We tore down camp early the next morning by 7am, heading for Hanson Lake. The group from Green Bay had mentioned that the Cherry/Hanson portage was a bastard. We were anxious to get it behind us. The 110 rod portage contained alot of elevation changes, more than any other on our route. It was definitely a challenging portage, but we took it slow and soon were pushing off the other end of the portage onto Hanson Lake. Hanson was quiet and seemed completely void of people. We dropped our packs off on the campsite just around the corner from the portage, and crossed the deserted lake. It was our plan to explore the Pitfall Lake PMA which lies just to the east of Hanson. We portaged and paddled our way to Link Lake where we were greeted by a pair of eagles. As we passed through Gift and Fish Lakes we entered an area completely burned. It was not until Nawakwa Lake that we saw living mature trees again. As we retraced our route and re-entered Fish Lake, a cow moose and calf swam across the narrows in front of us. With so little cover, they wasted no time putting distance between us. After exiting the PMA, we picked up our packs on Hanson and turned south to portage back to the South Arm of Knife Lake. This was one pretty portage. The Hanson end has a couple of large cedar trees slinking way down over the lake, their roots creating giant root balls. The portage follows a pond, then a large creek to a wonderful waterfall seemingly in the middle of the forest. At the base of the waterfall grow two giant twin cedars. The whole area around the falls is lush with green vegetation. Beautiful! At the Knife Lake end of the portage there is a nice sand beach. We pushed off and made our way towards Toe Lake where we intended to spend the next two nights. We crossed the short portage into Toe and paddled up to the site - what a beauty! We landed the canoe, unloaded and went right to setting up the tarp since rain looked imminent. Just as the tarp was secured and all the gear had been moved under it, the rain arrived. It began slowly, then came down in buckets. We realized our good fortune as we sat staring out over the rain swept lake from our dry haven. What a difference a few minutes makes! As the rain continued to fall, I made a large pot of Bear Creek wild rice soup. It really hit the spot on this cool, wet afternoon. We cleaned up the dishes, and then, with the rain having moved out, we got around to the business of setting up camp. We now were able to take a better look around and noticed all the blowdown on the hillside behind the campsite. It must have really been something before the the storm of 1999 took out so many large mature trees. Later we trolled the boggy shorelines of Toe Lake, catching numerous pike and smallmouth bass. The beavers were very busy, with two active lodges on the lake. Later, back at camp, Mike got a fire going and we dried out before turning in for the night.