Morning broke cloudy, warmer (than yesterday) and definitely more humid. The short trip to Hoe was uneventful with the exception of a place we call moose meadows. I have not run across many meadows or tamarack in the BWCA. Moose meadows had the tamarack and a great number of moose beds. The piles of moose do-do looked a few days old. Wow, would this have been a trip to stumble into a bunch of sleepy eyed moose. The meadows also had a bunch of crazed beaver that seemed intent on adding one more lake to the BWCA. To follow the trail will mean really wet feet (and knees?). We skirted the meadows/forest perimeter and kept dry.

From the look of the forest on the north side of Fee, I suspect that we were on the perimeter of the area hit by the blow down. The Fee campsite is rather exposed. It has two good tent pads, but one sits under a "widow maker". The camp on Ledge and Hoe are much better by comparison.

Hoe Lake has one campsite and from the water it doesn’t look like much. But the site, was pretty nice (flat spots for tents, fire wood, and place to hang the food packs (which, by now, has gone from 2 to 1). The day has actually been hot and humid and we have been in t-shirts for most of it. Fishing was not productive on Hoe. I picked up 3 “shakers” (small, axe-handle northerns shaken off the hook).

After supper we soaked our feet and dried them before the fire (another small pleasure). In the distance, thunder rumbled and slowly became more ominous. The old adage that cirrus clouds (seen on the morning of Day 8) are the precursor to bad weather comes true, and we head for the tents before the deluge. Thunderstorms are humbling and the nylon walls of the tent don’t really inspire a feeling of being protected from the elements. In the dark I watched the lighting flash, waited on the thunder, and waited on the wind. Fortunately, the wind never came, just the rain and plenty of it.

Photos show: 1) leaving Ledge Lake camp, and 2) looking west down Hoe as rain moves towards us