I awaken early to kick off our layover day with a giant, hearty breakfast. Shawn was able to rest well and feels much better after a solid meal.

After breakfast, we plan to daytrip to nearby Rabbit Lake for lake trout fishing. Just as we are leaving camp, our portage friends from yesterday pull up and tell us they had great luck just before sunset catching smallmouth and largemouth bass on topwater, on nearby Ashdick Lake. We get pretty excited about this and quickly audible our daytrip to go to Ashdick. I’ve caught plenty of topwater bass back home in Kansas, and figure this is just the type of fishing we need to get us “on the board” with our first Boundary Waters fish.

As we paddle out of camp, a light drizzle begins to fall and we don our rain gear for the first time. The portage to Ashdick is rugged but beautiful. I am surprised by how different Ashdick looks from Ester, and yet how gorgeous it is, especially with all of the cedars lining the shore. After a few casts and zero action, we elect to pause for lunch at a campsite in the middle of the lake while we wait for the late day topwater bite to start up again. We gather some firewood and enjoy a warm camp/cooking fire while we relax and wait.

As we wait, the wind and rain continues to steadily intensify, until we are both quite cold, bored, and ready to leave. We fish once more in various bays of Ashdick for bass, but have zero bites. It feels good to call it quits on this day as we portage back to Ester, with dreams of a warm supper on our minds.

We return to discover camp in a state of complete disarray. The tarp sags nearly to the ground, laden with rainwater, and Shawn’s tent is soaking wet, inside and out. It dons on us that we are in for more work than we planned on before we can start that warm supper. Shawn begins working on his tent while I set to work on the tarp, but my progress is slow as my hands are too cold to have much dexterity to tie the knots. In addition, we are both tired, cold, hungry, and irritated.

Once the tarp is up, it is nearly dark, and I finally get to work cooking up a hot pot of loaded potato soup beneath the tarp. After moving and re-staking his tent, Shawn somehow manages to stoke a warm campfire, which, considering the depth of my frazzled, chilled exhaustion, is a Godsend. By the time the soup is done, the rain stops, and we can finally enjoy our hot meal outside by the fire.

We are thankful for good food, warmth, and a chance to finally relax. I am thankful for Shawn’s help and resilience. Tomorrow is a new day. I get my best night of sleep of the whole trip.