Shortly after first light we got up, cleaned up, packed up and then fueled up with a hearty breakfast in the lodge before pushing off at about 9 AM. A slight tail wind helped us along as we proceeded east down Clearwater Lake. After about two hours of paddling we decided to take a break by pulling into the portage to Mountain Lake so we could explore that and the Border Route Trail that intersects the portage. While the other guys went left onto the BRT, Kirby and I continued down the portage to Mountain Lake. When we reached the end, a couple of groups were just pulling up and unloading in preparation for portaging over to Clearwater. We warned a younger man and woman who were traveling together that they were about to encounter a deadfall across the trail that would be difficult to negotiate with gear and we offered to help them get across, if they wanted. They gratefully accepted and once we helped the guy get their canoe past the downed tree, we helped the woman get over the log also as she was quite loaded down. During the rest of this trip Kirby and I would recall the group that was behind these two that gave us a look that seemed to say they were hoping for our help as well. In hindsight, we probably should have done so but later Kirby and I joked to each other that sorry, there were no females in that party so we weren't as motivated to assist them! :)

At the Border Route Trail, we met up again with the rest of our guys who reported that there was not much to see for as far down as they had walked the trail. I'd heard about some impressive overlooks near this area but suspect that the guys turned the wrong way to get those views without hiking for quite a distance (my fault--I had directed them). We decided to return to our canoes and continue on to our destination for the day: West Pike Lake.

The portage to West Pike has some length to it but was not so difficult that my old body would find it un-doable to carry my aluminum canoe non-stop to the end. Once we got all of our gear across, we re-loaded and started paddling for any open campsite. Our two preferred targets--the middle two sites on the north shore, were already taken so we headed for the island. This site was open and we found it to be quite nice. Plus, the best smallmouth fishing on the lake was said to be in the channel between this island and West Pikes's south shore. We had found our spot for the next two nights.

The next item of business was to have our traditional first-day ham-sandwich and fresh-fruit lunch. As usual this really hit the spot. Once re-energized, we were kept busy with tents, tarps, hammocks and other camp chores before a refreshing swim and an attempt at fishing. It seems the smallies were not quite ready for us yet. This was no problem since we had plenty of fresh food to eat for supper that night. The steaks and hobo dinner did make for a delicious meal before a stunning sunset and an evening fire. We secured camp and turned in that night with a threat of rain by morning.