Day 2 -- Saturday, May 26, 2001

I wake up at about 6:00 to the steady pitter-patter of rain falling on the tent. Not a hard rain but steady. I hope there's some truth to the old saying "rain before 7, clear before 11". Trouble is, we've had rain for the past week and that saying hasn't been true yet! Not wanting to get up and face the wet world outside, I snooze until 8:00. The rain seems to let up about then and we all get up.

Breakfast this morning is French Toast. We also have some fresh grapefruit. It's cloudy and cool as we fix and eat breakfast -- we're all huddled up in our warmest jackets. Over breakfast and cleanup, we discuss what we want to do today. Basil, the only one who has been in this area before, wants to explore some of the lesser creeks and lakes in the area and do some fishing but suggest that the rest of us might want to explore the Korb River, Korb Lake, and Cummings Lake. So, we decide to split up with Basil doing his thing in his canoe and the rest of us doing a day trip in Bob's. We start out at about 11:00, all heading toward the portage to Little Crab Lake. Since we're all heading in the same direction, I travel with Basil to start with. The portage into Little Crab is short, level, and wide so Basil and I just carry the canoe over as is. After the portage, I transfer to Bob's canoe. Bob and Sharon both seem reluctant to take up the duffer position so I claim that spot, figuring it will give me time to take pictures and watch the shore. This is when I discover that I left my binoculars at home but, Sharon has a pair that she loans me. Basil dawdles behind as we paddle across Little Crab to the start of the Korb River. We paddle on past the small creek up to Maxine Lake that Basil wants to explore.

Like most Boundary Waters rivers, the Korb winds slowly through marshes and bogs. The bogs are full of pitcher plants, water lillies and other plants. There are pink flowers blooming (which we later find out from Basil are Laurels). Coming around one bend, we spot the bouncing, white flag of a white-tailed deer bounding away from us. There are several beaver lodges along the river banks. As we near Korb Lake, we hear the sound of running water. A beaver has started building a dam here, causing a small rapids. There is a portage close to the waters edge on the right side of the river but, it's slippery and treacherous. We decide to portage most of our gear but figure that, with only 2 people in the canoe, the rapids are runnable. So, I stand on the bank and watch Bob and Sharon. From there, we reload the canoe and are soon in Korb Lake.

Korb Lake is long and narrow and we paddle the length of it, disturbing a great blue heron at one point. We continue on into the river again at the other end. We disturb some ducks, then Sharon and Bob both slow and quiet their paddling. I assume they're trying to sneak up on the ducks when one of them motions to an object on the opposite shore to the ducks. To start with, it looks like an old tree trunk to me. Then, I suddenly realize, it's a moose! Unfortunately, the moose turns and walks back into the woods before we're close enough for pictures.

Just past the moose encounter, the river bends sharply to the northwest and is joined by a creek from the right. We head up the creek, hoping to go into Silaca Lake and possibly Coxey Pond. Along the creek, we spook another deer and another heron. We get to the 45 rod portage to Silaca and find that it is extremely wet and marshy. Neither Bob and I are willing to venture forth just for a day trip. Sharon does walk/wade across the portage to glimpse Silaca from the other end, leaving Bob and I to fend off hoards of mosquitoes -- the first real bug problem we've encountered so far this trip. I do manage to work my way over to view and photograph the beaver dam. When Sharon returns, we turn back down the creek. We don't get very far before we spot a couple of huge turtles, about 10 inches in diameter, experiencing the joys of spring in the water. They are so engrossed in what they're doing that we are able to pull the canoe up right next to them and watch for a long time -- so the voyageurs become voyeurs for few moments!

After watching the turtles, we continue down the creek, back to the Korb River. Then, we continue further downstream with the intention of taking the 35 rod portage into Cummings. But, we can't find the portage! It doesn't help much that our 2 maps (one Fisher and one McKenzie) don't agree where the portage should be. We finally assume that the portage must be underwater, but, the brush is too thick to paddle a canoe through. So, we turn back and head up the river to Korb Lake. Back on Korb Lake, we stop for lunch on a high rock outcropping, then continue to the other end of the lake to the 70 rod portage into Cummings. This portage proves to be very easy to find as well as being an easy carry.

Cummings is a very pretty lake with lots of bays and a few islands. There are also a few people there, the first we've seen since leaving Crab this morning. We make our way up the southern arm around the point into the western arm. We had heard reports of extensive blowdown damage on Cummings but, if it existed, it must have been further west because we don't see anything. We paddle a short way along the western arm. Just before we get to the point with the campsite on it, we flush an immature bald eagle. It flies up into a tree and we watch it for awhile before it flies away, immediately mobbed by a couple of crows. We then round the point with the campsite on it and explore the long skinny bay on the other side. The campsite on the point is occupied by a large group with kids, large tents, and heavy aluminum canoes. We marvel, realizing that any route into this lake involves at least one long portage and several small ones.

We would like to explore Cummings further but, it's getting late and it's time to start heading back to our campsite. So, we start retracing our steps. The trip back to the campsite is uneventful. As we pull up to the campsite, at about 6:30, I notice a stringer in the water. It turns out that Basil has had a successful day and has brought home a northern and a bass.

We cook and eat supper (which includes the northern), clean up and sit around the fire and at the edge of the lake. All afternoon, it had been trying to clear up. Now, after the sun had set, the skies clear and we have a wonderful view of the sky. The stars are somewhat diminished by the moon which, though still just past new, still gives off a lot of light. We sit there enjoying the crisp, bug free air for quite awhile before heading off to bed. Despite the clearing sky, it seems warmer tonight and I don't sleep quite as well.