Thursday, June 08, 2023 Picked up our permit from Duluth Pack on my lunch break. Strapped the 70s vintage Grumman G17 onto the truck. I pulled it out of a creek behind my house abandoned there by the former owners who "threw in the old canoe to sweeten the deal". I get a certain satisfaction out of putting that old canoe back into service. After straightening out a crushed gunnel and having a 10" rip and a few spars and ribs welded up it was ready to go. We loaded the packs and hit the road at 3pm from our home just south of Duluth. A couple of last minute stops along the way and we pulled into the EP 50 parking lot at 6:45. The mosquitos spared no time letting us know they were around and hungry. We decided to try for a site on Ham Lake to get us a bit closer to the E.P. for our Friday entry, even though it was a little late in the day. The evening was calm and the two portage and short paddle landed us at the site on the mid-lake point.