Day 1 - canoeing therapy

After the 208 rod(1046 meters, .65 miles) portage down to Little Gabbro lake. We packed the canoe with me sitting on top of a pack in the center of the canoe. Way too top heavy and embarked on 10 minutes of terror until we landed on Safety Island in 50 yards where I got into a kneeling position. We unsuccessfully attempted to run up the class I rapid from Gabbro to Little Gabbro. The Minnesota II Wenonah canoe is not meant to run rivers. We had looked at the map wrong and then embarked on the circumnavigation of the eastern bays. Two hours later after 3 deadends in swamps we realized that the rapids needed to be navigated since that was the approach to Gabbro Lake. I insisted on going up the right eddy and lining the canoe up(self-preservation and all). The campsite we wanted was occupied so we continued down the lake and found a wonderful sloping rock with improved kitchen area.