When we woke this morning, it was lightly raining. We rolled over and went back to sleep. The rain only lasted about a 1/2 hour and then we got out of the tent. We made coffee and ate our breakfast bars. The plan today was to head to Thunder or Beartrap.

We were on the water before 9am. We did the short paddle to the portage and then portaged from Fairy to Gun. It was a cloudy morning. We paddled Gun and portaged to Gull. Near the portage to Mudhole, a group at a campsite asked where we were going. We told them, and they responded "Wow, it must be great that way, because a lot of people have headed that way." We were a little nervous that there might not be any campsites available. We portaged to Mudhole. The end of the portage was quite swampy and muddy. We did the quick paddle to the next portage. The rain started when we started the portage. When we arrived on Thunder we got our raingear. I hate wearing my rain jacket when it's warm. I sweat so much underneath the jacket, that it almost makes me as wet as I'd be just letting the rain fall on me. The portage was full of mosquitoes, so we hustled to get on the water. We arrived at the first campsite. (#1883) It was very tiny and looked as though it hadn't been used in quite a while. There was a tree growing in the fire pit, and despite some effort, I couldn't find the biffy. We had stopped here because we saw people at the next campsite. My bowmate and I stayed at the site, and our friends went to check out to see if any other sites were available. They started waving to us when they arrived at the site where the people were. Turns out it was empty, and we had imagined seeing people.

We decided that this would be the site for the night.(#1884) We set up the tarp (CCS-- what a great tarp!) and got out our crazy creek chairs to sit in to have lunch. After lunch, the rain stopped, so we hustled to put up the tent before it would start again. We unloaded our packs, and then went to filter water.

Last year I got a new katydyn gravity filter. It's really nice to use because you don't have to pump. Just fill with water and let gravity do the rest. Now... my groups don't usually filter water. I have a steripen and that's what we use when we need an activity to do. Otherwise, we just fill our water jugs in the middle of the lake and drink it. One of the women on this trip had leukemia that was in remission. She needed to be particularly careful about germs. So we used the gravity filter and then she would also use the steripen.

It was chilly this afternoon, and I had to get my fleece jacket and pants out to wear. We sat under the tarp while it rained and read, chatted, and ate snacks. (pistachios and turkey jerky)

Dinner tonight was tuna sandwiches in pita bread and rice crispy bars.