Day Seven 6/24/16 9:40AM – 4:30PM

Woke up this morning to the sound of rustling packs, zippers being zipped, zippers being unzipped, and big angus sleeping mats being deflated. It was time to wake up and get going! Dad had already got his sleeping bag into the stuff sac and told me, that if, I get up now, He would deflate my Big Agnus sleeping matt. Didn’t have to tell me twice and I jumped out of my sleeping bag! Dad knows how to alternate fold the sleeping matts, so they fit right into the stuff sack the first time you try. In no time, the coffee was brewing and we all enjoyed a fine cup of coffee on this awesome morning. It was the start of one of those days you just know is going to go well. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky or a ripple on the water, and then I could see the reflection of the distant moon in the water, as the moon faded away as the sun came up over the trees. It was truly an amazing site! We were ready to move camp and the time was 9:40AM when we shoved off from our campsite. To Our advantage, we checked out the portage into Lake Agnus, through the Bolder River route yesterday. We knew it was going to be boggy at the landing but after that, we would have the normal rock infested portages ahead of us. On our way into the Bolder River, we saw a group of canoes paddling into Lac La Croix, and some of them already had their fishing rods out. I would also like to be fishing as we go along, but it does cut down on your paddle time. Today is a travel day so we tied up the rods and put the reels in our packs. This make the gear easier to portage. One group we saw must have had 10 fishing rods, all twisted and mangled together as they carried them across the portage. The goal today was to paddle up to Nina Moose Lake and stay at the campsite Greg Negard and my Dad camped at 31 years ago. I think it would be neat to see this place, so we are going to make that campsite our goal for today. It is with heavy heart that I tell you, Greg Negard passed away from his battle with cancer in November 2015. There were many times on this trip where we would talk about our trips with Greg Negard. One of them took place 10 years ago on this very lake, Dad, Scott and Greg were all in a canoe together when they paddle by a tree that had just caught on fire. They then canoed over to this tree and Dad recalls Greg using his hat as a bucket to get large amounts of water on the fire. Throughout our paddle into Lake Agnus from Lac Lac Croix, Dad and Scott were trying to pin point the place where the burning tree was. They had it narrowed down to 2 possible places. So, it was really cool to be out here and listening to these stories with Dad and Scott. The paddle across Lake Agnus this morning, was the calmest paddle on this Lake that Dad and Scott have ever been on. It’s a big body of water and the waves like to roll high most of the time. The sun was high in the sky and not much of a wind at our backs, or in front of us, as we pushed off from the portage and onto Lake Agnus. Halfway through the lake now and we made sure to fill our Nalgene bottles in a place with no scum on the water. We needed to stay hydrated today. Making great time, Scott, Dad and I were trying to point out where the river flows into Lake Agnus. On our way in last week, Scott said to remember this flat rock shore line with no trees on it, and there you can navigate to the Moose River! Just as we were three quarters into Lake Agnus, we could see other canoes coming out of the Moose River, and the wind picked up. Our paddle was easy up to this point, but it was time to dig in a little deeper now. The wind continued as we paddled up the Moose River and I thought about how the water would be on Lake Agnus right now. A picture formed in my mind, it was of 10’ tall white caps crashing onto the shoreline! Of course, that’s not what was happening. The portages were much easier on the way out, as we headed into Nina Moose Lake, we were stronger today, than our first day of paddling. If a person were to spend an entire Summer up here, he or she would come out of the part, in the best shape of their lives. On one of the portages today, Dad helped another guy get his canoe out of the water and onto more solid ground. It was a really solid gesture by Dad, to show he is willing to help out anyone. We three then shoved off and I watched they guy with the canoe, help get the canoe on the back of the gal he was with. I like to think they all helped each other out just a little bit today, but that little bit can go a long long way.