Hatchet Lake to West Chickenbone

4 August 2024

Last night, a few sprinkles did roll through but more importantly, the temps finally dropped (into the mid 40s!) and I was actually able to sleep comfortably under my quilt.

Today’s hike has a lot of uphills, at least 3 major ones on the push up to Mount Siskiwit, so I was on the trail by 0715, hopefully before the sun gets too hot:

I’m not sure how I managed to miss this skull at the trail junction marker on my way into camp:

It was still a bit drizzly this morning, but not quite wet enough that I wanted to pull out my jacket or poncho, so during the few heavier sprinkles, I parked myself under thicker tree and snacked on thimbleberries until it passed:

Little thrush:

Broken bridge:

I wish I had used my foot for scale, but I’m pretty sure this is a wolf print:

The rain let up an hour or so into my hike and the sun came back out:

Sweet shade!

Look at those views!

That’s Canada off in the distance:

One of the things I thought about bringing, but ultimately ditched for weight, was an umbrella.  I mean, I brought sunscreen and today’s cooler temps (only in the low 70s!) mean I haven’t sweat it off yet, but a sunshade would be nice for these open, exposed bluffs:

I’m on top of the world!

(Mount Siskiwit)

You can’t see them in this picture, but all along this stretch of trail are blueberry bushes!

They’re short and stubby (which is not fun to bend down to while wearing a pack):

but look at these berries!

I’m pretty sure I ate my weight in blueberries today.

Found a cool moose skull:

This needed to be done:

I will never get sick of these views:

My phone’s camera roll is loaded with dozens of shots like this, but they can’t quite capture the majestic scale of the view from up here:

Back into the green, there could easily be a moose on the other side of these bushes and you’d never know, that’s how dense some of the vegetation is here:

And just like yesterday, I hit the junction down to my next campsite in what felt like no time:

Welcome to Chickenbone Lake:

I was hoping for site #6, which is right on the shore, but a Speed Hiker couple blew past me shortly after Mount Siskiwit while I was harvesting blueberries and snagged it first:

Lame.  Site #4 seemed like the next best, but it too was occupied.  I waved and said hi as I walked past; the group asked where I was headed and when I replied, “here”, they said they were just wrapping up lunch and would be hitting the trail if I wanted their site!  So I stayed and chatted with them as they finished packing up.  They were just headed a bit further down the trail to McCargo, so a nice short hike, which was good for them because their packs looked quite heavy!  Apparently, the first year they came here, their packs were pushing 70 lbs! so the 50-60 they’re at now was definitely an improvement (and makes my 30 lb pack seem like nothing).

While not quite on the water, this site was still pretty stellar:

and it had easy water access:

though I’m beginning to wish I had brought camp shoes (another thing I cut from my pack to save weight).  It feels so good to kick off my shoes after hiking all morning, so I’ve just been going barefoot.

There were so many tiny frogs here!  If you walked through a muddy area, or where people hadn’t been in a bit, the ground would hop away:

There were also a ton of dragonflies here, and several of them did this weird thing where they would land and dip their butts in the water…

Not sure what that’s all about.

Once camp chores were done (basically, setting up my tent and filtering more water, which was about the same yellow-ish color as Hatchet, but tasted more like a really weak tea), I went off in search of critters.  I didn’t have to go far as my site was full of birds, like this Cape May warbler (male):

and female:

Cedar waxwing:

Apparently they like the berries in the surrounding trees:

Hopefully they don’t poop on my tent!

Downy woodpecker:

And this mushroom-eating rabbit:

Back at the lake, I found this guy swimming away:

and this GIANT free swimming leech!

He was a solid 4-5″ and swimming boldly through the shallows.  Did you know leeches can free swim?!  Because I mostly certainly didn’t!  Definitely NOT getting to this lake!

I will, however, still eat my dinner along the shore and watch for wildlife:

Unfortunately, all I spotted was this spider:

who spun a very impressive web while I watched!

and this especially active loon- calling and flapping and taking off/landing on the lake:

Then the wind died down, and the lake went still:

Good night, Chickenbone Lake!

Today was definitely my favorite day of the trip- cooler temps, beautiful views, great site with critters to photograph and, for the first time, no pain in my shoulder!