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David, Ryan and Ricks 6 day canoe trip June 3 (Sun) through June 8 (Friday). Ryan and Rick leave June 11(Monday) in AM.

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  • David and Rick leave island for a fishing trip to the honey hole.
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  • David with walleye at cleaning station at beach area of island.
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  • Rick reacts to the fish guts.
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  • Rick likes all the walleyes.
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  • David and Rick in cabin loft packing for their canoe trip
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  • Don and Doug States discuss lilkelyhood of David's canoe trip being successful.
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  • The gear is being collected for David's trip.
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  • Ryan, David and Rick are now ready to leave the island for their canoe trip.  The weather is cloudy, cool and about to rain.
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  • Their first camp site in Greenbush Lake.  Had they gone 3/8 of a mile further, they could have camped on a nice level spot with an inviting shelf rock beach.
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  • David is ready to stop for the (wet) night.
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  • The hatchet is the main tool to clear a tent site.  The spagnum mose does make a soft spot for sleeping but any unlevel of uneven spot can distract from a good sleep.
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  • David prepares to install the tent rain fly (cover).
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  • This job is best done with several people.
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  • David is happy with the tent job.
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  • Ryan has a nice fire going a safe distance from the tent.
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  • Rick and Ryan wait for the pancakes to cook.
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  • A grill might have been a good addition to the gear list.
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  • Rick likes what he sees.  David is a bit more reserved.
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  • Man these cakes cook slow!!
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  • David and Rick get prepared for some fishing about a mile from the outlet to Greenbush Lake.
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  • David seems exited about something.  He has his fish scale out.
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  • Looks like a big Northern.
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  • It is a big 20 pound Northern, but who caught it??
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  • Rick was the winner this time!!!  He does look happy...and why not???
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  • Rick and David at the east end of Greenbush Lake, preparing to investigate the first of four rapids out of the lake.

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  • Yay, lets get going!!
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  • Rick seems to be loosing his enthusiasm.
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  • Ryan and David exude confidence in their upcoming exploration of rapids #1.
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  • But of course it might be harder than we think.
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  • That does look like a nasty rapids.
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  • Wow!!  Look at those waves!!
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  • The bay above the rapids.
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  • The bay above the rapids as seen from the hill on the west side of the rapids.
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  • David awaits the canoe.
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  • The canoe made it through the rapids with most of the gear and two paddlers.
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  • The new campsite below Rapids #3.
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  • This big rock is at the bottom of rapids #3 and is where David, Don and Duke caught big Northerns of 13, 15 and 17 pounds on six cast later in the summer.
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  • Rick and David coming to the campsite.
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  • Rick and David.
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  • David
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  • Rick and David prepare to land.
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  • Rick is pulling down a dead tree for fire wood.
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  • Rick gives a thumbs up on his tree destruction mission.
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  • I hope Rick is not chopping down on that rock.

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  • I think he missed the rock, thank goodness!
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  • How come I get all the hard work??

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  • The work of getting the campsite organized has begun.
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  • Rick is still collecting wood, a high priority task.
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  • A rock chair is a very good idea.
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  • A lot of time is spent looking in dry bags for items of your desire.
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  • Ryan looks happy that the fire is burning nicely.  Rick looks like he may have hit his head with the hatchet.
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  • Nothing like a nice fire going while camping!
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  • David was the chief cook.
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  • Rick asks “When do we eat”?
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  • David checks on the fish
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  • Rick goes for more firewood.
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  • Fish is done, come and get it.
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  • Nice warm fire.
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  • THIS is all the fish I get??

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  • What a bummer!
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  • The fire is good for drying the ever wet socks on a canoe trip.
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  • Rick tends the fire (think pyro) while David sorts his gear.  The next rapids, a “rock garden”, is in the background.
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  • An early morning visitor near camp.
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  • He was attracted by the smell of food, probably it was the fish.
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  • Everybody started to make a lot of noise, banging pot and pans and that kept him from getting closer than 30 yards away.
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  • Rick thinks it is pretty cool ….after he could see that the bear was leaving.
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  • Ryan agrees!!
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  • David also enjoys the encounter.
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  • Time for Rick to dry and warm his feet.
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  • The end of rapids #3 with the big “fishing rock” on the left and the start of Rapids #4 with the one mile long “rock garden” on the right.
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  • Bottom of Rapids #3 as seen from the campsite.
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  • Rick seems to be out fishing his buddies with another nice Northern Pike
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  • Rapids #4, the “rock garden”.
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  • The “rock garden” is about ¾ miles long with and a 3 acre island in the middle of the rapids at it’s very end.  David, Don and Duke camped there on their trip into Reilly Lake later in the year.  Duke caught a 20 pound Northern and Don a 10 pounder in the back water of the island as well as many, many big walleye, a real “Honey Hole”.
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  • Rick and David walk the rapids to check it out.  This is a time consuming task but a smart tactic when canoeing rapids for the first time.  You don’t want to find a water falls or big ledge drop off while you are shooting down the rapids with no chance of “bailing out”.
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  • David and Ryan.  The island is to the right of where the river disappears toward the right side and before the river reappears toward the horizon.
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  • Rick and Ryan where the guys stopped for a lunch break after passing through the last rapids into Reilly Lake.
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  • Time to break out a snack.
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  • David and Ryan enjoy a snack of cheese and crackers.
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  • David applies some cheese to his cracker.
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  • The last rapids has been shot and David is now paddling out into Reilly Lake (an arm of Reindeer Lake).
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  • David paddled in the rear of the canoe and is responsible for steering the canoe.

