Day 4: This morning we compare our sunburns around the fire while we eat a yummy breakfast of potato pancakes with sausage gravy. Hubby’s sunburn isn’t too bad, but somehow I neglected to put sunscreen on my wrist where my watch usually is, and I have a lovely pink puffy wrist. Jesse’s legs and neck are pretty crispy, too. We slather on the sunscreen and look over the map. We decide to head out onto Brule, and paddle into the wind towards South Temperance Lake. Jesse decides to come with us, so at least he’s going to see a little more territory. The wind is light and pleasant, and we make good time up the lake. The cliff up by the NW corner of Brule is impressive! There are some really nice pitcher plants in the boggy area leading into S Temperance Lake. S Temperance has been hit pretty hard by the blowdown, and it looks like the southern shore of the lake burned at some point. A very different landscape than the area where we are camped. All the campsites are taken, so we eat some lunch on a small island, swim a little, and paddle back. Hubby and son are getting on each others nerves by the time we hit the portage back into the Cones, and the bickering is irritating the living cr*p out of me. I make a solemn vow to NOT have them go on the same trip next year- that just means I’ll have to make more trips...darn!

Once hubby does some swimming and Jesse wanders off to sit on a rock, tempers are back to normal. We have some dinner of chicken alfredo tortellini and garlic cheese biscuits, and down a couple pots of coffee….and then the bugs come out. It’s warmer than the past few nights, and we eventually give up and put out the fire...time for bed.