July 30 – Rotten start, great finish - ...when it went off the rain started and the mosquitoes came out in force. All-in-all the mosquitoes were not bad, probably due to the breezes. We had a quick breakfast of grits, bacon bits and coffee and broke camp quickly. Once on the lake, we moved well and entered the Maligne River early. The three portages at the start were a bit buggy but the river was very nice. This was one of my favorite stretches of water. The Maligne felt primeval, really ancient. We easily ran the small rapids in the river, as the water was up. We portaged around the Tanner falls and then Twin Falls to enter Lac La Croix. The bugs at Twin Falls were the worst, pick your pestilence, mosquitoes, deer flies, horse flies, house flies. Lac La Croix is BIG water and we were making good time. We paddled around the western most point of our trip and celebrated with Jolly Ranchers, Buffalo Jerky, and water. We kept moving and made for the campsite on Hilly Island. J jumped off the canoe to check out the site and announced that this was the best site so far. It had a really nice picnic table great trees, good breeze, and was probably a good fishing location. We traded hammocks and I slept in the Blackbird. I had a good nights sleep but I had grown used to the Jacks.