I realize that my REI mattress has a slow leak; I wake up with a half-full mattress. Oh, well. Scott and I plan to join up with friend Rich and his daughter Elise at the Slim entry point in the late evening. We want to move our camp to Slim… but will an empty site be there? We know the south site (dads-n-daughters) will stay occupied. What’s the chance that 1 of the 2 parties that we know are camped on north Slim will leave today… on a Friday? We figure empty site on Slim not likely, and so we’ll scout Slim for an empty site but will keep maintain camp at the Hook site.

After breakfast (hash browns and Spam), we portage to Rice… then on to Slim. The northernmost site on Slim is empty! We occupy it with hammocks and some other gear, then have lunch. No one passes by, so we know no one is yet wishing for our site at Hook; still, not wanting to occupy 2 sites for long, we portage back to Rice and then to Hook.

We pack up camp… then portage gear to Rice and then to Slim, passing a group heading in (likely to campsite on Hook, which we’re pleased to have vacated before anyone desired it). We have now portaged 11 times on 4 lakes; I’m seeing a flaw to this plan. :)

The campsite on Slim is real nice. Enough room for multiple tents and the campfire area is out on a subtle peninsula where it catches plenty breeze. I’ll give it a B+ (Hook was A+). Finding down wood to burn is easy.

Slim is neat; big hills/cliffs… lots of rock… and no one in sight.

It is suppertime (red beans and rice with chicken, followed by pudding). We nap, then fish… then at 8pm we paddle down to the entry point to meet up with Rich/Elise; we notice that the middle campsite is also vacant… on a Friday. We have fingers crossed that all plans run on time; Rich/Elise need to leave Aitkin after work, get permit in Ely, then get to Slim in time to paddle before darkness; things could go wrong.

Fishing outside the entry point is beautiful; really… these big boulders and cliffs are wonderful to paddle by. Only small Smallies bite. Rich and Elise soon arrive… and we paddle north to our campsite as dusk settles. The lake is calm and the paddling is wonderful; this is a nice way to enter the BW.

The 4 of us have a great campfire that night. Today’s weather was beautiful all day. I am happy, because our complicated plan worked.