It rained off and on throughout the night, though it was done by 8:00 a.m. That’s when I got up. Jim made pancakes for breakfast.

Today it was slightly windy and very cloudy though the sun did poke out occasionally. I made a note in my journal to bring along a small daypack for the day trips. I have been taking my barrel out of the pack I carry it in and using the pack as a daypack. It must have been an issue. I don’t remember why, but that is why I write notes in my journal. I know it is hard to get the barrel out and the canvas bag is a little heavy. So I need to add to my list a small, packable, empty daypack for daytrip use.

For today’s daytrip we headed to Banadad Lake and checked out the other campsites on Rush. The northwest site on Rush was OK, though the landing was not good and the fire pit was too close to the water. There were two decent tent pads. The northeast site was slightly better. This is the one we checked out first on Monday and decided not to take it because it was too windy.

The portage to Banadad was very sloppy, nearly muck. It also has a small bridge which looks worse than it is. It is part of the Banadad Cross Country Ski Trail. You do need to look out for exposed nails on the bridge and loose boards.

The landing on the Banadad side is tough for a solo canoe. The opening is narrow and the water is deep – very difficult to get the canoe parallel to shore to enter/exit. There was also a tree blocking the portage. I’m sure it is cleared by now. We would have cleared it but did not have the saw with us.

We had lunch at the first site we came to, the furthest northeast. The site was nice enough – one tent pad, an OK fire pit, and an OK landing. Banadad Lake is a beautiful lake – narrow and long.

Once back to Rush Lake we checked out the final campsite on the lake, in the peninsula bay. It had a very nice landing, and nice fire grate, but no tent pads that we could find. There also were no sitting logs. In fact, most of the sites we checked out in this area either did not have sitting logs or had a single, unsupported, small one. What’s that about? I’m not complaining because Jim and I bring chairs, but I did find it unusual.

There seemed to be a lot of moose activity through that site. I don’t know where you’d pitch a tent, but I would not recommend pitching it on the trail. I’d be afraid of being trampled by a moose.

Back at base camp we had another vodka lemonade cocktail hour complete with bar snacks of sesame sticks, M&Ms, and almonds. Jim likes Happy Hour.

We had very nice weather, just slightly cool. It was mostly cloudy, but the sun did peak out occasionally. There was a bit of wind but it was mostly mild. The Sawbill Outfitter’s website said that the high temperature for the day was 60 and the low 42.

We are actually enjoying this site now that we are settled in. Again we did not have a fire even though yesterday I gathered and stacked a nice amount of wood. We are getting into the rhythm of things. Jim was off to bed at 9:00 p.m. I was off to bed at 9:30 even though it was not quite dark.