Woke up and got out of the tent this morning at 7:30 am and the sun was there to greet me! I just love mornings like this one. What a beautiful day we have ahead of us. I walked down to the water and sat by the fire pit and wrote in my journal till Dad woke up. Then we had hot coco and oatmeal for breakfast. Dad and I were enjoying the sun’s rays while eating a beef jerky stick and sipping on hot coco when we noticed a plane fly overhead to our lake and go directly above us. 5 min later that same plane flew over upper Hatchet Lake again. Then the plane flew by a third time and we could tell they landed on the adjacent lake we explored yesterday, Embryo Lake. Since Upper Hatchet is a lake trout lake, someone was probably scoping out our nice campsite and to their surprise, it was occupied by us! With nobody around for miles, what are the chances that a crew flying into Upper Hatchet would have to choose a different lake because their favorite camping site had 3 people from North Dakota and Minnesota camping the spot. We had a good laugh with that one.

Dad and I put the rods in the canoe and set out on the water. Jackson was still sleeping in the tent, on a morning like this you couldn’t keep me in a tent! Dad and I set out in the canoe this morning to check out the fishing. It was such a calm morning and low breeze on the lake compared to the last 3 mornings, today was like waking up at the Foshay hotel downtown Minneapolis, minus the fluffy pillows and blankets. But I must have got a great night’s sleep. Dad and I paddled down along the lake shore having a good conversation about his Deaconate program. John Bredemeier has been taking classes for seven years and getting really involved in the Church at St Michaels Parish in Grand Forks, ND. He had just finished his final test and exams at the end of June and was feeling confident and very relieved about that. He has put in a lot of work to be where he is today. We canoed by a tree that had fallen down and if you get the right angle, it looks like a cross. We paddle in closer and Dad took a picture of the cross.

Paddling along the shoreline and having a great Father/Son conversation we realized we had not had any fish bites yet. Paddling past a rocky point now and thinking about going in when BAM! Fish On! I had landed another Caribou prize fighter. Dad took a video of me reeling in the fish and snapped a few photos; it was a nice size lake trout. Upper Hatchet is full of lake trout and northern, they even bite just off shore a way. To my knowledge, lake trout have always been a deep dwelling fish so you have to get the lure deep down with down riggers. Here we were catching lake trout with rapalas that troll to 10 – 15 feet deep.

I pointed out some clouds developing off in the distance and Dad said “if they get bigger they will be rain clouds!” He belts out a laugh and says “Honest!” I laugh and agree that he does have a point there. As we paddled back to camp, Jackson had woken up now, being 10:30 am and was chomping at the bit to go fishing. This time Dad, Jackson and I set out in the canoe with the pure intention of going fishing, such a great feeling. We decided to head in another direction, this time we will explore the south side of Upper Hatchet. Wanting to check out a bay Jackson had caught 2 Lakers on the evening before. He had switched to a Walleye Diver in perch color, and it was definitely the hot lure of the trip. Jackson was sitting in the front of the canoe and says to us “I’m going to buy some fishing equipment this year” and turns back to look at me…” Already planning for the next year!” Ha Ha Paddling along we explored another inlet to Upper Hatchet Lake and noticed a portage marker on a tree. Stepped out into a stream and went to see where the trail takes us. It goes way back but ends into a smaller stream… back into the canoe we go. Guess I was hoping for a waterfall. Casting around as we meandered away from the shallow inlet to the deeper water, I had just caught a northern and Dad says “We should head back to camp and have lunch!” Thinking we would fish along the way back to camp, we let this one go. It wasn’t till we were 50 yards past our campsite when Jackson landed a nice size Northern! This one would be shore lunch today. Dad filleted the fish and we all worked together to get the food and supplies ready for the meal. Jackson made the garlic mashed potatoes, which he mixed up in the ziplock container. Good thing camping soap cut the grease and grime because this ziplock container has seen it all up here. So running total of items contained in the ziplock container is as follows: ? Brownies ? Fish head ? Pancakes ? Blueberry cheese cake ? Garlic mashed potatoes ? Bannock (flat camping bread)

Throughout the afternoon we accumulated a heaping pile of wood to keep a fire going well into the evening. It was time for these campers to have s’mores. S’mores are the type of snack that tastes amazing no matter where you are. But these s’mores kicked it up a notch. One bag of graham crackers, ziplock bag full of marshmallows and three Hershey chocolate bars was all it takes. Jackson had sharpened a stick in preparation to roasting marshmallows. Couldn’t ask for a better evening as we had the fire pit right by the lake, eating s’mores and laughing about just how far and remote this campsite really is. Jackson, Dad and I had so much wood stock piled up that the fire would have burned well past midnight. We were off to bed but didn’t want to leave the fire unattended. Jackson got some nice time lap videos of the fire flames against a calm lake background. That sparked an idea in my Dad, he thought it would be funny if the three of us walked behind the fire while the camera was rolling in time laps mode. Dad led the way, then me, then Jackson, and as we walked, each of us was doing our own little dance. Then we looked at the video, each of us roared with laughter and for a moment all the wildlife was looking at us three rolling on the ground laughing! Dad and I brushed our teeth by the lake and he said “I have one tooth to brush and that’s why Mom married me” We both laughed to that as we brushed our teeth.