Awoke to leaden skies—not what we'd hoped for. We were on the water by 9:00 and already facing strong breezes as we paddled down the fire-scarred lake. We'd never done the Tuck River route from Kahshahpiwi into Sarah, so we were exploring new territory, most of which appears to see little traffic. Found a boonie hat at a Tuck River portage—if it's yours and you're fond of it, get in touch! Portages along this route are brushy with rocky landings, except for one lake whose landing was mostly floating sphagnum beds—lots of sundew and pitcher plants again. We had lunch on the Tuck River side of the portage into Sarah—good wind protection there. We had occasional mist & rain most of the morning, but started to see a few blue patches of sky as we ate lunch.

When we hit Sarah, skies were again grey and we were again paddling into a strong wind. We spotted an island campsite near the portage from Tuck River and decided to see if the wind might ease up if we gave it some time. Read some McManus, played some Farkle, and explored the island (and found a 2" gnome monitoring island traffic).

After an hour and a half the wind died and we paddled to Sarah's “waist” where we found one of our favorite Quetico campsites empty and claimed it for the night. Light rain again—sure appreciate the dining fly!