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July 18, 2011 - Graham's Dam to Rolling Dam
More oatmeal with toppings and the morning coffee to get us rolling along. We still had to carry across the portage but managed to be hitting the water around 8 AM. There’s a bit of hill to get down to a nice put in, a little sandy beach with a tree growing on some rock. The Nipissing here is a little wider but still had lots of twists and turns, every now and then we would hit some gravel bars or beaver dams.
Jeffrey coming down the hill.
Picturesque put in.
We skipped the 365m portage, thinking it looked easier to just walk it. But I think it ended up taking us three times as long as walking the portage would have. We hit some deeper spots and fast moving water that slowed us down. We did get to see a good sized snapper, he probably wondered what the heck we were doing.
Snapping turtle hiding.
Now you see Markus.
Now you don't.
Oh good, Markus made it back up.
Then we were at the High Falls portage, we spent quite a bit of time here having a little fun in the falls themselves. Along the portage there were some nice blueberries and even some old artifacts. I guess that’s what you would call rusting enamel cookware? We spent as much time as we could climbing in and around High Falls before finally picking our gear up and finishing the portage.
High Falls portage.
Picking blueberries.
Left to rust.
High Falls. Where's John?
High Falls.
Mark S. enjoying life.
Onwards we paddled, reaching the Nadine Lake portage after a few log lift overs. We went ashore here to find the spring. We were still having a tough time having enough water and looked forward to some clear, cold spring water. We braved the mosquitoes which were unbelievable to get the water but shoved off back into the river to eat our lunch.
Logs blocking the river, another lift over.
Nipissing River to Nipissing River.
A short break on the river.
Nadine portage spring - mosquito hords.
Lunch. You can never have too much mayo.
Through the afternoon we spotted another hawk and moose. We went through the Sedge Meadow which seemed to go on forever, oxbow after oxbow. We had to just put our heads down and paddle hard, another long day. We pulled into Rolling Dam around 6:30 – 7 PM and had a brief discussion around continuing on to Cedar Lake. Smarter minds prevailed and we set up camp at the downstream camp site.
Jim finally got his moose photo.
Moose.
Oxbow in Sedge Meadow.
Another bend in the Nipissing.
Nipissing River to Nipissing River.
River riffs.
Rolling Dam portage sign, finally.
In no time we had found our tent and hammock spots, the hammock locations were tough to find. A swim and a dinner of beef stew and dumplings pretty much did in the last of the daylight and we climbed into our sleeping bags before the bugs could devour us. This trip was about the worst for mosquitoes and deer flies that any of us could recall. When you were walking the portages and working up a sweat the deer flies covered your neck and wet hair. A swat of your hand and you were easily catching 3 or 4 deer flies, or more.
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