Sunday, May 23, 2010
I woke up in the morning really early. It must have been 5:30 or 6 pm. The only thing I could say was gray. It was a gray morning. And I was feeling a little gray, as my body felt a little worn down. The first thing on the agenda for this morning was to get water from Clearwater Lake. But I was not sure how far it would be to get to the Clearwater Lake Campsite. The night before I had quickly pitched my tent on the trail going down to the campsite. I was exhausted and at my wits end.
So, I grabbed my nalgene water bottle and two of my platypus bags and headed down to the campsite. Just a little ways down the trail, I found my bag of food that I had left there the night before. It was untouched by the critters. That was good news.
I found the spot where the canopy is over the trail, instead of having clear sky over the trail. This was the spot where it was too dark for me to continue the night before. It’s the spot where I had turned back. But this morning I could see just fine. I continued on from that spot and after about 100 yards I found the Latrene Trail for the campsite and about 50 yards after that I made it to the campsite. So, last night I was less than 2 football fields distance away from the campsite when I franticly decided to pitch my tent on the trail. Oh, Well.
It was a big campsite. It would have easily accommodated our large trail crew. And, according to Tom, it had been used as a Trail Crew Campsite on a few occasions.
I headed down to the water to start pumping water. And all I could say was gray. Everything was gray, the water, the sky and my mood. There is a big bluff with rock outcroppings across the lake from the campsite. It was gray. I found a nice spot to pump water. But the nalgene bottle was not filling up very fast. This is because I was drinking the water as soon as I got done pumping a few cup fulls. The water pump wasn’t pumping that fast to begin with, and then I was drinking it right away.
Again, while I was pumping I was thinking that these water pumps would soon become extinct. Jeff’s bag system was very simple and much easier to use, plus you could do other things while your bottle is filling up. Water Pumps will soon be history. Finally, I had filled up both a one liter platypus bottle and .5 liter platypus bottle, when I decided to fill up the nalgene bottle and put Aqua pills in it instead of pumping. I figured the 1 and a half liters would last me the 4 hours that is needed for the Aqua pills to work. I had eaten some food while I was down pumping water. I ate an energy bar and some trail mix. That was part of the reason why I was drinking the water right away was to help wash the food down.
I grabbed my spot beacon, which I had placed out on a rocky canoe landing. It had sent and “I’m Okay” message. Then I came up from the shore and inspected the campsite one last time, then headed up the trail past the latrene to my tent. I decided that I would hastily pack my backpack, then head up the hill to get the bear bags and pack it good up there. But then when I was stuffing my sleeping bag into the bottom of my backpack, I decided I might as well do a good job of packing the first time, then I would only be adding the bear bags to the top section of my backpack, when I got up on top of the hill.
So, I pack up and started up the hill. What a drudgery it was walking up the hill, I thought. If the Border Route Trail Association would build a campsite at Rove Lake, the extra side trip to the Clearwater Lake Campsite would be eliminated. It wasn’t an overly steep climb going up the hill because the trail looped around in a wide switchback. But nevertheless, it was uphill all the way. Finally, I made it back to the bear bags near the top of the hill.
I had named the two bear bags the night before. I called them CP3O and R2D2 after the Star Wars Droids. In the scene where Luke Skywalker trashes Jabba the Hutt’s party barge, both the droids fall into the sand below. As they were leaving on the shuttle craft, Luke tells Lando Carisian “not to forget the droids.” So they pick up the droids with magnets, and away they went.
I was thinking the same thing about the bear bags. When I got to the top of the hill I had to “not forget the bear bags.” Hence, I made the comparison between the bear bags and the droids. One of the Bear Bags was longer and orange in color, so that one was CP3O while the smaller one was R2D2. At any rate, I took down the bear bags and went to the Border Route Trail/Clearwater Campsite sign just a short distance away. At the junction I took two photos. In the second photo I shrugged my shoulders and put my arms ups as to say, “oh Well, I really goofed up here.” Then I packed up and headed east.
