Thursday, June 25, 2009 On the last day the alarm doesn’t go off, but we still wake up at about 5:30. Breakfast is quick this morning, oatmeal again, we take down everything in camp quickly, making good time. It will be hard to say goodbye to what for the last 5 days has been our own site on our own little lake. The turtles aren’t really out this morning which is nice since they we always near our canoe landing. By 8:00 we have everything packed and the canoe loaded, we are now on the water. The bugs on the first portage out are horrible, taking the portage this early in the morning is tough however we take it quickly and make it to the creek. The creek is nice and peaceful early in the morning, and when we hit the beaver dam it was a little annoying that it was just as hard to go down it as it was to go over it. Once on North Wilder the wind begins to pick up some more, and we see two seagulls on the lake possibly descendants of the one we had seen nesting on the lake two years earlier. The sun makes the portage from North Wilder much easier by keeping the mosquitoes at bay. Paddling the combined 5-6 miles up the two creeks takes longer than expected however the serenity of the creek makes up for that. When we hit the mouth of the creek at Hudson Lake we instantly see the first group of people for 5 days. While on these portages we see several interesting groups pass us, including two that were two person carrying their canoes over the portages. Once we finished the last portage and were on the shores of Lake Four we eat a quick lunch. We are headed directly into the wind for the entire trip across Lakes 4,3,and 2. The portages into Lake One are much nicer without the mosquitoes, and once on Lake One we make good time arriving at the landing at the lodge at about 2. Once back at the lodge we unload the canoe and waste no time checking our car and then asking the lodge about the most important of the items we had left in the bunkhouse before leaving: my fathers’ wedding ring. While they found the blanket we had left they did not find the ring, and it is no where in our car either. The only conclusion could be that some scumbag who used the bunkhouse after us took it for keeps. After our investigation into the whereabouts of the ring we load the car up, and take a shower at the lodge. We hit Ely a little before 5 and eat at the boathouse, and then leave town for my uncles and then the next day for home.