Towards the end of the portage, the pads on the canoe yoke had slipped, so I had to support the canoe with my arms. That got very tiring and very uncomfortable very quickly. I eventually had to put the canoe and pack down, adjust the pads, and throw the canoe back onto my shoulders.
After I reached the end, my pace count showed that it really was 310 rods, not 220. I was exhausted, and I still had to go back and get the packs Dad had dropped halfway. We both eventually finished, and we were beat. After a brief rest, we packed up and kept going. We only had one portage left until Emerald.
The last portage was only 40 rods. I was excited to finally get to our campsite. As I came to the end of the portage, though, I saw that our campsite was already taken. After talking it over, we decided to take the other campsite on the lake—we were too tired to go back over the portage. The campsite wasn’t what I had hoped for, but it would do. It was covered in jack pines, which, to me, aren’t very attractive. Dad said later, though, that the campsite had grown on him.
We pulled into camp at about 4:30 PM. I set up the tent so my dad could take a nap—if I was this tired, I couldn’t even imagine what he was feeling. While he took a nap, I set up the rest of camp and made dinner. Dinner was ham and applesauce. It tasted delicious!
We went to bed to get a good night’s rest. During the night, we heard wolves howling—and they weren’t in the distance. They sounded really neat, but it was chilling hearing them so close. We heard them both nights that we were on Emerald.
Bringing Canoes into Emerald Campsite
Emerald Lake Sunset
