Nap time! It’s storming out and there have been some really loud thunder boomers - the kind that crack and then rumble where you can feel it in the ground. It’s raining but not down pouring - yet. Earlier when it first started there was just a bit of hail - very tiny - looked like mini contact lenses.

We woke this morning a little before 5am to thunder in the distance. I woke Em up so that we could pee, fill the water bottles and get back in the tent before it started raining - we made it just as it started sprinkling. Went back to bed for an hour or so and let the storm pass. It was pretty short lived.

Breakfast for Em was oatmeal and cocoa. I wasn’t hungry so I waited to eat. Had a couple of ibuprofen though - my body was hurting - holy crap! After packing up we loaded the canoe and were off to find our next adventure. The lake was pretty calm and there wasn’t much of a breeze - we made good time. We were treated to another shower and then the sun came out - at our backs.

There are still thousands of those dead things in the water which is rather gross. I’m going to have to take a photo of one and look them up online. I wonder what’s killing them.

We portaged from Pine to Little Caribou - which was the plan all along. Holy crap that was a hard portage - only 80 rods but straight uphill the whole way - okay, most of the way. The trail was nice and wide making it easy to find from the lake, but covered in rocks and fallen needles so with the recent rain was pretty slippery. On our first trip over, Em took the canoe and I took the bedding pack, chairs and one life jacket. One of the shoulder straps on the bedding pack broke -great - which made the carry all the more difficult. I had to just hold it over one shoulder like a school bag except three times as heavy. The trailed passes over a creek - I wonder if it flows to Johnson Falls. The hewn log bridge was a bit treacherous as it was slick from the recent rain. We double portaged and headed back out on the lake immediately as the mosquitoes on that trail were pretty vicious. Emily said my neck is polka dotted from all the bites - I can feel them too.

Little Caribou is a small lake kind of shaped like a peanut. At the center point - about in the middle, there’s a cliff and that’s where the campsite is. We opted to not stop there and check out Caribou Lake to camp there. As we neared the portage at the end of the lake we ran into a group of boy scouts. We asked them about sites available on Caribou. They had the site that we were shooting for originally and we didn’t want to paddle the whole of Caribou to find a vacant site so we turned around a claimed the camp on the cliff. I’m so glad that we did. It’s a spectacular spot - gorgeous view of the ridge across the lake and has several mature red and white pines. There are several smaller cedar trees. The climb up with the gear after that portage was tough but worth it. The sun was out so we laid out all the wet stuff to dry - didn’t take long on those rocks.

We have another little furry native here. Emily named this one Booger because he is NOT afraid of us at all. I can tell that he’s been fed by others. He would go right up in our packs and pull stuff out - the little “booger.” But I call him the little shit. After several times of chasing him he finally left, but not before giving us a severe scolding.

The latrine at this site is extreme. It’s far away and straight up the mountain - good grief.

Someone left a nice pile of wood, though it’s very wet from all the rain and the pieces are very large. Just as I was getting the fire ready to light we could hear a storm coming in the distance. We quickly got camp put in order - tent staked, rain fly on and covered the fire grate with a garbage bag. We sat under the rain shelter. It was a short lived storm. We ate lunch - Em had cheese and crackers, I had applesauce and Kashi. Was going to make pancakes over the fire - oh well. That’s the way it goes.

There have been two groups of boy scouts that have paddled by. The last was right before the “big” storm hit. I heard them get to the portage to Caribou before it hit so at least they were off the water.

We’ve decided to stay here for a couple of nights at least. It’s the only site on the lake and pretty private . . . I think we’ll see a lot of “traffic” going by during the day but at night it will be quite. At least there isn’t the sound of logging equipment. I’m looking forward to getting up in the morning and seeing the lake be like glass - I imagine it with mist coming off as well.

2:06 pm The sun feels glorious! We both emerged from our little den and are basking in the warmth. Em is laying out on one of the boulders and I’m just sitting in a chair eating pretzels and watching the sky. I think there’s more rain coming - but one never knows for sure.

It’s so much more quite here. I can hear the droning of the bugs, birds singing and the water lapping. Booger is up in the tree scolding us and there’s a solitary loon on the water. I have yet to hear him call. Ooop - now I hear a loon - not the one I’m looking at but a loon just the same.

The water is dripping off the trees and the sun glistens through each droplet like a tiny prism. On the cedar leaves it looks like a thousand diamonds.

There’s a solo canoeist going by right now - kudos to him. I’m not sure that I’d be able to do that. He has a Wenonah canoe and a curved paddle. Also has two packs. I hope he wasn’t hoping for this site - too bad. I’m really glad that we chose this spot. We may just stay here and go back through Pine instead of doing the loop. The portage from Caribou to West Pike is 200 Rod and the elevation on the map shows that it’s higher than this last portage.

Booger has tried to get in our food pack so Emily scared him away and moved the bag. He’s up in the tree scolding her right now. As soon as she sat back down he was back at it again. The little shit. She’s whipping rocks at him - he only runs away a few feet and then comes back. Persistent little bugger. Now he’s up in the tree again. And back down again. Funny!

I hear another canoe at the portage - this is the 4th group that’s gone by - much busier than I thought. That’s okay - we’re still going to enjoy it.

5:38 pm. After all the rain passed, it ended up being a spectacular afternoon and evening. The sun will set at the end of the lake behind the ridge. The resident loon finally made his presence known. The breeze is enough to help keep the bugs away and dry things out. The tent is already completely dry. I was finally able to get a fire going -sort of. The wood is so wet. I had kindling and big pieces but nothing in-between. I’m not strong enough to split those pieces either though I sure did try. Even so I got it going enough to heat up water and make Em her pancakes - they were kind of sad looking but she ate them just the same.

There’s another couple paddling by - I think that makes a total of seven. I’m really glad that we stopped when we did. Caribou Lake is going to be busy with those two groups of Boy Scouts. The couple going by now is going to have a hard time finding a site, I think. We’ve decided that we’re just going to stay put here until Friday and then we’ll head back on Pine Lake. We’re really enjoying this spot. Tomorrow we’ll paddle and hike to Johnson Falls - weather permitting of course. I’m looking forward to that. There’s another couple going by now - that makes eight. This is really a busy little highway lake - however the people are spaced such where we’ve had plenty of solitude and I expect it will stay like that.

Emily took her “bath’ in the lake this evening. Actually she just swam but still felt cleaner after toweling off. I’m afraid of getting those itchies that I get from algae so I did a sponge bath. It’s amazing how much better I felt after washing up that little bit.

I didn’t really cook supper tonight. I ate an individual container of peas, couple bites of meat and cheese, few banana chips and a bit of trail mix. I just haven’t been very hungry. I think we have way too much food with. After that I got the food pack re-organized and just cleaned up around camp.

Our site is riddled with enormous boulders and we have a cliff - that would be a nasty fall!

As the sun is setting the colors across the lake are such vibrant greens. Deep forest green, lighter green and a brilliant emerald green. The water reflects those colors and mixed with the slate gray it give an army green hue. Em took a photo yesterday hoping to paint the same scene that would be cool.

There’s a bird that I wish I knew what it was - the call is so unique, imho, that it stands out from the rest. Words can’t describe it - only hearing it will do.

The dragon flies and damsel flies are out feasting this evening. There are a few black flies that have been bugging me, but the breeze is helping to keep it tolerable. It’s too early to go in the tent yet. Tomorrow we’ll sleep in, though I’ve been awake by about 5am every day so we'll see how that goes.