It’s a Dog’s Life

With sole responsibility for the dog while BJ is in Phoenix, we limited our paddling to lakes we could access without a portage. Turk didn’t seem to mind.

We did check out the rest of the Swanson River / Swan Lake road system. Portage Lake is the east entrance to the Swan Lake Canoe routes. There are thirty lakes connected by portages in this system and at least four through routes possible, including two that exit via a meandering river that was calling my name!

In the two weeks that the Swan Lake routes have been open, fewer than 75 people have paddled in the area, many for just an overnight within three lakes of the entrance points. Only one solo paddler indicated in the registration books that they were doing a through trip.  I still want to paddle it, but I can’t do the portages and keep track of the dog at the same time.

This is today's view from the trailer. We shifted locations to get into an area with some cell coverage. Home for the night is no fee camping at Peterson Lake, thanks to Mike & Terri Church's Alaska Camping book. I'm showing zero bars of 3G on my phone but have 4 bars using the antenna & amplifier. That will give me the access to track BJ's return travel and do some research on the next (unplanned) trailer mod. :-(