Saturday, June 09, 2012 (Sam) On day 5 we hit the water at about 9. Our first portage was only 25 rods, but fallen trees, mud, and a beaver dam at the end made it very difficult. After paddling across tiny Tesuker Lake we started what we voted the worst portage of the trip. The 80 rodder into Gun Lake was very overgrown with plants, had numerous big fallen trees, and plenty of mud. When trees were too big to bring the canoe over or around and too short to walk under, Dad had to carry it through while crawling on his knees! Of course the 90 degree weather didn’t make it any easier. Gun was a very neat lake and we took a much needed break at the great campsite in the middle. At the southwest side we started the portage into Eugene Lake. The 85 rods started steep and had its share of mud and down trees, but it didn’t seem very hard after the last portage. We saw some moose tracks on the trail. Eugene Lake was lined with lots of beaver lodges and was nice to paddle through. Our last portage of the day was heaven for us. 45 rods of wide, flat trail and then we were on Steep Lake. When we got to our camp on the west side of the lake our last challenge was getting our gear up the steep, rocky slope to it. Around 3 or 4 we jumped into the water for a very, very refreshing swim. After supper we tried out our Mepps Agilla lures for pike, but didn’t have any luck. We went to bed early after deciding to get an early start the next day.