Wednesday, July 27, 2022 Up to sunshine early - interesting that there are so many hours of daylight in these north woods. We had another hot breakfast while donning mosquito nets - this site is in the woods so the mosquitoes are abundant. We were paddling by 8:30 and easily found the portage to North Fowl - this was a long portage but we did see a ruffed grouse on the trail. My son took a video of the female since he was ahead of us on the trail. When we caught up with him she was still in the woods and came back out when he played the video/audio of her calling. Wild! Upon entering North Fowl we saw another bald eagle - this lake is full of them. We got close views of 3 in trees on the island and southern shore. The grasses in the lake are beautiful, and we really liked North Fowl. We spent a good bit of time here watching eagles and looking for moose (with no luck.) We also saw Tundra swans, a family of loons, and mergansers. There are several interesting cabins on this lake - one even had an outdoor sauna which would not be seen in Texas. Nice weather and paddle to the portage, which is difficult to find. You need to paddle down the river and it is on the right. We had two different maps and used both of them throughout the trip to find portages. While portaging I came upon a strange animal in the middle of the trail - we both stopped about 5 feet apart and stared at each other before it scampered off. Once at camp I researched and realized it was a woodchuck! As soon as we entered Royal River I heard the sounds of a raptor, and behold, there was a huge bald eagle nest with an adult and juvenile directly across from the portage. The adult flew away and circled while we were there - I recommend bringing binoculars on this trip. This was a real treat for us. Royal Lake can be confusing, so have a map and compass to find the portage on the north end. It is beautiful open water and unlike the other lakes. The palisades were beautiful, but we couldn’t find the portage north up the river to John Lake - this resulted in us pulling the canoes up. Don’t do this - find the portage! John was a pretty little lake, and straight into Little John and McFarland. We didn’t enjoy McFarland as much because of a strong headwind and too many houses there. We did see more bald eagles, ducks, and loons, but the paddle in the storm was tough. We paddled into Pine around 4:00 and got the site on the eastern point, which was amazing. Sunset was magazine worthy, and we caught more smallies. This was a long day and we were very tired. Hot supper and then to bed so we could get an early start up Pine the next day. This is a top site for sure!