Our last day in the Sundial PMA proved to be difficult. We talked about how normally, as the rhythms of the wilderness set in, we got stronger. Paddling, portaging, hiking, all became natural as muscles grew acclimated. Not this trip. Bushwhacking took it’s toll on all of us. We agreed that each day we felt more tired, & despite eleven hours of sleep & a layover day, we left Sterling Lake weary.

The portage leaving Sterling was the most difficult to find of the trip. It was discovered only by spreading out along the shore we knew it had once been on & tromping randomly through the forest (we’d found this a reliable, if slow, method of locating faint, lost portages). The portage into Bibon was tough, with one particular rock-face sloping down at about a 45 degree angle (John walked it with the canoe – all hail the mighty gripping Tevas & the size of John’s cahones! And his obvious brain damage...). Bibon & Nibin proved to be small, non-descript lakes notable only for their remoteness.

The portage from Nibin to Stuart...sucked. It started in ankle-sucking mud, wandered across a small meadow, branched into a false trail ending in a blizzard of saplings. Backtracking, we found the old portage went through a bog. We followed it, & came out tired & scraped at the other end on Stuart Lake to the unsightly sight of a...canoe? We went back for the second load & emerged, exhausted, to lay panting & groaning on the huge rock face on the east bank of Stuart. After a period of self-pity we gathered ourselves enough to paddle to the campsite on the point, which commanded a stunning view south over Stuart.

I’m sure we did something else that day. No idea what it was.