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  • Notice that David has his pole deployed out the rear of the canoe.
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  • David could never cross new water without trolling for a stray fish.
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  • Notice the flock of geese flying north for the summer.
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  • David’s trolling efforts were rewarded with a nice Lake Trout that will be eaten for supper.  Rick seems pleased that his "largest fish of the trip" claim is still valid.
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  • This is the new camp site for the night on the southwest shore of Reilly Lake.  Looks like the weather might be improving.
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  • New tent site.  Luckily there is some moss on the rock to soften the tent floor for sleeping.
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  • Rick ponders the view and the weather.

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  • David cleans the lake trout for a fine supper.
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  • The water pot is heating and the fish are ready to go into the fire.

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  • The tent is up and ready for the night.
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  • The view from the tent is not too shabby.
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  • With supper done and daylight to burn, Rick and Ryan wonder what is next on the schedule.
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  • Rick feels so good he is going to put on a show for his buddies.  Watch this!!
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  • Here I go.
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  • Look guys, I can click my heals with joy?
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  • David thinks he can (must?) do anything Rick does.
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  • Ryan thinks he is stuck on a rock out in the wilderness with a couple of crazys.
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  • Its time for Rick and Ryan to have a desert by the warm fire.
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  • David tries to make a call home on the Globalstar satellite phone.
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  • What a piece of crap, no signal!!  Well, it is NOT working up to par.  The Globalstar coverage in this area went to pot a few years ago and prompted Don to switch to an internet satellite based system, using Skype to make phone calls.  He kept the Globalstar as a portable backup but the time window for usage is very narrow and at a different time each day, rendering it nearly useless.
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  • David said it is way to early to go to bed, lets go for a swim.
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  • Yea, that sound great!
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  • Ryan and David didn’t want to get their swim suits wet, however.  The air temperature?  52 degrees.
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  • The rocks are a little hard to walk on.
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  • I hope there isn’t a drop off close to shore.

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  • Yikes? It’s a bit colder than I thought.  How cold?  Just a tad above freezing, the ice has been out for only 10 days.
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  • June 7.  Rick works to put out the fire.  What a nice clear day to canoe down the lake 1 1/2 miles to our next portage.  The temperature was up to 73 degrees today.
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  • Ryan paddles from the front of the canoe.
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  • This is where the river from Oliver Lake dumps into Reilly Lake.  This requires portaging.
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  • Beautiful water.
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  • It is not always clear which side of a rapids might contain a portage trail.  If you don’t find it where you first stop, it is best to switch sides and look on the other side.
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  • It certainly looks like a good spot to fish but they didn’t catch anything here
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  • Fortunately, this is a short portage.
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  • David checks the map for options.
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  • Rick found a broken shovel along the portage.  It is not unusual to find all sorts of things around portages, after all, there is no garbage pickup service and many people are not willing to do the correct thing and carry out their garbage.  Sometimes, what you find was something left by accident since portages and campsites are where things frequently get lost.
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  • They came close to having an accident at this spot.  The bow got too far out in the current and almost tipped the canoe over.
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  • Above the rapids they just portaged.
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  • There is an eagle nest somewhere in this tree located along the 1/4 mile long "bushwack portage".
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  • Rick and Ryan are hoping this high ridge provides an easier route to Carswell Lake.
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  • David doesn’t seem enthusiastic. It has long been a question for us how to get from Reilly Lake into Carswell Lake.  This is way off the beaten track, even for the Indians, and probably has not been traverses in the last 30 years, if then.  The drainage looks to get too small for a canoe and perhaps it might be easier just to find a dry place to portage, even if it is a greater distance.  The guys were trying to find such a portage route. An overland route was not found.   It took 7 hours to cover the 1.5 mile straight line distance to open water in Carswell.
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  • David is paddling through the swamp, wondering how far the water route would get them.
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  • David wonders if the worst portage of the trip is behind them or still ahead
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  • This now looks like an interstate highway. Actually, David was not sure which of many channels should be taken, however one channel was colder than the alternative, so David surmised the cold channel was the right one to take since it was coming from a larger lake.
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  • Ryan is at the beginning of the portage out of the swamp.
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  • Rick shows how far he got with the canoe.
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  • Until he ran out of water.  Sometimes the water flow just moves underground and you must portage.
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  • There were a couple small "pull-overs" before getting into Carswell Lake but nothing like what they had just finished.
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  • A bonus find of a moose head is always welcome, even if it has to be carried all the way back to the cabin.
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  • David demonstrates that you will get wet and probably muddy on the portages, this is a minimal amount.
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  • Half way down the long slender lake (Carswell) they make camp for the night, it was a very tough day and a late supper.  Next morning morning the troubles of the prior day are soon put aside in the enthusiasm of a fresh day.
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  • Carswell has high hills on either side for the entire length of the lake.
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  • Not a very good spot for landing a canoe but you take what you find.

