Day 2: A paddle too far

The next morning was glass-calm and ohh soo quiet. We scanned this scene with wonder. This huge lake was flat calm and the only sounds were the chickadees disrupted by a fish breaking the surface catching breakfast. Ahh - THIS is what we came for. It's good to feel small, as I always say. We gathered for a good hot breakfast and talked about our next leg to Pine Island. Susan used her GPS often, while the rest of us checked the map and scouted what we could by sight. We took our time breaking camp and slipped innocuously away from the shore, our paddle dips sounding obsurdly loud with the deafening stillness.
We talked in hushed tones as we made our way out to the middle. We could see Upper Dam towards the left (that separates Mooselookmeguntic Lake from the Upper Rich) and a bright sandy beach across the way. Upper and Lower Richardson are shaped like an "S", so hard to see the entire length at any one spot. Once in the widest part of the lake, we spoke quietly about the next waypoint. The lake stayed this way until almost lunch. We agreed to paddle across the lake and stop at the sandy beach on the eastern shore. Just as our boats slid up to the beach, the sun peaked out and warmed us up from our 60 degree morning. The beach was wide and clean with a shallow slope. The water was a bit higher than normal, according to the photos others had taken in years past, but one of the clearest I've ever seen. Eating an early lunch (we do that a LOT when we're out in the wilderness), we zipped our skirts and covered up as a light rain fell amongst the sunlight. It was now warming up nicely and once in a rhythm, we took off some layers and paddled in the sprinkles. It felt good. Grouping together sometimes and visiting each other occasionally, we paddled southerly down towards what we thought was Pine Island. With the lake still very calm, we easily made our way like a hot knife through butter. Kyle (16 yrs) and I would race each other on occasion - I being better at a short sprint, he then overtaking me and racing away. He also likes to play in his yak. He is always flipping his paddle around and maneuvering his boat around us. My oldest sister, Judy, is a consistent paddler. She is always smiling when she's on the water and does a lot of listening to nature. Susan, Kyle's Mom and my older sister (younger than Judy), is an explorer. She is always scanning the environment and has a good sense of it. The four of us work very well together because we can work so well on our own. We trust each other, depend on each other and genuinely like each other. Stellar combination. Paddling down the lake, we felt like we were going too far and mistakenly relied on information that someone at the campground had given us. This has happened to you before, too, i'm sure. All four of us agreed that we will never again RELY on free information, but rather take it with a grain of salt and keep on our own plan. This person's distances were WAY off and we ended up paddling through "The Narrows" and into Lower Richardson before we figured out we went WAY too far. We gathered in a cove, very tired with arms beginning to ache and huddled. I saw a pontoon boat about 1/2 mile away and decided to visit it. Kyle honored the buddy system and caught up with me. The wind was picking up, the sun was out, lower in the sky and we knew we had to find the site soon. When we got close to the deckboat, I bounced around in the waves and shouted a query about Pine Island. The young guy looked at me with disbelief, "Pine Island?? Wow, you gotta go back through the Narrows and go WAY up the lake - good luck!" Nice. WTF (ok, sorry, but that's how I felt). With no time to lose, I waved to Kyle, motioning towards Judy and Susan, who were waiting in the shallows and started back. With frustration fueling my arms, I met up with the crew and explained. Talk about deflated. We all did our share of swearing, but turned around and headed back up towards the narrows. At this one moment, I felt like I had succumbed. The lake was now capping and I was so incredibly tired. My arms ached, the balls of my feet hurt from pressing on the pedals, and I looked at that distance and almost quit. I started to cry quietly. Kyle was close enough to hear and pulled up beside me. "You ok?" I could hear Susan burst out in a yell of frustration. Judy was just silent, but I could see she was feeling overwhelmed. All at once I thought, I can't just stop - I have to find a site, I have to get my boat out of the water, I have to eat....so no matter what, I HAVE to keep going - even if it's slow, I just HAVE to - no options, do it, cry about it later. "Yeah...i'm good, let's go". I sat up a little straighter, wiggled my feet around and drove that paddle into the lake. Get past the Narrows, I thought, then we can turn the corner out of the wind. The wind was at our back and it was beginning to push us along - that felt better. We all paddled full-speed through the narrows to pleasantly find the water very calm on the other side. Resting a bit we decided to see if we could find another person to ask. A campsite just inside The Narrows had a couple just setting up. The woman watched us approach and I gave her an exasperated smile with my question. "Oh," she instructed, "it's just up that way, but a little far, I think...but", she interjected with enthusiasm, "you guys can do THAT!" We humbly chuckled and she added "I've been watching you all, that's nothin' for your group!" Just hearing that little bit of support, spurred us on. We thanked her and waved goodbye, took some deep breaths and put paddle to water again. Moving slowly up the lake, I wanted to find Pine Island, but was constantly thinking about how bad my chest and arms would feel by the end of the day and into tomorrow. We still had a full day and night left...oouuuch. Kyle scouted close to shore, while I made wide sweep out past the points of land. Then, just ahead I saw a white sign. I hollered to Kyle, "Use your kayaking super powers and paddle towards that sign!" It was Pine Island, finally. Completely exhausted, we dragged our boats up the beach. That day we paddled over 13 miles.