8-28-09 This morning is cloudy, but not cold. Andy tells us that we will have no portages today, but we will have a long paddle, so we decide to have a cold breakfast and are on the water by 7:50 AM. He also suggests we put our rain gear on, "just in case". As I was walking down the rock face to get into the canoe I slipped and fell hard on my hip and elbow. I was OK and got right up, but I think Andy had momentary visions of broken bones and air rescues--he turned about 8 shades paler than usual. I did come home with a great bruise on my hip though. Today I am in the back of the double canoe steering with Judy in front. Andy takes the triple canoe with Debra and Diana. I find that I like the smaller canoe very much. It is easier for me to steer. About an hour into our paddle it begins to mist, then rain fairly hard. It went on like this the whole day, but we had good rain gear to keep us dry and it was not really cold. The wind was mostly behind us and never really strong.

We stopped for a quick break at Table Rock about 10:30. Peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches have never tasted so good. Not far from our eventual campsite we stopped to view native rock paintings. They were very faint and hard to see, much different from the ones we are used to seeing around home. I guess the harsher climate here has caused them to fade more quickly then the ones we see in Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. Still, they are interesting and make you wonder about the lives of those who painted them on the rock.

About 1:30 PM we found a nice campsite near Lower Basswood Falls. The one right by the falls was taken, but we could still see the falls from our camp. Andy got our tarp up and a fire going right away so we all had cocoa or coffee and got warm again. We put our tents up while Andy went to a small island near us to harvest downed wood. He piled it around our fire so that it would dry. Once we had our dry camp clothes on, we put our socks over kindling and leaned them near the fire to dry. About 2:30 we had lunch--"camp quesadias" (tortias with cheese and salami heated over the fire). We sat around the fire all afternoon watching seagulls, eagles, and ravens. It rained all afternoon, alternating from mist to heavy rain, but it was never cold and the wind never blew hard enough to push rain under our tarp. Finally, it began to clear around 6 PM. We had dinner at 7 (lasagna with meat sauce and garlic bread). Since this was Debra's 59th birthday, Andy made a special lemon pie and decorated it with an orange icing happy face. She was totally surprised! After an extra glass of wine (or two) we retired to our tents and were snoring happily by 9 PM.