Monday, July 13, 2009 - Temps - Hi 77, Low 37. We tend to be early birds, so we chose to skip the breakfast and head out early for the drive to Poplar Lake. It was a beautiful morning, and we saw a Moose (our 6th since hitting the Gunflint Trail - we had seen 2 Mom's and 3 babies the day before!). We loaded up and headed out on the lake by 6:45....just a short paddle to the 320 rod paddle to Skipper. The portage was a bit overgrown, and of course long, but all in all not too bad. We double portage since we can't seem to pack light, so it took a little bit of time. The second portage to Little Rush was just a float through. However, the next portage was along a creek bed - wet and flowing at the beginning and knee deep mucky water at the end - my least favorite portage of all. I managed to fall in the creek bed on the first trip - lovely colored bruises for the rest of the trip. The final portage from Rush to Banadad was just a little trip along the bridge for the hiking trail. The whole day had been kind of windy, but it seemed better on Banadad. We had our sight set on the Island site and were glad to see it was opened. Our plan was to stay a couple nights because of the long portaging day on the way out. Set up camp and enjoyed a meal of Red Rice and Beans and wild rice brats. To bed early. Tried to keep track of the quote of the day for this trip - today's quote "A BWCA trip is like a marriage encounter - it brings out the best and worst in both of us" Total of 12 miles traveled.