Saturday, October 08, 2016: During a cold, shivery night, I realized the day's mis-judgments were compounded by a strategic error: I had told my wife I would be back at Snowbank by sundown Sunday. I had lost a day and a half of travel, was at the far point of my loop, and faced a strong headwind. Lying awake at 2 a.m., I turned on my phone to set the alarm for 5 a.m. Thee hours later, I was out of the sleeping bag and ready to break camp. Conditions were not encouraging. The wind had not abated, and once again low clouds, mist and occasional rain were evident. I was worried about getting across Gabimichigami in the face of a strong northwest wind, because the lake offers little shelter from that direction. So I packed and was on the water at first light. Crossing Gabi proved to be a tough paddle but not as bad as I had feared, and it set the tone for a long day of paddling and portaging, with brief breaks for snacks and water, that saw me setting camp on Strup Lake as daylight faded from a clearing sky. I saw no other canoes all day.

I had chosen the closest campsite to the portage off Kekekabic, No. 1468, and it proved interesting. A small, slanted site, it offered just enough level area for me to pitched the tent. I also set up the tarp and then, in fading light, followed a short trail to the latrine. At one spot along that trail, a nearly perfectly square section of earth had been removed and set to the side. The hole was perhaps four inches deep, and I stared at it for awhile trying to figure the purpose. It did not appear any food waste had been buried, and in any case why would anyone dig such a perfectly square hole?