Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Entry day! We are getting a tow up to Splash Lake at 7:00 to get a jump on the day, but are delayed by FOG of all things. You can’t see the island at all just across from the resort so the wait begins………. Finally after only a brief 30 min wait a breeze comes up and starts helping clear out the fog. Off we go passing 10 or 12 boats at the entrance to Newfound Lake waiting to go up to Basswood(the fog is really dense here again), we pass them and head over to Splash lake. By the time we complete our fist portage the skies are clear and wind is calm, a great start to a wonderful day. We portage from Splash to Ensign and spend the next couple of hours paddling into a light breeze. I am starting to be concerned because only 1 or 2 camp sites we pass on Ensign are un-occupied. The last time I was in the BWCA we only saw 2 canoes for the first 4 days until we were at Dorothy’s on the Knife Lake. We portage the 55 rods to Ashigan Lake and then the tough 105 from Ashigan to Gibson Lake where we stop for a summer sausage and GORP lunch. On to the falls and Cattyman! We portage an easy 55 rod portage from Cattyman to Jordan Lake enjoying the sights along the way. A short 5 rod portage and we are we are at our destination for the day Ima Lake. We pull into the bay straight across form the portage and check out the camp site. Not to our liking so we travel up the short channel into the main lake. The next campsite we pass is taken, so are the ones on the island and so are the ones on the east shore. We quickly travel to the north shore where the western most campsite is open and we claim it for our own. We set up camp quickly and sit down to relax. It’s about 4:30 and time for an afternoon snooze. We crawl into the tent, and my son even wants to nap. I have been working him really hard up to this point. I think he has learned much about himself already. I wake up about 30 min later and go sit outside; it’s starting to look like rain a little bit. Try my hand at fishing several lures and get absolutely no bites whatsoever. It’s now about 6:30 and my son is still in the tent sleeping and it’s really looking like rain so I roust him up. We quickly heat up some water and just as we mix our dehydrated beef stew with it, rain. So into the tent we go and share a fine tent dinner courtesy of the rain. It rains and sprinkles off and on the rest of the evening so we call it an end to a long day.