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  • The camp is pretty well situated on the most level land available.
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  • Ryan and Rick are ready for breakfast.  Their dirty clothes from yesterday's portage hang on a line to dry out.
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  • Pancake work well any day.  Hey Ryan, nice outfit!
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  • Long Johns work well too.  By the way, that’s a pancake in the bowl.
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  • David keeps those cakes coming.
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  • Hmmm, Hmmm, those cake shore do look good!!!!
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  • What a long, narrow lake.
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  • Narrow looking both directions.
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  • Next day, June 7, Rick paddles on to the west end of Carswell Lake.
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  • Ryan paddles from the rear of the canoe.
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  • Rick rest and grabs a drink of water (we regularly drink the lake water) while David checks his maps to locate the best portage route from Carswell into Gillespie Lake.  This portage is not along a stream like most portages, rather it goes over a height of land, through a very small un-named lake and then into Gillespie.  It is a route probably never taken by anyone before.
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  • David keeps working on the route decisions.  The actual landscape always looks different than the map or Google Earth image and a certain amount of doubt is always present absent any significant land feature.
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  • Rick checks the small un-named lake for fish.  Because these very small lakes are normally shallow, they experience significant winter kill from the ice and usually contain only smaller fish.
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  • Getting even a narrow canoe through the bush can be challenging, frequently requiring cutting a path, but not this time.
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  • Hey David, your route is getting a bit narrow!!  At one time, the canoe was going down a vertical rock formation.
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  • David gets to carry the moose head.
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  • David is wondering if it was a good idea to acquire this free moose head.

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  • Ryan has no doubts about the trip to Gillespie.  The lake trout were practically jumping into the canoe.  They were being caught as fast as the guys could get their lures in the lake, everywhere!!
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  • The lake trout were running about 6-7 pounds according to David’s scales.
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  • David thinks one of these trout is going to make a good supper.
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  • David works at making a fire at their new campsite which was on a peninsula near the center of the 7 mile by 1 mile lake.
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  • This site did not have a gentle sloping shelf rock to beach the canoe on but the site had another very important attribute…
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  • A very nice flat tent site covered with thick, soft Reindeer Moss to insure a great night of sleep.
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  • The moose head has managed to survive the trip so far.
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  • The fire is about ready to start supper.
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  • This is Gillespie.
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  • Rick and Ryan enjoy another fire by the lake.
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  • It would be hard to find any campsite without a great view.
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  • Ryan is the one wearing the hat.
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  • Rick and his new buddy.The boys left Gillespie at 1PM the next day (June 8) traveling down the outlet of Gillespie into Caldwell Lake where they immediately take the outlet from Caldwell to Spalding Lake.  This outlet was a similar route to the Gillespie outlet, little water, lots of rocks, portaging and hard work taking a total effort of 6 hours.  Don had hidden a 2HP outboard motor and gas at the Spalding end of this outlet so they could motor the last 8 miles across Spalding Lake to the cabin where they arrived about 9PM, very dirt and very tired.  Don was more than a little happy to see them safely through their tough trip.
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  • Ryan stands next to the walleyes they caught the next day for taking home.
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  • Rick, David and Ryan with the moose head that did make the long, tough journey back to Dancing Loon Island.
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  • June 11 David took Rick and Ryan back to the landing to start their trip back to North Platte. He picked up Dewayne Niebur ans his son Kinnley for the return trip to the island.  About 7 miles west of the Dancing Loon Island, they came upon this young bear swimming across Spalding Lake.  Who knows why?  Probably not even the bear.
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  • It is a good thing they are very good swimmers because he chose about the widest part of the lake to cross.
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