8-26-09 We were up at 6 AM to admire the drifting fog on Iron Lake. Andy fortified us for the day with French toast, maple syrup, and sausages. By 9 the fog had cleared and we were on the water paddling over to Rebecca Falls. The falls, even this late in the year, were impressive. We walked along a narrow trail that hugged the edge of the falls and admired the mosses and ferns that grew in the area, and feasted on more wild blueberries. Today Andy has promised that we will have only one portage at Curtain Falls. This is only a short paddle from Rebecca Falls and we made short work of it. The 120 rod portage was our longest so far, and also the hardest as it was uphill. Judy and Diana took a wrong trail and got to do the portage twice! Once at the Crooked Lake end of the portage, we took time to enjoy Curtain Falls. If you ever want to feel like you are standing on the edge of the world and watching the waters pour over the world's lip, this is your place. It is not that the falls are so high, it is the angle you can find walking just below the upper lip of the falls and looking up at the water swirling down.

Andy said we now had a 2-hour paddle up Crooked Lake to our campsite. We planned to stay here two nights, so we wanted a really decent campsite. It was a lovely day to paddle and we enjoyed watching the otters, eagles, and loons. I am again steering the triple canoe and getting a bit better at steering but still not liking it. Our 2-hour paddle became a 3-hour paddle. We took a wrong turn into Saturday Bay and had to backtrack. Andy had hoped to camp in Friday Bay, but the sites were all full. We finally found a very nice campsite on Crooked Lake. Andy and Debra paddled a little further along the shore to see if any better campsites were available, but returned about a half hour later to say we'd stay here. Andy fixed us a late lunch of toasted cheese sandwiches (why do they never taste this good when I fix them at home?) and then he got our tarp up and camp magically appeared. Judy and I had bought fishing licenses and bait, so we broke out the poles and fished from the shore. We didn't catch anything, but sometimes fishing is just a good excuse to sit and enjoy the scenery. We watched several eagles, loons and otters swim by, and even 2 beavers. Dinner was "spaghetti" (actually noodles in a tomato sauce) on tortias and Tripleberry Cobbler for desert. This was our least favorite meal of the trip--if you mark it "spaghetti", I expect real spaghetti. Near dusk, Judy and I took the double canoe and explored around a little inlet near our camp. The beaver house in it looked like it was occupied and we got some nice photos of it silhouetted against the sunset. Needless to say, sleep was not a problem tonight (either).