Friday August 31

We made the short (40 min.) drive to the Pittsburgh Airport and departed for Minneapolis. After a short, stop over in Minneapolis we arrived in International Falls, Minnesota about 11:30 p.m., rented a car, and drove to our motel.

Saturday September 1

Walt and I began our journey north at 6:30 a.m. but had to wait in line at the border crossing for about a half-hour before we could head north to Red Lake, Ontario to begin our great adventure. About five hours later we were at Goldseeker Outfitters chatting with Kelly, wife of and co-owner with Albert Rogilinski, about water levels and weather conditions for our flight into Haven Lake.

Having arranged our backpacks for our flight in, Al drove us over to where we met our pilot, Norm, who had the ability to land an Otter on Haven. About 5:30 p.m. we unloaded our backpacks and ourselves into the

canoe while Norm drifted the Otter into a quiet bay. Norm pointed out our location on our topo map and where we might first look for a campsite in the northern part of Haven Lake. As we paddled our 18.5 foot Souris River canoe over to look at a rocky point, Norm had the Otter airborne and was headed back to Red Lake.

Sunday September 2

Walt and I arose at daybreak to a gusty southwest wind slapping at our tents. I am the type of person who does something and reads the directions after. My freeze-dried scrambled eggs still tasted good after having mixed hot water with them, even though I should have used cold water and fried them in a skillet. It was not possible to use the fire pit due to the gusty winds, and it appeared no one had used it in sometime as newly growing plants had taken it over.

Leaving our island base we fished a granite rockface directly across from camp and began catching 14-18 inch walleye on crank baits. The 15 m.p.h. wind was coming out of the southwest, so we paddled and drifted our way along the shoreline to thenorthernmost part of Haven Lake. The wind became stronger about 1 p.m., so we headed back to camp to take care of some chores which we had postponed from the evening before.

When we arrived at camp the wind had increased, so we went to check on the status of our tents. My tent had blown free of two of its rock anchors and was caught in the branches of a nearby pinetree. Fighting the gusty

wind we just did manage to reattach the tent to much larger boulders. We were camped on a large granite outcrop which didn’t allow for the use of tent pegs.

We had caught 14 walleye and 4 pike in our morning’s fishing, but with the wind steadily increasing, we had to use our Whisper Lite to boil water for our freeze-dried supper. We didn’t want to battle the wind, which had now changed to blowing from the northwest at about 20 m.p.h., to go fishing in the evening. We called it a day and turned in early.

Monday September 3

We awoke at 5:45 a.m., but the light was not good enough to see well until 6:10 a.m. In spite of a steady 20 m.p.h. wind out of the northwest, the temperature had risen to 57 degrees Fahrenheit.

After a freeze-dried breakfast and coffee, I made a few casts from shore. I caught and released 3 walleyes and a small northern pike on a Johnson Silver Minnow.

In anticipation of a good day of fishing, we loaded the canoe and fished to the southwest from camp. We were fighting the wind, and fishing was not great. After 3 hours we returned to camp and did a few camp chores waiting for the wind to subside. We were not able to build a fire due to the gusty winds. We wanted to eat fish today, but our favorite way of preparing fish required a campfire.

About 3:00 in the afternoon the wind started to subside and changed directions now coming from the southwest. We paddled about 100 meters from camp and caught nine walleyes in short order. After finding a nice rock on which to work, we filleted four walleye for dinner.

Back at camp we placed the fillets in foil and added spices, salt, and pepper. We cooked the fillets over our first campfire.

After dinner we were stuffed, so we just sat and watched the fire burn down. About 9 o’clock, it was nearly dark, and we decided to call it a day.

Tuesday September 4

We arose at 6:30 a.m. to a mild 62-degree morning and a clear sky with only a 5 m.p.h. southwest wind. I had coffee and scrambled eggs that had started out as a cheese omelet. Walt used a freeze-dried dessert as breakfast.

We were on the water by 7:30 a.m. wanting to explore the southern half of Haven Lake. We paddled into a bay on the eastern side of the lake to investigate a creek we had seen on our topo map. A beaver dam blocked the creek’s exit point. The fishing in the area wasn’t very good. On the way out of the bay we each caught a small pike in a weed bed near the entrance. Walt’s pike fell for a Johnson Spoon and my pike preferred a peach colored Wiggle Wart.

Later, we paddled to shore to look over a burned area before heading down through a slot to the lower half of Haven Lake. We wanted to look over a couple of the campsites on the peninsula which gives Haven its hourglass shape. We pulled ashore at a rather steep granite hillside to discover a fire ring next to the water’s edge. After looking over the site we decided that there was room for only one small tent.

Later, while we were eating a shore lunch, the wind steadily increased to nearly 25 m.p.h. out of the southwest. We cut short our exploring for the day and headed back through the narrows to find some fishing spots in places where we wouldn’t have so much trouble with the wind. Having caught 7 walleye and 7 pike of no exceptional size, we took advantage of the wind direction to blow us back to camp. The sky having been completely cloudless gave us a great opportunity to test Walt’s new solar shower and my battery operated shaver. After a nap we just lounged around camp for the rest of the day.

Wednesday September 5

We arose at 6:30 a.m. to a sunny sky and calm lake. Fortified with an oatmeal breakfast we began to pack for our 275m. and 525m. portages into Jigsaw Lake. Packing up seemed to take unusually long, but we intended to be a lot better at it the next time. Arriving at the portage at the southern end of Haven, we were greated to about 40m. of floating courdery before we were able to spot a rise into drier conditions.

It took about one hour to cover the floating forty meters due to our heavy packs of 95 pounds and the rolly polly logs. Walt slipped from a log getting his left leg submerged nearly to his hip but never did touch bottom.

I heard Walt mutter something about the log keeping him from disappearing altogether. We found that helping one another over this portion of the portage was nearly impossible as two men standing on one log would surely mean a dunking. Having found a suitable rock to use to help get our packs on, we were glad to climb the nice dry rise which led to the other end. For two older folk like us, Walt is 61 and I am 56, 95 pound packs were proving to be at least 15 pounds too heavy.

At the end of the portage we were grateful to spot Gulch Lake. After a short rest we returned to the floating 40 meters to get the canoe and remaining gear. We loaded our packs and ourselves into the canoe and had just started out of some reeds to discover a small beaver damn blocking our exit. Getting out of the canoe and pulling it across the dam was the only thing we could do to get to open water.

A pleasant one-mile paddle to the other end of Gulch Lake brought us to a dry portage nestled up against a hill. Part of the 525 meter portage was in low ground but was dry and easy walked. We spotted bear tracks along the portage which appeared to be those of a mother bear and a cub following along.

Entering Jigsaw Lake from the northwest, we paddled across a bay looking for a narrow passage that led to a possible campsite in the southern part of the lake. Trying to find our passage, we turned to the right one point too soon, but the error proved to be one well worth making. The wind was blowing out of the south, which kept a cow moose, standing near the shoreline, from catching our scent. We were able to slowly paddle to within 200 meters of her before she decided to climb a nearby rise and get away from this strange water creature.

We spent about two hours looking at possible campsites before we found one to our liking along a flat shoreline. On a big island in the eastern third of Jigsaw, we chose a campsite, which proved to be the best we were to see during our stay on the lake. There were places for perhaps four tents. The central part was slightly higher than surrounding areas. Someone had built a couple of rock chairs near the fire pit. Water surrounded the site on 3 sides. We settled in, fixed Chili Mac to eat, and called it a day.