September 18, Day 6: 3.5 miles, 2 portages, 78 r of portage trail. Lakes: Omega, Henson, and Pillsbery. Longest portage was 58r. On the water at 8:45 AM and camped at the NW site on Pillsbery at about 11 AM.

We were up and about at 6:15 AM, and one look at the sky caused us to hustle knocking down the tent and packing while things were still dry. Our timing was good, because as we finished, the rain came in. Breakfast was a SPAM and cheese omelet. This is an easy, no mess meal when done in the bakepacker. So even in the rain, breakfast was enjoyed and the coffee savored. Our day would be a short easy jaunt, and our strategy was to position ourselves for the following day when we would paddle through the popular Horseshoe and Vista lake country.

We have enjoyed paddling the small lakes, and we stayed with the small ones by continuing into Henson Lake rather than dropping down to Winchell Lake out of Omega. On Henson Lake, the rain let up and the day turned nice. We have been lucky with the weather. Showers have come and gone and not hung over our heads for days.

On Pillsbery, we spotted a nice small camp site on the west end and decided to stop early. This camp has not seen heavy use and it was interesting to find that the old style latrine had been replaced with the new type. I am not real fond of the looks of the new square latrines. They don’t fit in, and they don’t fit me. It has been an easy day, and that is OK. The remainder of the day was spent exploring about and generally being lazy. There were plenty of signs of heavy moose traffic around this camp earlier in the year. Now, the place was deserted. So far, we have seen no big game. Today we saw two canoes on Pillsbery and heard the weather radio of campers on the south side of Henson as we paddled across.

Pictures: 1) Pillsbery Lake from camp, 2) Pillsbery Lake sunset