Our next destination will take us into Upper Hatchet Lake, after some oatmeal for breakfast. Packed up camp and left Hatchet Lake at 9:30am…We wanted to get farther into the park today. The portage to upper Hatchet Lake was a real monster, I set out on the portage with the canoe on my back, Dad and Jackson were ahead of me and I lost sight of them. As I turned to go up the portage trail, there was a small stream flowing downhill and that’s what we were walking on. If you ever want to try this exercise at home, strap a 100-pound back pack on and climb the stairs, cause that’s what this felt like.

On our paddle into Upper Hatchet, we were greeted by 100 seagulls that all felt like they had to fly over head of us. It was quite comical to watch them all take flight from Seagull Island and swoop over by us. The lake was calm this morning and we made good time to a campsite on the west side of the lake. Jackson and I couldn’t wait to go fishing, once again Dad made us set up camp, it just makes more sense this way. Out on the canoe and paddling into a small bay with my line in the water and… BAM! Fish on! I had reeled in a nice size northern and at that moment I knew we will finally get into the fishing. Then I casted back into the same spot, and as I was reeling the cast in… BOOM! Jackson could even see the fish bite the lure through the clear water. I had a monster on the line and I laughed as he took off and the drag on my reel was through the charts. Then I realized he was swimming hard for the shoreline cover. All around the sides of the lake were downed trees making it a perfect place for fish to duck in and out and hide in situations. Sure enough! He swam right under a downed tree and ended up snapping my line. Could only imagine what that fish looked like.

The rain started to come down ever so softly but that didn’t stop Jackson and I from going back to camp. There was still a heavy fire haze in the air that was keeping the sun from shinning threw. Couldn’t see the sun or blue sky all day long and it was not going to clear up soon. While Jackson and I were out fishing, Dad was taking a nap in the tent. He joked all day about how he was going to take a nap in the tent and then Jackson and I would gather and cut wood for tonight’s supper. I had caught a lake trout and we were excited to go back to camp and show Dad our catch. Eager to eat fish this evening I asked Dad if he could help clean the fish. Dad picked up a new Rapala filet knife and we wanted to try the knife out. He told us to bring the fish and a canoe paddle over to the shore where there was a flat rock to clean on. Dad cut up the fish and Jackson and I were on clean up duty. You want to keep a clean campsite when out in the wilderness; one never knows what the fish remains could attract out here. Needing something to put the remains into and transport them to another area of the lake to get rid of them. This afternoon we all finished off a ziplock container full of brownies that Jacksons Mom had sent along. Great job on the brownies Jen!

We now had the perfect container for our fish. Jackson and I paddled across the bay from our campsite, got out on a rock to wash dishes and discard the fish remains. Jackson laughed as he held up the zip lock container that had a fish head looking right back at him, and he said, “I’ll never look at this container the same way again!” For now, it had housed awesome brownies and fish remains. Back at the camp and hanging out down by the shore, Jackson and I were talking about something when all of a sudden a Loon popped out of the water 20 yards from shore, swam around for a bit, and then made the funniest sound we heard all day. “MURR!!” The sound was just random and very subtle, not a sound of distress or panic. Jackson and I began to laugh immediately and the rest of the night we would blurt out “MURR”. We all went to bed to the sound of the wind and there was a change in the weather on the horizon. It was definitely a cold front sweeping through. So, first night on the lake was a thunderstorm, second one was gearing up for wind and rain. We all tucked deep into our mummy sleeping bags this night as the temperature was about to take a dip down.