As I left the Junction trail continues uphill. As I had written before, I called the Clearwater Campsite the “campsite at the notch,” meaning that there was a notch in the hill up from the campsite. So naturally, even though I was on top of the hill up from the campsite, I was still at the low point of the ridge. I noticed in the Border Route guidebook that there were stars on the map that meant I would soon be encountering some overlooks. Soon I reached those overlooks, but I wouldn’t really call them an overlook, it was more like a glimpse of the scenery below.
After I past a couple of the “Glimpses,” I started hiking the top of this huge bluff, which I call the “Clearwater Bluff.” It is fairly flat and easy walking on top of this bluff for a ways. There were several rocky spots that no vegetation would grow on that the trail would pass over. I was good walking on top of this bluff for a long time. I had seen freshly cut logs where trail work had been done recently. The trail was very clear, except for maybe a couple recently downed trees.
Good hiking continued for a while. The trail went downhill for a stretch and I saw a big huge bluff that I knew I would be hiking up. But it wasn’t overly difficult going up the bluff. It wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined when I first saw the bluff. I noticed on the Border Route Guidebook map that I was approaching some more overlooks. And when I reached the top of the uphill section, there was a spectacular overlook. This overlook was truly deserving of a star on the map, where the previous stars were merely glimpses. I sat down my gear at this overlook, and decided to take a break.
I believe this overlook is called the Watap Cliffs because Watap Lake is directly down below the cliffs. Then to the west, I could see Rove Lake. This must have been the large bluff that I had seen from Rove Lake when I was taking photos. I enjoyed this overlook. I took photos including a panoramic shot, I ate the peanut butter and bagel combination, and I rested. It was a wonderful thing, after I had such a rough night.
I also took the time to do a trip report on the Voice Recorder. It was a 19 minute extravaganza that chronicled my efforts to get to the Clearwater Campsite. Then I loaded up my gear and headed east again. The first thing I noticed as I hiked east was that the trail wasn’t as cleared as before the overlook. The Trail Crew must have finished up at the overlook. There were a lot more downed trees and the trail was thickety in spots. In other spots the trail was clear because it went across rocky areas. There were a lot of rock areas on to of this bluff, which I’m still calling the Clearwater Bluff because Clearwater Lake is to the south of it.
After hiking at least 20 minute to a half hour on the bluff from the overlook, I come upon a small stream at a short downhill stretch. There was a log next to the stream that looked like the perfect place to pump water from. So, I unloaded my gear and started pumping some water. It was a very small stream, but it was running fairly fast because it was going downhill at a pretty good rate. I wondered if this stream dries up in the middle of the summer. I sat on the log and pumped water for a while. Then I put the water filter in the side pocket of my backpack and continued on.
While I was hiking, I checked my phone, which is in one of the pockets in my vest. The phone actually had 2 bars of signal strength, so I decided to call my mom. And it actually worked. I connected with my mom and told her that I was on top of a huge bluff in the Boundary Waters, and that the signal strength wasn’t very good. I told her that just in case we were disconnected. I said I was doing alright and was surprised I could make a phone call from here. She said everything was going alright at home. Well, that was good. I kept the phone call short and sweet because it sounded like the signal could die at any moment, but it was great to call home.
I continued to hike on top of the “Clearwater Bluff” encountering small glimpses of the lake below. After a short distance from the creek I happened upon a big gnarly downed tree on the trail. This one was a “Crawl Under.” I have different categories of downed trees. There are “Crawl Unders”which you have to crawl under. So all of these names for downed trees basically describe the action taken to get to the other side of the tree. There are “Step Overs,” “Nut Huggers,” “Duck Unders,” “Head Scratchers,” “Go Around,” “Climb up and jump down” and “Crawl under.”
