Monday, July 19

We departed the campsite around 8:30 after a granola breakfast. We planned to paddle a long way today and make our way off of Basswood Lake. We decided to stop for a stretch break every hour and to switch bow and stern positions to keep things equal since we both prefer stern. We spotted another eagle nest near our campsite. The juveniles were very vocal.

We switched spots at Lincoln Island and then pulled over 45 minutes later at site #1658 to eat part of our lunch. However, as we were eating, thunder started rumbling to the north and west. With the smoke haze, it has been challenging to do normal weather watching and predictions and we don't carry a weather radio. We watched and waited for awhile and debated our next move. Stew was concerned that if we didn't get further off the wide open parts of the lake while it was calm, we could have issues if the wind gets strong later. We decided to hug the shore and go for the campsite cluster by Beaver Island. There were still 3 motorboats sitting out in the middle of the lake who were at a much higher risk of a lightning strike than us. We reached site #2088 and debated taking it. Much shorter day than planned. A sudden flash of lightning and crack of thunder close by made the decision easy for us. We set up the tarp and sat around in the rain deciding whether we should wait it out and continue or set up the tent. Since we have zero agenda and a highly flexible itinerary, we decided to set up camp. Annoyingly, there was a group illegally camped right across from us on Beaver Island and they were loud!

On the up side, there was a family of rabbits that kept hopping through our site and a pretty little "fairy garden" space back in the woods.

We are really enjoying traveling together. A little relationship history, we met while paddling whitewater rivers with friends. We trained and raced whitewater slalom together and competed nationally and internationally on kayak polo teams. So our relationship has been built around working together on the water. The chance to do a trip with just the 2 of us has been refreshing and rejuvenating...maybe recapturing a little taste of our "youth".

I had presoaked the wild rice for our soup dinner tonight and it made cooking everything very fast. Some key lime cookies for dessert and we were all set for a good night's sleep.

Distance: 8.4 miles (only half of what we planned) Time: 2 hours 10 minutes, not including any stops~Basswood Lake