Up very early and left camp at 6:45. Cliff Lake was impressive as we allowed the east wind to push us gently along as we admired the steep northern edge. I noticed on the map that there would be an elevation change as we left Cliff and moved on to North Cone. My map marks it to be 147 rods but it honestly felt a lot longer. The early part was a short but sharp climb and then there was the longest downhill hike with patches of smooth packed dirt mixed with absolutely rugged rock strewn stretches. The rest of the group said it felt like 147 rods to them but to me I swear it was longer. North Cone into Mid Cone was a brief 1 rod lift over a tree root. I was in the lead canoe and saw the site on Mid Cone taken so passed it by. Terry stopped and asked and gave me a yell when he discovered the father and son occupying it were about to leave. Well, we’d found a site but I’d rate it a 1 on a scale of 5. Hardly room for our tents and exposed to a now very strong east wind we rolled the dice on staying here instead of getting closer to Brule and finding nothing.

The winds picked up very strong in the afternoon and for an evening meal we actually erected a tarp wind screen which helped us to keep a decent fire going to prepare supper. I kept an eye on the clouds wondering what the strong wind might mean for us and snapped some interesting cloud formations but the wind died later on and we never did get any rain.

Highlight of the day - we taught Cody how to play euchre and had a blast with Scott and I playing by normal rules and Terry and Cody getting to see each other’s cards and table talk. It’s been a while since I played and it was a fun experience to teach the game to a kid.