It’s Wednesday day 4 of the trip and the sun is out again! It’s breezy but feels like 67 degrees to me. We haven’t seen any other people since day one. Today we pack up and travel to Marj Lake.

I have my oatmeal and coffee with a trail bar and luna eats her dry food I brought with. She’s eating much better this time vs. three years ago when she hardly ate at all. It’s nice to have her around and she seems very comfortable.

I’m taking my time this morning because the day shouldn’t be long and it’s nice to just go at a slow pace. What’s the rush? We shove off around 10:00 (I guess) and hit the portage nearby that goes to Paulene Lake.

We meet a crew of what appears to be two Dads with their 20 something sons. After I drop off the canoe and small pack on my first pass I run into the younger guys on the trail and they are carrying my 2nd load! This was my big pack of 60 maybe 70 lbs and my 2 paddles and PFD.

This gesture saved me about 40 rods of carrying through a rocky trail. At the landing we chat and I find out one is from Illinois not far from me in Lake Bluff and the other lives downtown Chicago. I regret not taking their pic for this report as I would like to give them a shout out for the fine gesture of help they gave me.

I soon take the rough hilly portage into Marj Lake and claim the site I want. There’s a small seldom used site about half way along the big island facing west. We layover another two nights here as I want to fish this very clear lake.

I get my rods ready for fishing tomorrow and go for a swim. There’s a real nice flat rock ledge for luna to jump off of into the water and fetch her ball. The water is extremely clear and good tasting here. I’m using a steripen to purify the water but a lot of times when in the canoe I just drink from the lake.

During the night I experienced a very intense thunderstorm. The rain was like having a firehose on the tent. Once, there was a bright flash followed a second later by sharp crack and then boom of thunder. I have to think our island was hit somewhere. Luna got a bit uneasy and pretty much laid her head on me the whole time. The tent did amazing and we stayed dry.