Camping Trip, Part 5

Our horny campers meet a studly forest ranger while traveling through the Boundary Waters.

Because we’d taken a day off, we had to pack up that morning and head for new horizons. Our itinerary for the day included a total of ten miles of paddling, punctuated by three portages, each of which was mostly uphill. By dinner we would be as far from home as we’d get during our trek.

The gray morning mist had cleared by breakfast, and by the time we pushed off, the hot summer sun was blazing in the clear blue sky. We weren’t on the water for ten minutes before the shirts came off.

What followed can only be described as the single hardest day’s work I’ve ever done. The trails seemed to go straight up. They were steep, rocky and slick from last night’s rain, and several times I came dangerously close to twisting my ankle or falling down a jagged slope. The pack straps dug into my sunburned shoulders and I wanted nothing more than to quit and call a cab. Mosquitoes, hatched that morning, hovered in our faces and bit any exposed skin. The day grew hot and humid. On the water there was no shade and only a hint of a breeze. The last portage was the longest and Brian had to coax me along. Eventually we came out of the woods for the last time and saw Kekekabic Lake, our destination.

There were only three campsites on the entire lake, which stretched four miles long and two wide, with dozens of islands and bays. We headed for the closest camp and we were there in ten minutes. It was small and rocky and had minimal appeal. We decided to keep looking.

The next was on the south side of the lake in a low, boggy area and was thick with mosquitoes and flies. I was beginning to think we’d come all this way to have miserable accommodations when we checked the third and final camp. It was on the southern tip of a rather large island at the east end of the lake. There were giant slabs of granite bedrock jutting out into the lake, perfect for swimming and diving. The fire pit rocks had been carefully arranged to protect from the wind and the tent pad was as flat as anyone could hope for in this rugged place. There was even a pile of firewood left by the previous residents. And best of all, we knew we were the only people on the whole lake. There wasn’t another person for miles and we decided to go for a much needed swim.

We quickly lost our clothes and ran for the cool water. I don’t know when I’ve ever been as smelly and dirty. I was dripping with sweat, covered in dirt, but worst of all, glazed with a combination of insect repellant, suntan lotion and jizz. Brian was the same way.

All the days funk washed off of us as we splashed around in the crystal clear water. We carefully checked the shoreline and the depth of the water and found several places we could safely dive off of the rocks. I was resting for a moment, sitting on the rocks watching Brian swim back and forth in front of me. He flipped over and