The Saint Joseph River Trip - Installment Four

     Day two started out really well. Everyone is roused at 6:30 AM after sleeping on a not to comfortable hard ground. First a solid breakfast was served to give all a good sustenance for the ardous journey ahead.      
     Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon and the famous tortillas (another heritage link). Two dams will have to be portaged today.
     Camp is broken, but not until after a humerous incident, where the victim shall remain nameless. You may remember in the post about arriving at this campsite there were discussions about who would do the latrine digging. Our latrine digger went off to dig (with the short entrenching tool), but he chose a paticularly soft and muddy area, with the result that suddenly he found himself sinking into the mud, up to his knees and rear end. He had to be pulled out, good thing it was not quicksand.
     By 9:20 AM the breakfast has been cleaned up, the canoes reloaded and we are back on the river. The Dowagiac shoots us right into the Saint Joseph. There is a very strong current pushing us right along.
     Just 2 hours and 15 minutes later we have covered  6.8 miles and arrive at the Buchanan Dam portage, also portaged on river right. This portage is clearly marked and rather short. Portage out 41 deg 50' 20.75" N / 86 deg. 20' 57.43" W. The portage is a bit steep.
     We now discover that the tire on the dolly that was low yesterday is completely deflated, and we do not have a pump to inflate it. What to do? We find some people fishing just a short distance away and one of them offer to take me to the nearest store where I can purchase a can of "fix a flat". So off we go for that can as well as refilling our freshwater tank. This gentleman, it turns out, is originally from the State of Chiapas, Mexico, but has lived in Michigan most of his life.
      After returning with the required "air" for the tire, the problem is fixed in short order and we complete the portage, which is only 4/10th of a mile on good road, and all downhill. Before going back on the river we make lunch, a rather simple lunch consisting of noodle soup.
      By 1:10 PM we have the canoes reloaded and on the river at 40 deg. 50' 25.19" N / 86 deg. 21' 15.19". We have good strong current and an uneventful paddle the remainder of the afternoon, except for some fairly strong head winds on Lake Chapin. Lots of wildlife observed, but no fish caught. Which means we will have to shop for dinner in Berrien Springs while the canoes are being portaged.
     At 4:30 PM we arrive at the Berrien Springs Dam and portage out on river left at the, if memory serves my correctly, Berrien Springs Boat Club (41 deg. 56' 35.65" N / 86 deg. 19' 51.45" W). This portage is not marked. The distance covered was 9.27 miles, in 3 hours 10 minutes.
     Getting out at the boat club is easy, getting across the road on the dam is easy, getting down the rocky dirt path is more difficult. While Joseph and I went to town to shop for meatballs, eggs, sausage and a few other items the other 4 members of the crew were busy portaging. They did encounter a little help from one of the folks we met at the Buchanan Dam who was now here fishing. The portage is only about 1/10 mile long, but it does take some work. Once in the rocks the dolly was of no use.
     We launched the canoes on the downstream side of the dam about 6:15 PM at 41 deg. 56' 39.29" N / 86 deg. 19' 48.39" W. We decided to pass on the left side of Pardee Island although this upset some fishermen on the bank, a number of whom used very strong terms of endearment as we passed by, a good distance from their fishing lines.
     After a very short paddle of only 30 minutes and 8/10 mile we arrive at Shamrock Campground by 6:45 PM. We have chosen campsites right on the river (41 deg. 57' 12.37 N / 86 deg. 20' 10.00 W). The camp host was kind enough to wait for us and provide us with some firewood. Tents are pitched, after the ground is cleared of poop from geese. The good doctor and the boys build a nice campfire while dinner was cooking; spaghetti and meatballs with roasted garlic and a good homemade tomato sauce. After cleaning up the dinner stuff everone hits the showers. Then the boys spent part of the evening sitting by the campfire telling scary stories with their father listening while I, being a member of the geritol set, decided to call it the day. This ground is much softer than the hard sandbank of last night.
     Here is a link to a short video of day two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TO1OMqnzQ