tent and it's so nice to be in here with only Zoe again, just like in the "old days." Dahveed is going to continue his story again tonight, as he knows we're all hooked. I can't wait to see how he got away from the Nigerian border control!
