This trip with Bob was into Spruce Lake again. Primary goal accomplished was to bushwhack around Balsam Lake. The weather was perfect.
We went up early Friday, a 2 hour drive in Bob's brand new truck. We stopped at Jessup River and changed socks on the way in, enjoying the vivid colors. Some of the deep green pine trees had caught falling, bright red maple leaves, and they looked striking under the clear, deep blue sky - enough that my body shuddered at the sight. We started hiking at 8:18 and got in about 12:45. We boiled some water on Bob's stove and cooked a lunch.
It was too cold to swim. Bob fished a little, we gathered some firewood, and got organized. Both of us complained about our feet hurting - for some reason the hike in was rough on us. We cooked on the fire, supping on macaroni, cheese & pepperoni, peanut-butter sandwiches on Ritz crackers, and a dehydrated Mountain House meal. It was a really clear night, and we were afraid it would get really cold, so we erected our bivy sacks for the night. The stars were out in numbers. Aside from the loons and screech owls it was a quiet night.
On Saturday the temperature had dropped to 38 during the night. We breakfasted, tidied up, and decided to embark on our first bushwhack. Up the outlet of Balsam Lake from the trail, we circled the lake counter clockwise. At waypoint 002 I hid my jacket for retrieval on the return, since it was a lot warmer away from Spruce Lake. Waypoint B03 was the first bear sign we spotted. I almost stepped in it. We now know that bears do go in the woods. Waypoint 004 was a photo op, and waypoint 005 looked like a likely tenting site. You might note that we didn't walk on the water, or wade, but due to the slight inaccuracy of the GPS system, it appears as though we might have.
After our bushwhack, we ate a hearty luncheon of peanut butter on crackers, soup, seeds, pepperoni, and fig newtons. Bob fished and I napped. We didn't start supper until after dark. Bob stayed up late (after lunch) to catch me napping. When I awoke from my nap, I saw my feet inside my sleeping bag
Hiking out took 4 hours, the last hour of which took nearly a week. For some reason I really hit a wall and was tired for 24 hours afterwards. Bob drove me home, stopping for lunch in Utica. The trip out was beautiful, sunny, with less upper story in the woods due to leaves falling, and extremely vivid and pleasant. In the parking lot, we were attacked by a fungus-ear man named Mickey.
