Sat. June 27 2009, Low 70's and rain... We woke up showered and took our equipment down to the dock and went up to the office to look at the weather forecast as the skies were starting to look dark and the wind was already starting to make ripples in the water. A storm was heading our way but did not look that big and should blow thru pretty quickly. Decided to have breakfast and look again after that. Had pancakes and sausage and good coffee and some good conversations. Went up look at the weather forecast again and thought maybe we would wait for it to go thru, and at the last second figured the worst that would happen is we would rained on, and besides the towdriver had already loaded our gear for the trip to PP. Off we go and get to the Ranger station before everyone else. On the short trip the wind picked up and the rain started, nothing bad, but glad I had my rain gear on. After meeting some very friendly scouts from Mo. we checked in and got our permits and license for the Q. Quickly loaded our canoe and headed out toward the Birch-Carp portage. Didn't have to go very far to realize that we loaded to fast and we were heavy to the right. You would think when we stopped at the portage to Polaris we would have corrected this, but we didn't. Just looked and moved on....still heavy to the right, Oh well. Got to the Birch-Carp portage and had to wait our turn to get on to it. Lots of people crossing here. Was really surprised at the amount of people...luckily most were heading back in and we knew only 2 groups could go into the Q this way. This portage was the first one for me in over 40 years and the first ever for my paddling partner. I was proud that we had no issues and made it over with out using the oxygen tanks. Mike carried the canoe like he had been doing it for years. Did I mention that this is rated as an easy portage. Had some gorp and beef sticks with cheese for lunch before taking off again. Bugs were not bad, only on the Birch side there were hundreds of dragon flies buzzing around...glad they don't bite! More paddling and when we made the turn in to the Q portion of Carp it was like turning off the freeway onto a country dirt road....where did all the people go. We saw a whitetail deer swim across the lake and go up into the forest. Stopped on the way to campsite to look at the falls out of Sheridan. Got to campsite at 2:30 and had it pretty well set up by 4:30 and started a dinner of smoked sausage, rice and beans with peach cobbler. Pretty good. Went to bed by 9 since it began to rain and the wind kept picking up. Had to get up 2 or 3 times during night to retie tent due to heavy winds. Saw merganser, mother duck and babies, loons, eagles, and a whitetail swimming across the lake.