Almost ready to go

This was Constantine’s trip, so I am reporting from the POV of a participant.  This trip consisted of 5 days of island-hopping and camping.  We posted this trip on the HCC calendar, and had 6 members sign up, but the total dropped to two HCC members by the time of the trip.  Not to worry, Constantine had friends and family filling in the gaps, and we ended up with 12 participants, two to each canoe.

The first paddling day (Saturday, 11/22/2025) had scattered clouds with a steady breeze in our faces.  We got on the water at 2:30 in the afternoon and paddled along the opposite shore from the marina where we launched.  We saw a large flock of grebes floating together.  We stopped (4.7 miles) at a west-facing beach pointed at island 48.  We set up camp, built a fire, and had pork loins, vegetable, quinoa and fruit cake for dinner.

Our first camp on 11/22 (Saturday)

Leaving our first camp on 11/23 (Sunday)

Paddling to our two-day island on Sunday

Constantine and his daughter having a good time

The second paddling day (Sunday, 11/23), dawned overcast but quickly changed to scattered clouds.  We had huge breakfast burritos.  We got on the water by 10:30 and paddled for a while, winding through a few islands, then took a small break on a convenient small island. 

Our convenient little “break” island

We occasionally “rafted up” in a group to hear Constantine’s latest thoughts or advice

Then we paddled to our final destination, point 40 on Island 40-41-42, which we chose with care because we knew it was going to rain the next day and we would be there for a while.  We found our place at 2:30 after 5.6 miles of paddling.  We set up camp on a saddle overlooking our protected lagoon on one side and the main channel on the other side. We prepared for rain, got a fire going (no small task with all of the wet materials), made a great dinner of baked beans, vegetables, sausage and pork, and talked around the campfire.

Our camping area on the island (Constantine is on far right)

Our view to the north from camp

Our view of the lagoon to the south from our camp

David and Adela hanging the highest point on the tarp over our cooking area

Sunset over the lagoon

Clouds started gathering – getting ominous

As predicted, the rain started about 3:00 on Monday morning.  We were on our own for breakfast, but had a late community lunch of scrambled egg burritos with chili.  When the rain petered out temporarily, we hiked the shoreline to the east shore of the island (about an hour.  Then we climbed to the ridgeline and did some bushwhacking back to camp for some new views and perspectives.  Just as it started raining again, we saw seven loons (confirmed by their cries).  We cooked a dinner of sardines and onions, Dutch oven potatoes, with a tomato-onion-avocado salad under a well-rigged tarp.  All agreed it was an outstanding, delicious meal.

It’s raining

Our meal prep tarp

A colorful little group

Our ridgeline trekkers – the red on my face was an experiment with iron oxide we found in a rock

Our tarp prep area doubled as a crowded area for eating

It rained on and off through the night, but it was almost over by daybreak.  Another loon made a brief appearance.  We had breakfast burritos and took our time breaking camp.  We circumnavigated our island and then headed back in the direction of our take-out.  We had a good deal of wind and wind waves, with following seas.  We took a break on another little island.  After paddling for a while longer, came to the long peninsula we had camped on before.  We passed our first camp, and then started hunting for our last camp of the trip.  We spent some time trying to make one site work, but decided to move on.  It wasn’t a total waste of effort as we saw a magnificent bald eagle soaring along the shoreline as we were leaving.  Within a few minutes of leaving the disappointing site, we found a perfect site and set up camp with a campfire.  We paddled 8.1 miles total for the day.  We witnessed a spectacular sunset, had lasagna with extra sauce for dinner, and spent quite a bit of time around the campfire in discussions and singing.

Tuesday morning – about to break camp

Getting ready to leave our wet island

We took a little break on the back side of our island as we circumnavigated it

Anna was my paddling partner for this trip – a delightful person

Sunset at our final camp

Tuesday campfire started

Our last day, Wednesday 11/26, we broke camp relatively early and paddled the remaining 1.8 miles to the marina.

Canoes and gear all packed and ready to go

It was a great trip with lots of variety and camaraderie.

Here’s where we went