So I crawled under the big gnarly. Then I walked a few feet to a rocky area and started taking some shots of Clearwater Lake below. I turned back to take one last photo of the big gnarly that I had crawled under and I saw Tom’s Water Pump laying on the ground by the big gnarly tree. Damn, I thought. I must have gotten sloppy and not tied it into my backpack after pumping water at that creek. So, I took off my gear and decided to take a break. I needed to dig a cat hole someplace to go to the bathroom, anyway.
While I was going to the bathroom, I confirmed something that I knew was happening. My nether regions were getting all rashed up. My crotch was all red, on both legs. I searched my first aid kit to try to find something that would help it. I tried an antibiotic pad and it stung like hell. I took off my underwear and would be just hiking in my pants. I figured that might help reduce the friction and increase the airflow.
I continued hiking on the huge bluff which I call the “Clearwater Bluff.” It kept going and going and seemed to take forever to get any place. The trail went every which way. The trail is supposed to be going in an eastward direction, but it seemed like it was twisting around every direction. I went north, south, east, and even west it seemed. There was usually a lake down below me which I could see glimpses of. For the most part I thought it was Clearwater Lake, but then in one section, I thought I was hiking up from the Watap Portage that goes between Watap Lake and Mountain Lake. I could definitely see a stretch of land between two lakes, and it kind of looked like the configuration of lakes.
Then I walked to a great overlook of what I thought was the east end of Clearwater Lake. It was off in the distance, but nevertheless looked like the eastern end of the lake. It was a hot and muggy day, and the eastern end looked like it was in a haze. It was easy hiking on top of the bluff, with only the occasional downed tree. The trail was a little thickety, but not too bad, not even as bad as other places on the bluff. It wasn’t very long after the Clearwater Lake Overlook that I arrived at another spectacular overlook. But this time it was of Mountain Lake. I could tell it was Mountain Lake because it has an island and a peninsula at the western end of the lake. It was unmistakable. Now, it would be less than a mile, all downhill to the Mountain Lake/Clearwater Lake Portage.
At least it looked all downhill on the maps. In reality, it was mostly downhill but had a few uphill sections, one of which was fairly steep. There was also one muddy section of the trail. I remember it seem to take longer than I thought it would to get to the portage. Eventually, I came across a spot where I could see Mountain Lake just barely through all the trees. Then I made it to the rocky intersection of the Border Route Trail and Mountain Lake/Clearwater Lake Portage.
At this intersection is where a debate raged within me. Should I go down to either Mountain Lake or Clearwater Lake to get water. On the map it shows a pretty severe downhill portage going either way. The portage wouldn’t have been very long either way, perhaps an eightht of a mile, but coming back uphill would be the bummer. Plus I would be hiking uphill for the next half of a mile or so as I hike to the east.
I seemed to have a good amount of water from pumping water at the small stream on top of the bluff. Plus, now I would be able to drink from the Nalgene bottle that I put Aqua pills in this morning. I was set to continue, and not go down to one of the Lakes. My next water opportunity that I knew of for sure was at the eastern end of Clearwater Lake near were a portage goes to West Pike Lake. And when I got up to the overlooks that were about a half mile from the portage I was presently at, it would be all flat or downhill to get to the eastern end.
I went for it, and started hiking east. Boy, the next half mile was really a bear. It was all uphill. It wasn’t as bad as going up the hill after Rove Lake, which I encountered the evening before, but it was a steady up hill climb. After toiling for a while, I came to an overlook that made it all worth it. It was a tremendous overlook of the western end of Mountain Lake. The little peninsula was jutting out to the west and the small island was now directly to my north. I stopped here for some photos including a group of photos I’m hoping to stitch together as a panoramic shot.
As I walked away from the overlook, I immediately found another trail going down to another overlook. This one was down lower and to the right of the other overlook. Actually this made for a multi level overlook, which was the first such overlook I had ever encountered. I took some more shots from the lower overlook. A got a better photo of the small island in the lake at this location, because at the upper overlook there was a rock formation and tree blocking the view of the island.
