As Christina and I scouted the portage we let our campers eat their lunch of bay bread. The portage is longer than my portage was last session and it felt a lot longer than I remember it being last year. When we reached the end of the portage we heard something large moving in the woods. Of course, both our minds immediately jumped to bear — even though it was more likely that it was just a dear. None-the-less we decided to sing a song while we walked back, just to scare it away.
With nine people total there was more gear than people so I went first with two campers and breezed through the portage. After getting our gear and canoe down, the two campers and I went back to help the rest. It was a good thing too, because when I got to Christina at the back of the group she had the heaviest canoe and a gear pack. By the end of that portage I had probably done it a good few times and the mosquitoes were starting to get to me and many of my campers.
From the portage it was a quick paddle to our campsite. Being less than 15 minutes away from the portage it was the perfect opportunity for campers to try sterning. I was happy to see many of them take the initiative and try.
Still being early in the day we got to have a fun day at our campsite. Our group of girls went swimming off a canoe and had fun swamping it too. I took a camper out fishing and we went almost all the way around the entire inland lake of Reid. By the end he had caught several fish; including smallmouth, walleye, and bass. He kept two large walleye and cooked them up for dinner.
Along with our walleye, we also had pita pizzas for dinner, followed by super s’mores.
Following dinner was more free time. More fishing occurred and our designated fisher would catch a fish to let someone new reel it in. At one point Christina and I were talking when we heard our campers scream. Asking one what happened they all came running over to us.
“We fed a snapping turtle a frog!”
Sure enough, they had found a frog and threw it into the water right above a snapping turtle. The snapping turtle appreciated the help in catching his meal — and my campers have it all on video. The turtle also was fed some of our uncooked, leftover fish.
Today I get to say that my campers got to influence natural selection.
