We woke up early not sure of where we were heading exactly, but knowing that we should go back to Big Sag. After striking camp we paddled under another cloudless sky up Hanson Lake and Ester Lake. The only thing we knew that we did not want to do was the 170 rod Ashdick Lake portage so we took the 80 rod into Ottertrack Lake with the intention of doing the famous Monument Portage; another 80 rod that follows the Canadian / U.S. boarder.

At the Ottertrack Lake side of the portage we finally came across other BWCA travelers that were not firefighters (we had seen other canoes and passed others on the lakes but this was the first meeting at a portage). It was a little bit of a traffic jam as we waited our turn to unload and hump our gear to Swamp Lake.

Like many others who have come this way, we had to stop, set up my camera tripod and take a photograph of us standing by one of the monoliths that are used to denote the boarder. While these markers are cool looking, I see no reason for them to be there. (Government spending at its finest) We put in again on Swamp Lake and made slow progress as we crossed. Again we saw a moose, though not in the same spot as before, near some of the campsites on Swamp Lake.

We made our way back onto Big Sag and this time followed the American shore where we finally found American Point (Rocky Point). I made it a point to take a mental note of what it looked like for future reference. We ate a quick lunch on the shore (just south of the point) before we headed back into the island thick area that we spent our first night on. Our goal was to stay on Gold Island.

We paddled through the narrow area between Munker and Long Islands again and followed the shore of Long to Gold Island only to find that all of the sites that we could see were taken. We circled Gold Island before heading back toward Munker when we spied an open site on Long Island; we took it before anyone else noticed. At least, that is what I tell myself. In reality, we were just the last boat of the day and got lucky in finding a campsite.

We set up camp, ate dinner (more of those damn MRE’s) and once again went for a swim. The day was long but beautiful and we enjoyed the evening. That night we finally got to see the Cavity Lake Fire. It was illuminating the sky to the south of us with amazing shades of pinks and oranges and appeared to be creating its own weather. Thunderheads directly over the fire spit lightning into the sky. We watched well into the night before finally tucking in.