I spend Sunday night packing and checking my multiple lists to make sure I have everything I need. Come Monday morning, I'm off to the woods, making the drive up from St Cloud, MN. Near Two Harbors, I have a slight worry....Did I forget to put my clothes in the car? I pull over in the Shopko parking lot, and sure enough, no clothes. Ugh. Somehow I left them at home on the table.

So it's into Shopko I go. This is a short trip, and I already have more camping clothing than I need or wear, so I'm not going to buy any more than I absolutely need. Some socks and a pair of nylon shorts should get me through, as I can wear what I have on, too. Back on the road, until....

I have a nagging worry that I'm missing something else. Sure enough, a quick check of the car reveals a missing sleeping bag. D'oh. Feeling quite sheepish, I stop at Sawtooth Outfitters to pick up a bag before driving up the Caribou Trail to head into Homer.  At the lake, mine is the only car in the parking lot. Off I go, paddling "backwards" in my ugly old Penobscot 16. 

It is oppressively hot. So I get lazy and figure that I'll camp on Homer instead of pushing on farther. I take the island site, get stuff set up, and try to relax. It's too hot, though, so I jump in the lake, but I can barely dry off, so I laze about, swat bugs, fish a bit, and read. It's really hot.

No fire for me tonight. I head to bed early and am awoken late in the evening by some nasty, nasty storms. Lots of wind and rain. I'm saddened to learn upon exiting that someone died in this storm from a tree falling on his tent.  Terrible news, but given that wind, I can't say I'm terribly surprised that some people were injured in the storm.