After a poor night's sleep listening to the rain and being cold, we had breakfast (oatmeal and hot chocolate) and broke camp early. We were on the water by 7:45 in calm water, with very dark, threatening skies.

The rain began at the portage out of Hatchet Lake. My book just says "streams and several portages" [but in looking at the map I assume it was 50 rods to Ima, 6 rods to Jordan, short portages to Cattyman and Gibson, 105 rods to Ashigan, and 53 to Ensign. All in a steady rain. I don't even remember seeing Cattyman Falls, but my book has a "nice falls" comment, so I assume we did.]

We met a party of three from South Bend, Indiana at the falls. The dad had gone to Michigan State, so we had something in common. [Besides being crazy enough to be out in the cold rain looking at a waterfall.]

My notes say "somewhat muddy" when describing the portages. Surely that must be an understatement. So much rain!

We made camp shortly after noon on a hill overlooking Ensign Lake. Birch trees all around, an area that had burned off at least once. No conifers. There is a resident duck.

On this rainy day we needed a hot lunch. So we had Kraft Mac&Cheese, green beans, the last of the oranges [surprised we carried something that heavy for several days], cookies and coffee.

We were trying to dry out the tent, and of course the sleeping bags, too. Still not having much luck, with rain off and on all afternoon. Neil was trying again to patch the air mattress without any success either. And here came the ankle-biters--biting flies!

There were six ducks: Mama, a little runt, and four other younger ones. They ate from our hands and picked on each other vying for our attention.

We went out in the canoe and I did a little practice paddling stern. [It never got to be my favorite thing.]

There are bones around the campsite. [Wish I had given a little detail about that.] We played cards for a while, too.

Supper was Mountain House chili mac, soup, hot chocolate, and applesauce. As we were eating, we realized it was getting colder and windy.

My pain level was still very high. [What I would have given for a heating pad and some RX pain medicine!] My sleeping bag was no longer damp, it was WET! The journal says "soaked". Could be a cold night.

It rained in the night. Most of the night. Not a big surprise.

I decided that I could not stay warm in the wet sleeping bag, in a wet tent, in the rain. So I slept in my pants, sweatshirt, shoes, and wrapped up in a silver space blanket that we had always carried for emergencies. It wasn't very warm, but it was dry. Both air mattresses had slow leaks, so by the middle of the night mine was flat as a pancake. No other way to put it: this was a bad night.

[Note: In subsequent years we purchased better gear and we learned to wear only wool or microfiber fabrics. No cotton. We got better sleeping bags, the kind that would keep us warm even when "a little bit damp", and Thermarest sleeping pads. We bought SmartWool base layers for those cold, blustery days.

We never took another trip without a rain fly over our tent. And eventually, in stages, we worked our way up to Gore-Tex PacLite rain gear, both pants and jackets. For our last few trips we took a tarp so that we could set up a dryer camp in days of steady rain. I began tripping in hiking boots instead of tennis shoes, and we had silk long johns for sleepwear. We never did abandon our heavy wool Woolrich shirt jackets, and we use them on cold, damp days even in 2021.

Eventually we began taking a small stove for cooking, so that we had an option besides the campfire or the large Coleman stove. And then we got camp stools--so great for cooking in front of the fire! Sometimes even a lightweight lawn chair.

The biggest change was probably a large SeaLine dry bag, so that our clothing and our sleeping bags stayed dry no matter the weather.

Oh, and one more thing! We asked our doctor for a prescription for some real pain pills, in case there was ever another time when they were needed. Never did another tip without them!]

In the afternoon of Day Five we actually got a break in the rain, and had some teases of sunshine. This is when we went out paddling, and also when we played with the resident ducks. I have always remembered this time as the morning of the last day, but in checking my notes I now see that it was the afternoon before the worst night of my canoeing career.

No matter. These are the only sunny, blue sky photos of the trip.