I walked away from the multi-level overlook and immediately I noticed that the trail wasn’t as good as before the overlook. The Trail Crew must have stopped at the overlook again, just as I thought they stopped at the Watap Overlook when I was hiking after the Clearwater Campsite incident. The trail was much more brushy. There were several downed trees and there were some places where little pine trees were encroaching onto the trail. There were some clear areas, but they were rocky spots where nothing would grow.
But I was right about the trail at this point. It was either flat or going downhill, with no uphill sections. But again, there were many more obstructions on the trail than what it had previously had. It didn’t seem to take very long and I reached the spot which I call the “false alarm” spot. The trail goes close to Clearwater Lake, making you think that you are approaching the eastern campsite and portage to West Pike Lake, but then the trail juts back into the woods and there is a peninsula between you and the lake. After about another 3/8ths of a mile I found the cairn for the Campsite at the eastern end of the lake. This is where another debate occurred.
Should I hike in to take a look at the campsite? I couldn’t see the campsite down the spur trail, and it was my impression that I’d have to hike a ways to get to the campsite. I really didn’t need to go down to the campsite to get water, because soon I would be reaching the Clearwater Lake/West Pike Lake Portage where I could get water in Clearwater Lake. But, I decided that I needed to take a crap, and it would sure be nice to use the latrene instead of a log. So, I headed towards the campsite.
The Spur trail was hard to follow. Not because it was overgrown, but because there was no growth. Under the pine trees it must be hard for vegetation to grow, plus people probably hiked out from the campsite to get wood, thereby clearing the areas. I had gotten to a eastern point when I had reached the cairn on the Border Route Trail, and now I was hiking back in westward direction onto a peninsula. I wasn’t overly thrilled about that. Soon I was thinking to myself that it wasn’t worth it. I saw a big flat rock next to the shore in front of me, and I said to myself that if I didn’t see the campsite when I got on top of the rock, I would turn back.
I had to go up a few feet to get on top of the rock, then the rock continued to be flat for about 15 yards, and when I got to the far end of the rock I could see the campsite. I headed down into the campsite. It was the biggest campsite that I had seen yet. It was huge. You could almost hold a camporee here. I hiked around the campsite seeing more and more tent pad areas and there were 3 or 4 canoe landings. At one of the landings, I set out the spot beacon to mark my spot. Then I took off my vest and set it in a bush nearby. It was fairly windy, so I didn’t want my vest to blow into the water, so I put it in a bush.
I grabbed the toilet paper and headed for the latrene, which was up from the campsite. I had an extended bathroom break, then I went down to the shore to check on the Spot Messenger. It had not sent out the “I’m Okay” message. I decided that I would hike back to my gear with the Spot Messenger in my hand. Perhap, it would then send the message.
So, I started hiking back, and I found a trail leading away from the campsite, which looked like the spur trail. But then again, it got to an area where everything looks like a trail because there is no ground cover. I continued on until I was almost back to my gear. Then I realized that I didn’t have my vest on. I had left the vest in a bush at the campsite.
I was pretty irritated with myself. I set the spot messenger down near a tipped over tree, so I could find it when I came back. Then I high tailed it back to the campsite and retrieved my vest. I had taken the vest off so I could be more comfortable using the latrene, but I managed to forget it when the Spot Messenger distracted me. I made it back to the Spot Messenger by the tipped over tree. It had sent its message. Then, it was only a short ways to my gear. I again headed east on the Border Route Trail.
After the cairn to the Spur Trail, it is less than a 1/8th of a mile down to the Portage Landing. The Landing was near the eastern end of the lake. I noticed behind the landing there was a big cleared out grassy area that looked big enough to be a campsite. I figured that this must be some type of staging area for the Forest Service. On Clearwater Lake, 10 horsepower motorboats are allowed. So, maybe the Forest Service shuttles personnel and equipment down to this location using motorboats. At any rate, this was my theory.
