This morning we awoke early to another gray, cold dawn, with a light east wind.  Great, because we were heading west; but oh for some sun shine!  We knew we had another hard day ahead with four portages to Long Island Lake, including the famous Kiskadinna portage, plus the fact that all the portages were either mud holes in the low spots or flowing streams at the steep parts.  The 35 rods out of Omega was steep, wet, and slippery, but good practice for what was ahead.  Kiskadinna was a long , narrow lake, surrounded by boreal forest; another northwoods beauty.  However, the moose were hiding that day.  At the end of the lake we did the 185 rod portage to Muskeg.  It was everything you would want on a portage to remember: steep wet rocks, deep mud flats, and a rushing stream across the portage that was missing the log bridge that one of the BWCA guide books promised!  We of course also had to double portage this one too, so all total we did about 500 rods of hiking in water up to our knees at times!  After the Kiskadinna Muskeg portage, the two remaining short portages into Long Island were taken in stride; deep strides in black muck up to our knees as everything was under water.

Once again the east wind helped us to get half way across the lake to a campsite for the night.  This was a beautiful island site, and all the tent pads were well drained. No water bed tonight!  It was cold and misty for the rest of the afternoon, with light rain, and we alternated between sitting next to the fire to keep warm or under the rain tarp to keep dry.  We were too tired to fish, and a bit nervous about the weather, so after a foil pouch dinner we went to our tents for the night. But first we finally had a classic bear pack tree to hang our food pack from, something we have not found easy to find, and enjoyed the ceremony of raising the pack at sundown!