We woke up early and made some pancakes on the fire. Everyone packed their gear up while I cooked breakfast. Just an observation but a single 7” fry pan on the fire does not cook a pile of pancakes for 4 people very quickly. After breakfast my dad did the dishes while I packed my hammock/tarp up. We set up around 7 am from the campsite with the 190 rod portage from Bald Eagle to Gull in mind. The wind had not started yet and the first 40 minutes of paddling were awesome. The silent glide of our canoe through the water with the mirror image of the shoreline was a treat after the wind the evening before. 

Unfortunately my map skills were a little off. The Fisher map shows a small island on the west shore of Bald Eagle with a campsite tucked behind, in real life the “island” was connected to the mainland with a 15 yard wide strip of land and a bunch of reeds. I paddled right by it and went another 3/4 mile up the lake looking for the “island” to turn right after toward the portage landing. We did find the portage after backtracking (and my brother using GoogleMaps on his phone). The reviews on this forum are right, the portage landing is incredibly rocky. I left  some new epoxy on the rocks there. 

We double portaged the 190 rod portage without incident. It was quite rocky with some hills. I personally enjoyed the rose hips and raspberries next to the portage trail. Toward the stream coming from Gull Lake the black flies did get worse. The stream below Gull Lake paddles a lot like snake river and the final 40 rod portage into Gull Lake was pretty good. A couple tight turns in the trees with an 18’ canoe but nothing impassible. 

On Gull I had my heart set on trying the campsite on the islands at the east side of the lake but at this point a storm looked like it was going to hit. It was also lunch time. We made the paddle across the lake and couldn’t find sign of the site from the canoe. We could have done a better job searching but with the storm looking like it was blowing in there was no dilly dallying. We returned back to the island site on the west side of the lake, of course paddling against the wind now. The storm never hit us, it looked like it skirted a few miles north sparing us. 

After a much needed lunch of chili burritos and lots of water everyone felt better. We set up camp, found firewood, and did some fishing. I should mention that at this point the gear tent was now the sleeping space for my dad and sister. They decided maybe they should have tried the hammock more at home because it was not the camping style for them.