What a difference a day makes! We awoke to a beautiful still morning and even heard the birds chirping. I am sure even they appreciated not hearing the wind for a change. It was nice getting dressed without having to wear long underwear and a stocking cap. Jan made us eggs, sausage and hash browns for breakfast. Another advantage to a group solo is the abundance of stoves. We each pitched in a stove and a frying pan and had all three cooking at once. After a hearty breakfast we packed up camp and made our way. Today's destination would be Emerald Lake which is about 10 miles, four portages and five lakes away. We would see the rest of the Man Chain today: This Man, No Man, That Man and High Man before getting to Emerald.

The 49 rod portage to This Man Lake was flat and easy. It followed a small stream through the woods. This Man Lake is very long and narrow. Impressive granite ridges flank the northern shore. We took our time paddling across This Man and fished along the way.

I caught a decent sized pike and then Jan and I both caught nice lake trout in a northern bay about halfway across. The Wiggle Wart worked again for me and Jan caught his on a blue and silver Shap Rad. Something about that color scheme the lakers like! We would have shared pictures with you of our monster trout, but I lost mine as I reached to grab it next to the canoe and Jan lost his as I was about to snap a picture. Trust me. They were huge! ;)

While we fished Kyle scouted ahead making notes of the campsites we passed. There are two great camps on the northern shore of This Man and the island site about halfway across also appeared to be nice. We stopped for a break on the western most site along the north shore. It had a nice granite front porch with a nice drop off. Perfect jigging spot for walleyes and deep lake trout. Someday we will have to return and camp there.

After crossing the remainder of This Man Lake we were at the portage to No Man Lake. Apparently, there are two portages leading to No Man. We took the 32 rod portage and saw no sign of the 60 rod portage just to north. Anyway, the portage was a fairly easy climb up before descending down to No Man. Some lakes just have a look about them and No Man Lake certainly looked bassy. It is much shallower than the other Man Chain lakes and had many fallen tress along the shores.

Soon, we were at the stream leading to That Man Lake. There is a 101 rod portage to the north of the it, but there is no need to take it as the stream is navigable. The current flows over a sandy bottom towards That Man and twists and turns around many fallen trees and corners. It was a very pretty area and a lot of fun. Jan and Kyle had an easier time navigating with their Wenonah Wildernesses being about a foot shorter than my Wenonah Prism. It became tricky at times as you had to duck under tree branches while turning.

Soon enough we were on That Man Lake. The bay where the stream enters has a sandy bottom. You could see the lily pads sprouting on the bottom. Past this area the lake deepens and looks very much like Other Man and This Man Lakes. We headed for the first camp on the north shore for lunch. We found some old rusted pipes in the woods behind the camp that were mostly likely from mining operations years ago. We had heard rumors of a possible message jar at this site, but none were to be found. After lunch Jan and I fished a bit from shore. Jan had a really nice lake trout follow his lure up to shore a few times, but we weren't able to coax the fish to bite. This camp was another nice site that would be worth a longer stay.

We headed over to the portage up to High Man Lake. The portage is not very long, but it is uphill and steep the whole way which explains why the lake above is called High Man Lake. The portage followed a stream with a neat little waterfall near the landing on High Man. The landing was a little difficult with many trees in the way, so we had to launch one canoe at a time. High Man Lake has a sandy bottom and is long and narrow. Neat rock formations stick up through the sand underwater. No camp sites exist there.

The portage into Emerald is a tad longer than the previous one and starts off going through a swampy forest. Then at the very end it drops sharply down to Emerald Lake. We took our time at this spot and had to haul the canoes down by themselves. Emerald Lake is very pretty with high cliffs along the north shore and evidence of a recent burn along the south shore. Our destination is the campsite on the far side of the lake in the northeast corner. We heard stories of huge cedars and pines behind this camp and looked forward to camping amongst them.

The campsite on Emerald is open. In fact, every campsite we've seen since this trip started has been open. We haven't seen another soul since we were dropped off on day one. Ah! A great day in the Quetico in May and we have it all to ourselves. Actually, we did not seen any evidence of people being at any of the camps or any of the portages yet this year. No foot prints, no recently burned fires, nothing. It is a nice feeling being the first ones there.

The site on Emerald is another excellent one. It has a great fire pit with a view sitting above the water, a large rock shelf for fishing, and decent tent pads back in the trees. Even a stack of courtesy fire wood has been left for us from last fall.

We set up camp and have a nice dinner enjoying the still water and watching a great sunset. We witness a pair of loons in love making all sorts of racket and chasing each other across the lake. Not a better way to end a great day than to stay up late by the camp fire reminiscing about the our experiences thus far.