I got up at 5:00 and was excited to get my trip started. I threw a power bar and pepperoni stick down my throat, chased it with a Red bull, and was heading down to the water by 5:20. I wanted to be on the water early. I got my prism I rented off the canoe rack and loaded up my gear. It took some reshuffling of gear a little to get it trimmed out good. There was an injured duck right next to me on the shore, It was barely able to walk. Coincidence or not, in a few hours I was in the some situation as my feathered friend- injured and feeling helpless.

Poplar lake is a pretty descent sized lake, and outside of the BWCA. It is still very pretty and I had the whole Lake to myself that morning. I reached the portage to Lizz lake in record time.(since this was my first trip there, any amount of time was a record:) The portage to Lizz was rocky, a little muddy, and hilly. I made it down through Lizz Lake in record time also:). Lizz was a narrow, pretty lake with a Bald Eagle waiting for me perched high in a tree near the portage to Caribou Lake. Besides the mucky area on the Lizz Lake side of the portage, I don't remember this portage being too much of a problem. I had packed for double portaging and that's what I did.

On Caribou Lake I had a short paddle west, around a point, and back east towards the Portage to Horseshoe Lake. All I can say about Caribou Lake is that I was there. The paddle was quite short. I wanted to come back to this lake for fishing later in my trip. This portage was pretty easy. It is also where I ruined my trip. I had lost my footing, putting my heaviest pack in the canoe, not a big deal. I didn't fall, the problem was I had my pack on one shoulder. When I slipped it fell off my shoulder. My natural reaction was to try to catch it, BAD idea. I caught it in the crook of my elbow. This resulted in a large strain on my shoulder that I had already needed surgery on sometime in the future. I came in with a shoulder at about 80% of its strength, now I had zero. This is the shoulder that the docs said I couldn't do much of anymore damage to.