And I have another theory when it comes to 10 horsepower motorboats on Clearwater Lake. If the Forest Service allows 10 Horsepower Motorboats on Clearwater Lake, then what’s the difference about having a 3 horsepower Weed Wacker or Brush Cutter for Trail Clearing on the Bluff next to Clearwater Lake. People who might happen to hear the brush cutter will just think it’s a motorboat. Some parts of the bluff are really thickety and could use a good weed wacking.
At the portage landing was the place that I had planned on pumping some more water. But I had a new plan. Yes, I would be pumping water, but now I wanted to pump the water while sitting in the water. I felt this would be good for my rashed up nether regions. So, I changed into my extended briefs, which looked kind of like a swimming suit anyway, and I sat in the water. Boy that felt good. I relaxed and enjoyed life sitting in the water, pumping water and eating some snacks. Then, after I completed filling my water bottles, I decided to take a timed photo of me in the water since I enjoyed it so much. I set up the camera, and hit the timer, but I did not make it back into the water in time. The shot was of me trying to get into the water, oh well. Then I got back out of the water, changed back into my pants and got ready to hike.
I was taking my time, enjoying life. There was no rush because it was a fairly short distance to the campsite that I would be staying at for the night. All I had to do was go down the portage to West Pike Lake, then cut over to another portage from West Pike Lake to Lake Gogebic where the campsite is. It was still very early in the evening, so I had plenty of time to do the mile to 2 miles to the campsite. There was no point going further than Lake Gogebic because the next Campsite would be six miles away from it.
At the landing, there is a Border Route sign that points to the west. This presumably this is so that portagers don’t get mixed up and start hiking west to get to West Pike Lake. Instead, there is another portage trail, which the Border Route follows to the east that goes to West Pike Lake.
I started down the portage and immediately saw a canoe sitting off the trail. At first I figured it was a canoe that the Forest Service had stashed there. But, then when I got close to it I saw that it had been recently used, and had a life jacket in it. It also had an Illinois boating liscense sticker on it. I figured maybe someone was taking a day hike over to West Pike Lake or Lake Gogebic, where the Trout fishing is supposed to be good.
I continued down the portage, which was pretty flat at this point, but very rocky. I kept walking and when I got down to the small pond next to the portage, I saw a guy carrying a canoe over his head. Then there was another guy carrying a life jacket and a bunch of fish on a stringer. I said hi to the first guy, with the canoe, and took his photo, then I talked with the second guy, took his photo and gave him one of my “I Saw Tman” card.
Then I went on, and soon I saw two men carrying a canoe. But they were intend on carrying the canoe and keeping track of the rocks on the trail. They had the canoe over their heads, so I couldn’t get a good shot of them. They whizzed on by, and the guy in the back waved at me. Then I saw two more guys coming towards me. I reached inside one of my vest’s pockets and retrieved my voice recorder and turned it on. These two guys were just carrying fishing poles, paddles, and a backpack. I had a fast but fact filled conversation with those two guys. All of the guys in the fishing party were from Illinois and they had just taken a day trip to West Pike Lake to do some fishing. They told me all of the guys names, and said there were some more people following them.
The fact that they all were from Illinois jived with the fact that the canoe left by Clearwater Lake had an Illinois sticker on it. Plus one of the guys had a Cubs T-shirt on. All of these guys were younger men in their 20’s or early 30’s. It was great to see some young bucks enjoying the Boundary Waters. So many young men are sitting at home vegetating while playing Grand Theft Auto on the computer. I reassured me to see a younger generation out in the outdoors.
I continued on down the rocky portage, expecting to see some more people. The portage was fairly flat, but eventually it when down two large rock fields to get to West Pike Lake. At this point I realized that the guy was wrong, there were no other people behind him. While at was at the West Pike Lake landing, I look to the right on the shoreline to see if I could see the landing for the West Pike Lake/Lake Gogebic Portage. I didn’t see the landing, but I did see a hill that I would have to walk up to get to Lake Gogebic. Great, and I thought this was going to be easy. I also realized that I missed the turn off for the Border Route Trail. So I began to hike back up the portage across the rock fields. I got discouraged and set my gear down and started searching for the trail. I went down one path and determined it must have been an animal trail. Then I headed up the portage across another rock field and found the trail.
