It had rained overnight - alot. There was about two inches of water in the cook pot that had been left outside. We packed up and were on the water by 7am. We exited Toe via the southern portage back into the South Arm of Knife. We paddled the short distance to Eddy Falls. After taking some photos at the falls, we walked up the portage to Eddy Lake. The portage offers a nice vista of Knife Lake. We then made our way back to the canoe and began the long paddle west across the South Arm. With an east wind, we made great time. Walking the charred portage back to Bonnie Lake gave us a chance to rest and stretch our legs. Continuing on our journey to the southwest through Knife, we noticed several groups of canoes coming in from the area of our next destination, Big Knife Portage. We passed through Seed Lake, Melon Lake and Carp Lake, before finally arriving on Birch Lake once again. The wind had now changed direction and was blowing out of the southwest and its intensity was building. Battling a strong head wind, we passed by several water logged campsites on the east end of Birch before settling on one at mid lake located on a small bay. We pulled up on shore and unloaded the canoe. The sky was threatening rain again. Tired and hungry, we struggled to setup the tarp in the gusting wind. Next the tent went up. We kept lunch simple - Ramen noodles. It hit the spot, but we were beat. We decided to wait out the wind and rain in the tent and took a short nap. We needed it. The entire time the wind whipped and the rain pelted. We woke up two hours later and scrounged the campsite for fire wood which wasn't easy to come by. As it turned out, it wouldn't be needed. There would be no fire tonight, the wind and rain saw to that. There was no way we were going to be able to get out on the lake to fish under the windy conditions. The time was instead used to organize our gear and get everything in order for our exit the next morning.