Met Cold River Bob in the Moose River Plains at site 90 near the trail to Beaver Lake. We spent the day setting up and taking a short walk to check out the river for Bob's potential paddle the next day. After dinner and a campfire we both retired. The next day I drove to the Brooktrout trailhead and hiked 14 miles to meet Dan at the Spruce Lake lean-to. He had left his bear bag rope at home and would be in the wilderness for two weeks. Two miles from the lean-to it began to rain. It did not subside until sometime in the middle of the night. Dan was at the lean-to when I arrived around 3pm. I set up my sleeping gear in the lean-to and he told me stories about his summer adventures including having to depart Quetico due to the forest fires. We both had no-cook dinners and went to bed. Along with the rain was significant winds. The wind did a great job of drying out the forest after the rain ended.
In the morning I cooked up bratwurst for us both for breakfast. We made plans to meet up again at the same lean-to in 5 days. I would bring him a days worth of food resupply so he would not have to leave before I got there. I also told him of a large can of chili at another lean-to I knew was on his route. We hiked together for the first five miles. With him carrying his full pack + canoe it was the only time he was ever slower than me. At the West Canada Creek lean-to, we had lunch and he pushed off into thd creek towards Mud Lake while I continued on trail back to my car.
I returned to Bob's site at 4:30 and cooked dinner. He had just finished his when I returned. We had another campfire and had an early start heading home the next day. A lot of fall fungus on the trail after the rains.
