Our new favourite camping breakfast is hashbrowns bacon and eggs. Hopefully we have time to dehydrate our potatoes next time around, but these potato packs were kind of convenient in the carton. You add boiling hot water in to rehydrate the potato. I do the same withe egg, only with cold filtered water instead. I tried fry the eggs in the middle of the pan and not mix it too much with the potato and bacon. That way the fussy people who don't like eggs can avoid them. Mostly.
Conversation while waiting for breakfast to be cooked...this is a typical "Dad is amazed by your statement" expression. He will correct you shortly, so that you don't make the same wrong statement again some other time. Hopefully.
We paddled along once again, this time we are expecting two portages, and are keeping an eye out for some old trapper shack to make sure we are on track.
There were some places with tight squeezes to go through on our way to where we think the portage is.
The 900 meter portage wasn't too bad. We stuck to the left hand side, as apparently there was a trail to the right which sort of stops going anywhere. yup, we all found the right end! It was kinda late by this time, so we had a lunch break.
There was a spot right near the end of the portage where the smaller trees were so thick and a few fallen trees mixed in with it, made it really tricky to get a long canoe through along the trail. We even got the hatchet out to clear up some of the branches that were a real nuisance.
The next part of the route was a little confusing. We concluded later that we must have managed to paddle through the last section that was supposed to be a portage...it was tough going getting over some rocks and things, and we had to completely empty out to get over a beaver dam at the end. Perhaps we should thank the beavers that the water was deeper, otherwise we'd have had to do even more carrying. It was interesting going, anyways. Marshy, rocky, logs, weeds...but we made it through!
After that we had some fast water to go through. It wasn't anything like waterfalls, just watch out for rocks and make sure you can tell where the deep water is and aim for it. You don't want to get stuck on the rocks or scrape on the rocks that aren't deep enough. Kinda fun!! Sure beats portaging. :)
I can admire Jennnifer's fancy hair once we are in open water and I have time to gaze around. Lovely.
We paddled on quite a ways ahead to find the campsite, leaving Dad behind.
We found the site we wanted. It was labelled on our "outfitter map" as "chimney fire pit. good" so we thought it was worth checking out. Besides, it was much to late in the day to try and tackle the Kopka River, which, once you start, commits you to going through four portages. Well, there are some campsites listed in between, but we are really skeptical about them fitting three tents.
Daniel turned his pants into shorts when the weather was warm, but kept them intact so he could use them as pants again when he wanted to. The Dutch version of zip-apart pants, I guess.
This campsite might be good, but it is steep. We find tent sites up on top, and our cooking and fire is further down, closer to the lake.
The chimney fire pit is in disrepair. We ended up kicking at the big back rock to knock another piece of rock loose...it was going to come down soon, better to do it when we are ready for it, and not as a surprise! I guess it used to be more of a chimney shape and the heat must have made the rock fragile.
Daniel lugging up gear to the boys' tent.
My tent was the one closest to the lake. Nice view from the door.
Everyone chillin'.
Yum, dinner is good today.
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