~

~

Instead of canoeing sixteen miles up the river with more curves than a snake, we took a power boat in from Wanakena to Jankins Landing. We still took the canoe though,. packed to the rafters with food and equipment. We couldn't get it all in the boat without making someone swim. It still took us a good hour to go the four miles because I had to hold onto the canoe to keep it from flipping over.

We made camp by noon, ate lunch, took pictures and removed a tree from on top of the lean-to. The papers' had said that there had been a violent storm and that it had leveled the area" I didn't think so, 'cause I could see several hills and with so many trees down you could see them even better.

We had our choice of any camp site within twenty miles, but the one by the lake, which was the only one you could get to was just fine. The pouring rain didn't allow us to do very much so we concentrated on making a good camp fire. While waiting for the sun to come out, we read the journal that had been left there to see what had been going on. One entry told a little about the storin. Big whoop! Didn't have any imagination. Sounded like an every day occurrence. A second entry described a bunch of chipmunks from hell. They ate through tents and Tupperware to get to the campers food. I no sooner finished reading that than I came face to face with the vicious little varmits. Their beady little eyes meeting mine in hopes of scaring us off - as if they were saying "hand over the goodies or else". "In your dreams", I said. Since they didn't have the technically advanced weapons that we did, they lost the battle and we kept the food .

The food, which I hoped that there was enough of, was hoisted up between two trees each night by three people, two lifting the bag and one pulling on an eight wheel block and tackle. Couldn't have weighted more than two hundred pounds. Three hundred tops. This precaution was taken to prevent loss of food to any hungry bears that might be in the area. Of course, If I were a bear, I would avoid any area that had that much life threatening snoring going on.

Monday morning I opened one eye to see what Was making SO much noise. To my surprise John was actually up before me! This is the first time in my short memory that he has beaten me out of bed on a campout. He even had a fire going! I went back to sleep for another five minutes just to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

The weather was nice, partly sunny and in the seventies. That meant pancakes for breakfast! Don't ask how we figured that out, it's too complicated. Eric started by loading his cake with chocolate chips while the rest of us had blueberries. Why do teenagers half to be different? After breakfast we all decided to go fishing. At first, the boat didn't want to start and I

was starting to worry about being stranded there for the rest of my life. I had my fingers crossed but as luck would have it, the boat started. We spent the rest of the morning cruising around the lake looking for some good fishing spots and catching bait.

That afternoon while Dwight and Eric were catching some z!s, John and I snuck off to see just how much damage there was along the trail. No need for every one to go hiking if no one could get through. There were several hundred trees down across the trail near the end of the lake but nothing a snake couldn't get through. I checked the hikers sign-in log amidst the downed trees to see if any one was still stranded, but every one had escaped. Earlier two hikers had gone as far as where the trail splits to Glassby Pond before being beaten back. Of course being the adventurous woodsmen that we are, we wanted to see all the destruction for ourselves. Some of the trail was clear but when it wastyt, all you could do was either go around, if possible, climb, crawl, slither or jump. We did, however, manage to claw our way up to Glassby Pond. Sometimes it was hard to see where the trail used to be. Normally a forty-five minute round trip took us three hours. It's incredible how many trees are either blown over or snapped off. Upon returning to camp, the next thing to do was to take a bath. I'm not sure what made it more urgent, being hot and sweaty or the odor, but the water sure felt good.

was starting to worry about being stranded there for the rest of my life. I had my fingers crossed but as luck would have it, the boat started. We spent the rest of the morning cruising around the lake looking for some good fishing spots and catching bait.

That afternoon while Dwight and Eric were catching some z!s, John and I snuck off to see just how much damage there was along the trail. No need for every one to go hiking if no one could get through. There were several hundred trees down across the trail near the end of the lake but nothing a snake couldn't get through. I checked the hikers sign-in log amidst the downed trees to see if any one was still stranded, but every one had escaped. Earlier two hikers had gone as far as where the trail splits to Glassby Pond before being beaten back. Of course being the adventurous woodsmen that we are, we wanted to see all the destruction for ourselves. Some of the trail was clear but when it wastyt, all you could do was either go around, if possible, climb, crawl, slither or jump. We did, however, manage to claw our way up to Glassby Pond. Sometimes it was hard to see where the trail used to be. Normally a forty-five minute round trip took us three hours. It's incredible how many trees are either blown over or snapped off. Upon returning to camp, the next thing to do was to take a bath. I'm not sure what made it more urgent, being hot and sweaty or the odor, but the water sure felt good.