Summer Adventures pt. 1 1/2

Here we are: Confident and Excited as we set out...

But so much lay ahead... we had no idea...

Our second portage... through a small swamp. It was one of the nicer portages. No joke!



The bros showing what they're made of.

And then our first stop. Needless to say, we never realized how far or how hard this trail was going to be.

But at that point it was nice to rest. Great camping on top of a rock by the lake...

Gotta love those freeze-dried goodies. 

The second day started out with a long, wet, muddy, buggy portage. Not sure how this guy got away with snoozing while we sweated and carried the packs :)

This was pretty much how we felt by the end...

 And it was only the first portage of the day.

Next was a little dam of sorts. A nice break from portaging.

The second portage we chose the river route.

It was about as fun as it looks!

Freeze-dried soup never tasted so good that night...

And JJ ended the day by catching a fish.

3rd day- portages were shorter but just as "bushy."

Again. JJ studied the map while we lugged packs and canoes.

Opting to look for a faster way to White Otter, we tried out this road to another lake.

Guess that's why we got a flat tire on the trailer.

And why the sign stated the obvious.

All in all, despite its unexpected-ness, we made lots of memories.

Got some good family time in. The boys built muscle. We all got feasted on by mosquitoes.

 We lived in the wake of God's creation. 

We never did make it to our originally planned destination. But perhaps someday...

"Nature never taught me that there exists a God of glory and of infinite majesty. I had to learn that in other ways. But nature gave the word glory a meaning for me." ~C.S. Lewis