I again woke before Teresa and prepared breakfast - rice pudding (best breakfast of the trip) with coffee and tea.

We portaged to Spaulding directly from our site. I carried the canoe, and it was not a bad 45 rod portage. As we slid the canoe into Spaulding, we thought we saw a leech. At that time, we didn't get confirmation of it.

Our outfitter, Dave, had mentioned that the remains of Spaulding's cabin could be seen on the east end of the lake if we were willing to bushwack. So that's where we headed.

We climbed out of the canoe on a stone landing just north of the stream at the east end of the lake. Climbing over the rocks, we headed east until we were suddenly staring at water that was as high as my head. It was the huge beaver dam that Dave had mentioned. Its size took my breath away.

Backtracking from the dam, we bushwacked north a bit from the stream but still did not find the cabin. We did give up, but we enjoyed the experience and seeing the dam.

Back in the canoe, we paddled to the opposite end of the lake where we saw a turtle sunning itself. Then we hiked the 100 rod portage to Bench because it was still early in the day and we wanted to explore more. Well, that portage certainly felt like bushwacking in some spots. The southern half of the portage climbs at a reasonable grade and had many ripening raspberries along it. Some places were overgrown but the path was always visible a bit further ahead. The northern half of the portage went down a steep decline to Bench. Not much greenery on that side, just many tall trees.

Bench looked nice from the little bit we were able to see. It is a small lake that I don't think is often visited. I snapped a picture, and we headed back to Spaulding. Along the way, on the northern half, we lost the trail for a bit and had to backtrack. This portage requires your attention.

Back in the canoe, we watched a loon fish on Spaulding. It was wonderful to be so close to the state bird.

As we exited Spaulding at the portage to Crystal, we found that three leeches had attached themselves to the canoe. We knocked them off and checked our feet and legs. All clear.

Once we were back at our site, we went swimming. That was fantastic. However, we also noticed dark clouds arriving from the southwest, so we headed back up to the site for a quick lunch of hummus and then into the tent. We napped during the brief storm.

After the rain, a bald eagle visited Crystal Lake. I first saw it when it dove for a fish. Then we continued to eagle watch for another hour and a half as it flitted between trees on the southern shore of Crystal.

Just as we were boiling the water for dinner, I saw something swimming across the lake from the southern shore. With my naked eye, I knew it wasn't a loon or beaver. With the binoculars, we noted that it had a long snout, pointy ears, and a tail. Not a bear. phew. So was it a dog or ...?

When the animal saw us on the shore of our site, it turned back to the southern shore. After about ten minutes, it pulled itself out onto the shore, and we saw its silvery coat. A grey wolf. We watched it pace the shoreline for a while and disappear back into the woods. Convinced that it had decided not to join us on the north side of the lake, we went back to dinner.

Dinner was veggie potatoes. These potatoes tasted much better than the garlic, but we have now decided against bringing the powdered potato flakes on these trips. We followed dinner with pudding for dessert.