Monday, May 23, 2022 It was cold last night, so I burrowed deep into my sleeping bag. The temperature was right at 32 degrees but it was perfectly calm and sunny!! We ate breakfast around a much needed morning fire and watched spotted sandpipers walk along our beach. We packed up camp and paddled out to the large rock sitting mysteriously in the middle of the lake. It just seems unnaturally placed right there! We dragged our boats back up the beaver dam into Unload Lake and headed back to Gordon walking through the only slightly smaller pile of snow. With the sun out I actually took off my long underwear layer that I had practically been living in! We had to wait awhile to get on the portage to Cherokee due to 4 canoes coming through…rather noisily. I swear they hit their boats on every rock there was and threw their paddles down at the shore. I could almost feel our retired rental canoe shudder at the memory of harsh abuse. We passed the jerky between us and watched some Magnolia warblers on the shoreline until all was clear.

Onwards into the wind! Cherokee had some good chop on it from the south east wind. The opposite direction it was blowing from the first day and it’s still a headwind!! I almost didn’t get around the point to a sheltered island. It felt like I was in a standstill. It’s hard to be the motor and the steerer at once. I finally rounded the point but was then buffered by ricochet waves from a nearby cliff so I was rocking and rolling for a bit. The paddle on the west side of the islands was much better and we made our way down the shore towards a campsite by the Sitka Lake portage for lunch.

We were tempted to stay here for the night because of the excellent views but we decided we needed to push on to our destination lake (n. Or s. Temperance). And so we found ourselves climbing a set of stairs up the portage. This made hauling everything up to flatter ground a bit awkward but we got her done. Luckily no one else came by or it would have been a tight squeeze. This portage was probably the hardest of the trip with lots of climbs. We fought for toe holds up a boulder with the canoe balanced precariously atop my shoulders. The relief at the end was short lived as there was only a short paddle across a tiny lake before the next 100 rod portage.

The Misquah Hills came into view and the northern portion of North Temperance Lake was beautiful. We coasted with the wind hoping the one site on the island would be free, but our hearts sank as we saw camp set up. Time for the long paddle back south into the wind. The other two sites did not seem very nice so we ventured over to South Temperance. Unfortunately all the available sites on this lake are exposed to the chilly wind, but we did find an open on in a northwest bay. We were happy to call it home, but the wind caused us to put all our layers back on.

This site features a tricky landing and minimal tent pads, but luckily my solo tent can be set up practically anywhere and I tucked in next to the shore in a quiet frog filled bay. We pressed some coffee with our aero press and gathered firewood for the night. The wind stayed with us through dinner though it calmed down by evening. More slapping beavers, loons, and plenty of spring peepers. The skies cleared out and we had a spectacular view of the Milky Way. The Little Dipper was framed perfectly in the clearing above our site. The stars twinkled brightly on the now perfectly calm water. ~Frost Lake, Unload Lake, Gordon Lake, Cherokee Lake, Sitka Lake, North Temperance Lake, South Temperance Lake