Staging and Scouting - Day 245

  Today was packed to overflowing. The big task was to stage a car at the end spot of this hike, and we also had to leave a supply box in the middle for pickup. Because there are very few roads, this takes simply forever. We left here at 7:40 this morning and didn't get back until after 5:00. The drive back was prolonged because we went through a long and heavy thunderstorm with wind. Monica got to drive in that. The other car was already spotted, so we were all in one car.

We did take time for a couple of tiny breaks.


One was a really short hike to Birch Lake. It felt good to just stretch our legs for a few minutes. This lake is on the Laurentian Divide. Part of its water flows east to the St. Lawrence River, and part flows north to Hudson Bay. (and no, I don't know why Laurentian is "lau" and St. Lawrence is "law")


We left a box at Heston's Lodge. They don't have a place for hikers to stay, but they will keep supplies to be picked up.


Then, because we had time and it was fairly near a road crossing, we scouted out a possible campsite near a creek I thought I remembered. This is Larch Creek- the view from where we will camp. The water access that I was remembering is very easy and now we have a real destination for that night rather than some vague hope of finding a spot that has water.


Tomorrow morning we hike! I don't feel very rested, but it's as good as it's going to get. I made one planning oops, but it's not fatal. It just annoys me that I didn't get it all right. We've got it covered. It looks like we are going to have really nice weather for the hiking.

You probably will not hear from me until August 10 or 11, with one possible exception. We did have service at one place where the trail crosses the road, but this is a seriously remote section. I'll try to do a Facebook post at that road crossing, but don't expect anything else.

See Packing