My version of a trip report.

Day 1

*Left Cedar at 4:53pm. Lake was flat calm.  
*Arrived Gilmore Island 5:45pm.  
*Arrived Laurel take out 6:15pm. This port is gotta be one of the most difficult in relation to the very short length of travel.  I damn near had a heart attack going over that hill. 
*Portage to Carl Wilson was fairly straight forward but the last 10-15mins was in the dark. .
*Arrived CW around 9:15 to calm water but pitch black and paddled sloooowly towards east shoreline until I spotted the first campsite (not the one beside port, I missed it)
*I setup camp and was sawing logs (in my hammock) by 11pm.

Day 2

*Left campsite for the one across from Varley port. Set up camp and did some trolling - nothing.
*Some wind for the first time and a bit of light to medium rain for couple  hours. No problemo.
*Gather wood, had diner, ate some gummies, went to bed...was exhausted. 

Day 3

*Calm again.  Paddled around entire lake and stopped at every campsite. Very interesting..from a dog's breakfast to shangri-la.  
*Fished the "good" spots and still nodda.
*Back to camp for diner, fire, and few more gummies..then lights out. 

Day 4

*Headed to Varley. The portage itself is easy...but the expanse of mud, more mud...and still...more mud that you have to PADDLE through one inch at a time was the opposite of fun. It is saturated with leeches, they were all over my boat. I do NOT recommend doing this portage after September 1st, unless that area has had significant rain. 

The real safety issue here is someone getting out of their boat in the middle of this slop.  You will NOT get back in, you WILL be stuck, and you WILL push that panic button on the fancy device you're carrying. Be very careful.  That's my .02 fwiw.

Once on Varley campsite I began the chore of cleaning my clothes and boat from all the mud that flung everywhere from the double blade, and single blade, powering through that shyte. It smells like you would expect. 

Varley is an interesting looking lake and has a unique shoreline.  It reminds me of the pacific northwest. The shoreline is pushed back quite a ways before the treeline begins.  After I cleaned up and was sitting on the beach sipping a tea, I have expected to see Bigfoot step out at any moment. 

I fished it all around, crisscrossed, and up the gut, and only marked 19ft of water. No fish. 

My late afternoons and evenings are standard - diner fire gummies bed. But that night I was treated to some of the most peculiar noises.  High pitched screeches (owl I believe) to deep groans and yelps, and the occasional woop wooop wooop. It was wild at certain points.  Varley is a very lively lake.

Day 5

Off to Camp Five for 2 nights. The port was uneventful. But while I was paddling to campsite on Camp Five I treated to a black bear on shoreline who didn't seem very nervous of my presence.  In fact it walked/trotted with me huffing and clicking it's jaw.  So I made an executive decision and pushed on to Gull to see if anyone was there. Arrived Gull at noonish and no one there, but I was off permit so I didn't setup right away. I went fishing for awhile, explored the lake, checked out the small island. had a late lunch around 3:30pm and by 4pm I thought I may be safe to set up....and then I heard clang cling bang thud...you know, the tell tale sounds of someone portaging a canoe through the forest. Ugh. 

When they showed up I explained my situation. I could have left and went on to Cedar and hung out there for couple of nights, but it turns out there are still some really cool people in this world..and I met 5 of them. What an absolute pleasure to meet and chill with all of them. I helped them portage some of their gear, setup their camp, and listened to some pretty interesting stories.

Day 6

The following morning I was leaving and we swapped contact info and I will definitely be setting up an adventure with this crew next year.  

The 1060m and 1730m port from Gull to Cedar is up and down but mostly down hill. It took me 3 hours and 20 minutes to reach Cedar Lake put-in. Cedar Lake was flat calm, like glass when I arrived.  I was at the beach at Brent in about 40mins of leisurely paddling. 

NOTES:

I doubled carried all portages
I have a Swift Key solo..fairly fast boat
I sleep in an 11ft Warbonnet Hammock..bomb proof and as comfortable as a bed. 
I used a spinning rod and two fly rods - 4# and 6# - packed mostly streamers and dries
I may or may not have caught fish..I'd prefer a lawyer present if questioned
I realized this trip that I'm not 20 anymore
I take too much gear and need therapy
Happy Yak freeze dried meals suck balls.  After rehydrating, I burned three of them. Gross. 

The end.