August 31, 2015 – Day 5 of 9. We awoke with the sun again and the great taste of the instant coffee and oatmeal got us primed for the beginning of another beautiful day. Again it was sunny and nearly hot, with the unseasonably warm weather. We decided to take a day trip down the Iron lake south bay to Beartrap River, take in the sights and fish along the way. We left late in the morning and took our time as we played the “how many different animals can you find” game. We saw a variety of wildlife, including a very sizable beaver den. We made it down to the Bear Trap river portage, ate lunch and fished for a while. Need I mention again the fish quantity differential grew larger, yet again.

We made it back to camp later in the afternoon and had an early supper. After having some down time we decided to go back to fishing for the evening, because when you catch and release, you can never catch too many fish.

While fishing the south bay we ran across a pair of canoes with four college aged guys that were all looking at their maps and clearly disoriented. We fished over towards them and they finally asked for some assistance to gain their bearings again. We gladly paddled over and they fully expected to have the grizzly old guy in the back seat pull alongside and lend a hand. I however, parked Elizabeth right beside the apparent leader of their group who had an old outdated map and proceeded to let her impart her navigational skills to them. Elizabeth looks very young for her age, at the time 22, and these guys probably thought they were just schooled by a 16 year old. They were about half a lake off of where they thought they were and she got them quickly oriented and on the right path. As they headed off to the camp site they were looking for, Elizabeth pulled a Seinfeld and dubbed them the “Lost Boys” from that day forward.

As the sun began to set, we paddled over closer to camp, but watched the sunset from the canoe. It is amazing how the evening beauty can offset the wet wipe baths and instant coffee. We retreated to the camp for our nightly card game and well deserved sleep.

Large beaver den.

Falls on Beartrap river.

Another beautiful evening.