I get up at around 5:20 and start packing up my camp. The hammock and its trappings are new to me and it winds up taking a lot longer to get everything packed up than I expected. This would improve each day on this trip. I'm not convinced the hammock is faster to deal with than a tent.

I finally shove of at 7:01. Destination for today, Gun Lake. At this point I am pretty glad I made it all the way to Fourtown Tuesday. The trip from Tin Can Mike to Gun would have been 10 miles, this will be much more manageable. I weave my way across Fourtown sticking relatively close to shorelines or islands. It takes me about a half hour to cross.

The landing at the portage to Boot is another one of those big rock landings. With a careful location choice and footing I manage to unload with out having to step in over my Gator Socks.

The portage to Boot is easy, but narrower than most of the earlier portages. There are also more deciduous shrubs along the trail. It has a fairly remote feeling. The Boot landing is pretty easy.

I cut across open water crossing the south end of boot then turn north and follow the east shoreline much of the way up the lake. Its getting breezy and while I don't hug the shore I don't get to far from it.

The landings on the portage to Fairy are both rock but nice and the portage is a snap. I quickly cross Fairy for an another easy carry to Gun.

On Gun I head up the west shoreline to the northern part of the lake. There is a campsite on the north shore of the southern bay of Gun. As I am paddling up Gun I see a dark canine form cross the camsite right behind the fire area. Might have been a wolf but I'm not sure. It looked a little big for a coyote to me but it was a long way off.

I paddle around the point and headed east. My intention is to check out the "trigger" site since I'd heard it was good. I paddle right past the site on the north side of that point. As I approach the trigger site I see a tandem just pulling away from it. They had been there the night before and said they thought it was a great site. I swoop right in and secured my camp for the day, it is only 9:45AM.

This is a nice campsite. There are two large primo tent pads on either side of the camp area. Suitable trees for hammock hanging are space a little wide but I can make it work. The fire area has a really slick log arrangment and there is a line of trees separating the camp from shore and providing some shade. Some one also constructed a livewell in the one spot where the water comes right up to camp.

I start setting up then take a lunch break before finishing. The I basically putz around camp all afternoon. Again, trying to stay cool.

The wind really picked up in the afternoon and that got me a little concerned. What if I got wind bound? I had plenty of food but if I couldn't make it out on time my wife would freak out. This being my first solo, I'm not sure just what my little canoe and I can handle safely in terms of waves.

I go out in the wind to pump water. Getting turned sideways in the waves while doing this was pretty uncomfortable but stable enough. Cutting into the waves was just fine. The canoe itself didn't really seem to be affected by the wind at all. I had no problem turning it any which way or keeping it on a heading. Still, the waves were a bit much for comfort.

I have supper and finish my day off with a campfire, bourbon, cigar and writing in my journal. While I am relaxing a beaver comes up on shore in front of camp and snags some branches from a shrub. He proceeds to swim around the side of the campsite and sits in a little bay munching on them. I follow him around and watched him eat from less than 20ft away. I don't think he knew I was there. I quietly head back to camp after watching a while and he just keeps on munching.

I turn in around 9:00 again. It is hot so I have trouble getting to sleep. Also the mosquitoes are out in swarms and they don't let up around 11:00 like they did back on Fourtown.