Day 6 (August 20, 2008): Campsite - Suzanette Lake - Portage - Darky River - Portage - Brent Lake - Portage - Unnamed Lake - Portage - McIntyre Lake - Campsite - just over 5 miles altogether:

On the morning of the sixth day of our trip, we relaxed at our Suzanette campsite as the sun lit up the lake -

After working pretty hard the last three days, this seemed like a good day to go slow. We still had three and a half days to get to our exit at Mudro Lake, so we were in no hurry. There were lots of route options to Mudro. We decided to start toward Earl and Ted Lakes, following the northern set of portages that go from McIntyre to Earl and then on to Ted, since we had never followed that particular path. I wanted to camp on Ted either tonight or tomorrow night, so we would just see how we felt as we moved along today.

After a swim, we finished packing up. It was already warm -

We got on the water about 9:30. I was still surprised we had Suzanette Lake to ourselves. We had seen no one since the two guys who paddled past our Baird Lake campsite two mornings before.

The wind was picking up from the south as we coursed down Suzanette. The sky had grown hazy, though it would clear up later in the day. There were hints of autumn in a burnt area at the narrows into the south part of the lake -

At the far end of the lake we came to our first portage of the day, where Suzanette flows out into a piece of the Darky River. The giant boulders in the clear waters make for a classic Quetico-Superior scene -

Looking downstream -

From there it's a short paddle down this stretch of the Darky River to the portage into Brent Lake. This portage starts by going up, then drops steeply, and then parallels the rushing stream of the Darky River as it hurries toward Brent -

Another view -

After portaging and loading up, we floated at the outlet of the stream while we ate some energy bars. This was kind of a magical little spot, with the rushing stream and cedars and clear green water. We tried to take some pictures, but they did not capture the feeling of the place.

By and by, we moved on and paddled out into Brent. There are lots of big old pine trees and some patches of prescribed burn in this area. Still no people. We were just paddling down the east end of this sprawling lake, so we soon came to the first of two short portages into McIntyre. Looking back at Brent from the portage -

This portage goes to a small Unnamed Lake -

When we went back for our second load of gear at the Brent end of the portage, we saw a canoe coming down the lake in our direction. People! They were still a way off, so we just finished the carry, loaded up, and paddled across little Unnamed Lake to the next portage. But by the time we got to that landing, the guys in the other canoe had already made it across the first portage and were paddling in our direction. Obviously, they were cheating. Uh, I mean, single portaging. Since we didn't want to rush, we carried our stuff across the very short portage from Unnamed to McIntyre, but then waited off to the side until the other guys did the portage, loaded up, and were gone.

We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes while they loaded their canoe. It seemed to be a father- son team, and they were coming from the direction of Burt Lake. Otherwise they weren't too talkative. As they paddled away, I noticed that the father had on a t-shirt with the name of a law firm in Minneapolis that is on the other side from me in a big case. I asked if he was an attorney there and he said yes. I'm sure he's not personally on the particular case I work on. Still, it seemed like a funny coincidence and an unwelcome reminder of work.

But the office was quickly forgotten. It was getting to be time for lunch. We aimed for a campsite I had marked on the map in the northern reaches of McIntyre. By now the south wind was blowing pretty strong up the lake. We got to the site about 1:00, found a sheltered place to tie off, and settled in for lunch. It was a great spot for a warm sunny day, with plenty of shade in the open pine forest, and unobstructed exposure to the cooling south wind -

As we ate lunch we discussed our plan for the rest of the day. We had barely traveled at all so far today. On the other hand, if we kept going, the next campsite we were likely to find was on Earl, with several little-traveled portages in between. We had been making good progress the last few days and had more than enough time to get to Mudro even taking the "blue highway" routes. And it sure was nice at this campsite with the open pine forest and cooling south breeze.

So we decided to take the afternoon off and stay the night. It was the perfect day to rest up. As a bonus, we got out the stove and made some post-lunch coffee. But even with that caffeine boost, we just loafed around. It's hard to say where the afternoon went. We took a few dips in the lake. We watched an adult Yellow-rumped Warbler glean caterpillars from the pines and feed them to a begging fledgling. David read a novel while I jotted down some notes about the trip so far -

No one else passed by while we lazed the afternoon away. It was just us, the pines, the rock, the wind, and the water -

The breeze kept blowing up the lake through the evening. But it was still warm enough to sit around in shorts and t-shirts while we enjoyed some Maker's Mark as night fell. The mosquitoes emerged like clockwork just as we finished our nightcaps. That was a good excuse to head for the tent and a good night's sleep.