Saturday, August 19, 2023 We got up early on Day Three and had just coffee and cereal so we could get going quickly. This was our best wildlife day. In addition to the ubiquitous birds and ducks (loons and others) and turtles, we saw swans with young ones soon after starting out, a garter snake and a Spruce Grouse with two youngsters along the exit portage, and bear scat there too!

No problem with the first portage. Then we meandered along the river, not exactly on the direct path we had planned, but close enough. At portage 895 we decided not to try the rapids even though the rangers had thought we could do it going south. We picnicked nearby and continued on. This part of the river was quite busy, mostly with day trip fishermen as far as we could tell. It was, in fact, a good fishing area. Ali caught a bass and another pike, which we released since we were on the way to our exit point.

It was hot, but my hopes for a quick dip at the exit landing were dashed. It was pretty lagoon-y there. But the shade was welcome.

We made it! Proud of ourselves for meeting the mental and physical challenges of this short trip. On our return to Ely, we celebrated with a well-deserved French bistro dinner at the Chocolate Moose!