Sunrise 5:10, Sunset 9:01

Low 70’s and Sunny

Total Miles Traveled 7.68

Lakes Traveled: Cherokee, Sitka, North and South Temperance, and Brule

I wake up at 6am and move about while the others are still sleeping. It’s really chilly and I search Brian’s bag but can’t find the stove so I start a fire cook my fresh eggs and hash browns. I season with a little too much tobacco, but oh well beats freeze dried eggs any day!

Brian gets up and we dry our tents on the rocks as the sun is beginning to warm things up. Bill finally drags out of his tent at 8am and we finish breaking camp.

We hit the 140 from Cherokee lake to Sitka as we approach the portage we know this one will be more of a challenge. Brian takes the canoe and we double portage. The landing is tight with a steep incline also we encounter 2 men in a Mad River are coming down the trail. It’s tight but no issues. The portage has strong elevation changes up and down the whole way. It’s a challenge, but no big deal, I have seen far worse. As we load up on Sitka we run into a group of 6 from Rochester MN.

We head to our next portages a 105r from Sitka to N. Temperance and the 55r from N. to S. Temperance. I single portage these both along with the 105 into Brule with no problems.

We have the winds at our back on Brule and make about 4mph avg. with no effort. We come close to a USFS canoe with two large boxes in the middle. We call to them and ask what they are and they reply “latrines” I then remember about a post with people describing new square latrines. I hadn’t seen them yet. But they looked big to me, thankfully I didn’t have to portage them and dig the holes!

We pull into the island site just east of Fish Box Island (I would love to know how this got its name) on campsite #954 fairly early. The campsite is nice, lots of options for tent pads. I found a small concrete footer with a bolt in it that was bent over. There used to be a lot of logging camps up here before the BWCA. We hang out and I grab a nap for about an hour and do some more reading.

It’s Brian’s turn for dinner tonight and he begins to gather up fire wood and needs to cut some logs up so he pulls out this really cool saw that his wife had gotten him for his birthday. I have to tell you I was impressed, basically it’s a chainsaw chain with two nylon loop handles at each end. You put it under the log you are cutting and pull it back and forth. Very smooth, beats my hatchet any day. I pulled out my 35mm camera and discover for some reason the pictures won’t focus, everything is fuzzy. I try cleaning the lens and no luck. I was a bit disappointed in this but oh well. Brian makes pasta with tomato sauce and homemade Italian sausage. This is the first time I have had anything but the store bought variety, the casing on the sausage is a little tough, the spices got stuck in my teeth, but I have to say, I really enjoyed it.

After dinner I do some casting from shore, but no bites at all. I saw a couple of jumps from the fish, but not much. We watch the moon rise and it becomes a beautiful orange moon. Sure wished my camera was working. Oh well. We all turn in around 10pm. I read another chapter in my book and fall asleep.