It would have been nice if the Border Route had a sign at that junction. They had a sign almost everywhere else there was a junction. I had missed the junction because I was looking for more people on the portage. I piled up some rocks for a cairn at the junction. That would be my Trail Work for the day. Hopefully it will help the next person coming down the trail.
I headed back down across the rock field and retrieved my gear. What a drudgery it was going back up over the rocks. I made it to the junction where I made the cairn then started down the trail. After about 20 yards I came to a sign that said Border Route, with an arrow heading east. Lots of good it did me there. I could have used that sign right at the junction. Oh Well.
Just a short ways after the sign, I came up to a bridge. The bridge was crossing a fairly big stream that was from Clearwater Lake, running down through the pond I walked by, then down to West Pike Lake. The stream was very rapidly at this point, having lots of little waterfalls.
After the bridge, the trail kept going steadily up hill. After a while I was getting really weary and I decided to set down my gear and go look for the West Pike Lake/Lake Gogebic portage that I was supposed to be connecting with. I walked down the trail a little ways and I didn’t see the portage anytime soon. I walked back to my gear feeling dejected. It was still early, but I feared this would be another Clearwater Lake Campsite disaster like I had the night before.
I continued on up the trail and finally I came to the portage. But this was no consolation, because the portage going up to Lake Gogebic was a much worse uphill stretch than the section I had just walked. It kept going and going uphill. I thought that Lake Gogebic must be some sort of alpine lake because I had to hike so far uphill to get to it. And I thought this was going to be easy.
I was thinking that at some point this portage must start going downhill to Lake Gogebic. But it didn’t happen until I could see Lake Gogebic. Perhaps the last 40 yards were slightly downhill. But I was real glad I made it to Lake Gogebic.
The McKensie Map shows a Campsite just a short ways down the shore to the left of the portage. The Border Route goes to the right, and there is another campsite listed both on the McKensie Map and Border Route Guidebook down that way. But I started hiking to the left to see if there was actually a campsite over there. I figured there would be some type of beaten down trail from that campsite to the portage, since it looked very close. But I didn’t see such a trail and I saw no evidence of a campsite down that way.
Then I started hiking on the Border Route Trail to the right of the portage. It was easy walking along the shore of Lake Gogebic. Soon I came to a spot that was a canoe landing, then, I saw a small campsite next to the lake. I’m home.
It was a small campsite, but it was more than adequate for me. It had some rocks piled up for the fire ring, not the official Forest Service fire grate. And I didn’t see a trail for the latrene, so I deduced that there was no latrene. I thought since Lake Gogebic is such a small lake compared to those around it, and because it had a fairly hard portage to get to the Lake, that a toned down campsite like this was to be expected.
I set up my tent. Then I put up the rope for my bear bags down from the campsite at another canoe landing area, which also could be used as a tent pad. I started a small fire in the fire area and then I made a dehydrated meal boiling water on my alcohol stove. Then I sat in the water and pumped water again. Then I went to bed.
When I got in my tent, it wasn’t even totally dark out yet, but I was tired. I tried something from my first aid kit for my rashed up crotch. But it stung like hell, too.
Finally, I decided I would sleep nude on top of my sleeping bag, so that my nether regions could get some fresh air to heal. Except for the rash, I couldn’t have asked for a better evening. Gogebic must be the Ojibwa word for heaven.
Editor's note: I checked on the internet when I returned home and the work "Gogebic" mean "place of high water" in the Ojibawa language. They too must have walked up to it from West Pike Lake. The elevation of West Pike Lake is 1555 while the elevation of Lake Gogebic is 1672 so there is over 100 feet rise in elevation in the 3/8ths of a mile portage between the two lakes.