Date: 2003-08-04
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Yeah, this place is cool. I'm not leaving. Enough hikers came in after dinner last night that we had pancakes again for breakfast! The rain has gone, the lake is clear, there's work to do, sound like a zero to me! I spent some time splitting soggy white birch firewood, but was soon driven off by the thick clouds of mosquitos. Swinging an axe really reminded me how little I've been using my arms in the last 5 months! Several hikers along with the caretaker were going to go pack empty propane tanks out to a car over a mile away, and needed some help getting them back. Since the cabin is quite a ways out in the woods, carrying full propane tanks back is not much fun. Fortunately, the cabin is right on a lake that is connected to another lake, which is connected to civilization by way of several houses and docks. Since someone had to hike out to get the car anyhow, and a few people needed to go to town for supplies, it was decided that one group would carry empty tanks out to the car, then take them to town to be filled. The full tanks would be dropped off at a dock on the lake, then the hikers and caretaker would drive and hike back to the cabin. A couple other hikers would procrastinate, don life jackets, paddle out to the dock, pick up the tanks, and bring them back to the cabin. Bull and I became the designated paddlers and set off to procrastinate, but failed miserably and were soon out exploring the lake. It turned out that there were a few docks, and neither of us had really been paying attention to the instructions, so we decided that it was probably the farthest dock from the cabin (taking Murphy's laws into account.) We figured that we would wait until a bit after the predesignated time at the farthest dock, and if the tanks didn't arrive, we could follow the shoreline back towards the cabin, passing the other prospective targets on the way back. The lakes were notably bigger than we had anticipated, and it started to rain, but that wasn't really a problem. We got a few funny looks from local people with shoreline houses "What the heck are those idiots doing paddling in the rain!?" Of course, we were just as used to those kind of looks as we were to the rain, and continued on to the far end of Lower Goose Pond. We were early, so we practiced paddling figure 8s around a couple bouys near a police boat. That got a bit old after a while, and the car didn't show up, but the rain left! A couple of people drove up and began unloading kayaks, at which point we formulated a new plan. I yogied some paper and a pen to leave a note for our friends informing them that we were going back towards one of the other docks that we had passed, and that we would be back. We set off again, this time in the opposite direction. After a bit of paddling, we spotted some propane tanks on a dock, and decided that they were probably the ones we were supposed to get. We loaded the canoe and headed back. Upon arrival, we were gretted by the crew from town, with pizza! I managed to grab a bunk before the place filled up, but I think sleeping on the floor would have been a better idea. Not because the bunk was uncomfortable, but because I'm so used to my z-rest which is not terribly cushy...