Thursday, August 20, 2009
When I woke in the morning, John had already gotten up and I could hear him messing around with our tarp. I stayed in bed while it was still drizzling out, and let him put the tarp up in a better location. My rain gear was still soaked; he hung a line under some dense pines and we hung some things up. I stayed under the tarp so I wouldn’t get wet. I was not in a happy mood; I still felt very vulnerable. I felt a little better after breakfast (tea and “Breakfast Ramen” … ramen noodles, dried fruit, toasted walnuts, and seasonings… very good). John managed to get a fire going, though it was really pretty lame. It would rain off and on, though mostly a light rain.

Later in the afternoon, quite a while after lunch, my rain gear was just damp, not wet. So we went out in the canoe to try our luck fishing (fishing from shore was futile) and we wanted to check out the campsite next to us. This would be the third campsite in from the portage to Turtle. It had one so-so tent pad (kind of rocky) and a decent fire area, nice view of the lake, but more exposed than our site. We were glad to be camped where we were. It started raining in earnest and we went back to our campsite, with my rain gear once again soaked through and useless. We made supper and went to bed by 8pm. A rather depressing day, all around. The only bright spots were when we watched a merganser family paddling around, listened to the call of the loons, and saw the loon family: mama, papa, and two mid-sized babies.

Pictures: our tarp area, fire grate area, tent pad, island view, grass growing in crack on rock in lake, the clear water of Clearwater, the loon family