2001/10 Namakan trip - Kabetogama and Big Fork |
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Kabetogama and Big Fork |
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The rain began just before dawn and by breakfast we had a steady drizzle. We decided that we’d spend the day paddling back to Ash River. If the weather got worse we could always camp somewhere en route. As it turned out the rain just alternated between heavier and lighter, but never stopped. We packed the kayak in the rain, easier this time as we’d eaten a lot of stuff but harder as most things were wet. The rain didn’t slow The Bird down though. He did well in the confusion, busily commuting between home and the shops (us).
Luckily, once we were on the move, Sandie found that she could paddle OK with her thumb sticking out, so we were making better time than expected. Despite the rain we were enjoying the trip. The tree colours are even more vivid in that kind of light.
Our route took us close to the powerboat route through the lakes so we’d see the occasional boat, blasting through the rain. We stopped at a beach for lunch and made tea under the pines, in the rain of course. The beach is a campsite for houseboats in the summer but they were all packed away for winter. There were a few cabins along the way, some ruined and some in use. This was private property until the 1970s when the park was created. The original owners can stay in them until they die and then the cabins are removed.
We paddled into Kabetogama and then into the Sullivan channel where the Ash River emerges. From there it was a couple of miles up the river channel past beautiful stands of red and yellow trees. We found our way back to the truck, dismantled the kayak and stashed everything away, still in the rain. We’d planned to just camp in one of the parking areas in the park but decided that we’d had enough of the wet and would try to drive out of it. There’s a state park called Scenic to the southwest and that’s where we headed.
This is a very empty part of the world, with few roads and fewer towns. South of the big lakes it’s mainly a bog wilderness, very buggy in the summer. We saw few people, but some whitetail deer and a baby bear. No sign of mama bear, but we stayed well clear anyway. Eventually we moved into drier weather. We crossed a bridge over the Big Fork 
River and saw rapids and waterfalls, and a campground alongside. This looked a great spot to stay so we deferred Scenic to the next day and set up camp close to the falls. Deferring Scenic turned out to be a good idea as we’d never had found it in the dark. There were a bunch of guys there wearing hunting gear, but they did more drinking than hunting. They were probably noisy but the falls were thundering enough to drown everything out. We didn’t stay up long as a cold, wet fog came up as soon as the sun set.
Sunday began cool and sunny and we did some driving around the woods along the river, and then headed south to Scenic. The last 20 miles were on partly constructed road, a hard surface covered by a few inches of wet mud. In no time it got dark inside the truck as the windows were covered. All the road signs were missing so we missed the park and ended up cooking lunch at a forest service campground on Lost Lake. By now the weather had changed with a sky full of small thunderstorms. Lunch was diluted by a hailstorm that dumped an inch of hail in the pan.
We eventually found Scenic, a typical state park around a lake, pretty but nothing special. We considered some hiking but the sky was black and we were tired of getting wet. We were in and out of storms all the way home, sunshine and rainbows one minute, black and wet the next.
Shortly after we came back, the weather turned much uglier with sub-freezing temperatures and howling gales. We only had an inch or two of snow but the Red River valley and the Canadian border area had a foot of snow and ice, so we’re glad we picked the right weekend. Since then we’ve been hunkering down for winter, sealing up the windows and bringing a few privileged plants inside.
I’m headed for a few days in England on Nov 14th and Sandie’s off to Vancouver Island on Dec 3rd for ten days, so I’d better get this done in time to print it and send it.