Day 6, Sunday August 11

Breakfast first and then we packed up camp in the morning and fished empty boats up to Little Falls and Koko Falls.

It is a very scenic portion of the river. The navigation was easy despite the high water levels that we had been warned about. We caught a few bass but nothing large. The kids appear tired today and sat by the falls reading companionably while the parents tossed in their lines. We picked blueberries and raspberries at the Little Falls portage and then paddled back to the Wet Lake portage, had a quick lunch, loaded our gear bags, and with a storm approaching in the distance set off for McEwen Lake. We paddled in the rain for a while across Wet Lake but it quickly turned sunny as we made the portage into McEwen. I got a few nibbles through the narrows but failed to land anything. Ryan landed a nice medium sized bass. We camped on a sweet little peninsula near a grouping of small islands that sported a large blueberry patch on a nearby west-facing slope. This patch had vast amounts of large sweet blueberries hanging invitingly in bundles of 3-4 berries. We quickly set up camp and then Tony and I giggled as we gathered a liter for breakfast and then went for a short fish-about harvesting another bass to add to Ryan’s offering. We returned to camp to find out plans had been made for a pizza party! Mark industrially collected firewood up and down the coast while Judy and I prepared the crusts (Gluten-free options available.) Tony and Ryan acted as the prep chefs (Pepperoni was on tonight’s menu) with Mark baking by the wood-fired method and me the flip-bake. Both were scrumptious. During dinner prep Mark surprised Judy with a box of wine he had been secreting in “Big Bertha.” (The large blue beast of a portage bag we had all been unsuccessfully avoiding at the portages.) Judy graciously shared and we all (or at least the adults) felt a little better about pitching in with Bertha. Fish jumped off the point luring us to cast as we munched contentedly on pizza. A beaver swam by during dessert. Judy tried to coax it into camp but it wasn’t interested. The kids speculated that it was after Mark since he had gathered its wood. We ended the evening with stories and laughter at the campfire, complete with a nightcap of Scotch and cigars for those that wanted them. It was another very fine day in the Quetico. Tomorrow is a layover day!