This was to be my last full day in the Bdub and I would spend most of it traveling. I had light breakfast, packed up my gear and made sure that I hadn't left anything behind (including a trace). I hit the water and it was a perfect day for paddling, mostly sunny with just a light breeze. My food pack was pretty light by this time and I was probably a bit stronger than when I went in, so I had trouble double portaging. I made relatively quick work of the portage from Malberg to Koma and the three portages from Koma to Polly.

The traffic was pretty light and up to Polly I saw only one group, that I passed on the portage to Polly. They were single portaging - I wonder if I'll ever get to that point? Probably not, but then it's a wilderness trip and not a race.

As I got to Polly and started loading my gear I realized that I was missing my spare PFD. I knew that I had loaded it when I left Malberg, so it had to be somewhere behind me. I grabbed the canoe and left my packs at the portage landing (out of the way, of course) and retraced my steps. I ended up having to go all the way back to the north end of Koma - there it was, sitting on the portage landing! I grabbed it and headed back south. I must have lost a good 2-3 hours and a lot of energy on that mistake, but I was not going to leave anything behind if I could help it.

I paddled down Polly to the portage at the south end and portaged into Kawasachong, I was getting a little bit beat by this time but I pressed on as the weather was still good. I made it through Kawasachong and into the Kawishiwi River. I pulled over the big beaver dam on the river and kept paddling, but at some point I realized that I wasn't seeing familiar terrain. I followed the river up to a deadfall, paddled around the deadfall and found myself at the base of a rapids. This was completely unfamiliar, but I thought I had to be on the right track because I knew I recognized the beaver dam. Eventually, after a short bushwhack to see if I was near Square Lake, I backtracked down the "river" and came to a junction with another river. It was then apparent that I had missed a 180-degree turn in the river and had mistakenly paddled up a feeder creek that joined the river right at the 180-degree bend.

I followed the turn in the river and made it Square Lake, but it was getting later in the afternoon and I was getting tired, but I pushed on to Kawishiwi. By the time I made it to Kawishiwi, I realized that it would be pointless to continue to my exit since I wouldn't be getting home for another 6-7 hours, and I was pretty wiped out anyway. I paddled across the lake and found an open campsite about 1/2 way down the lake on the eastern shore. I pitched my tent and ate some snack food, but I was too tired to make a proper hot dinner. That was OK because I wanted to be able to pack up and hit the water the next morning without much hassle. The horse flies were horrible, and then the skeets started to make an appearance. I took shelter in my tent for the rest of the night, read some and spent some time with the Old Grandad (on day 8, even budget bourbon tastes pretty good!).