I slept in Saturday morning. It was a cool, clear day with blue skies. But the wind was up and there were some whitecaps on Clark Lake. We messed around camp a bit and I made blueberry bannock, bacon and eggs for the people. They weren't impressed with the bannock, but I think it's the best thing ever in the woods!

We decided to brave the wind and take a day trip down the lake. We didn't paddle up to the narrow part of Clark about mid-way down. I trolled a rattle- trap without luck. By buddies cousin and his girlfriend stopped at the point and played around on it. It was all-sand with steep drop-offs. My buddy and I continued down to the south end of Clark and I had what looked like a smallmouth on for a bit, but lost it. It got fairly hairy for a while with some good sized waves. Again, no paddling and I only had to steer.

John and I decided to portage over to Loon lake (another phenomenal lake) and found the wind to be perfect along the west shore for some slow-moving fishing. A few families were picnicing and swimming on the north beach. We caught quite a few smallmouths and had a good time. We decided to paddle for the south beach to check it out. En-route, another of my worst fears came into view. A full- size tree drifting just submerged in the middle of the lake. One of the reasons I don't swim alone in the back-country.

The south beach was nice and also deserted. I was still amazed by “beaches” in the U.P. The Loon campsite looked wonderful on a sandy peninsula. It was occupied (highly sought after) so we didn't venture close.

The trip back up Loon Lake to the north shore was interesting with good winds and gusts that stopped us in our tracks. We made it without too much difficulty, but it took some time.

Clark Lake was another matter. We considered waiting it out, but decided to skirt the east shoreline and give er'. It took about two hours to go 1.5 miles. We got back to camp, collected firewood, ate some dinner and enjoyed the campfire. Of course, the banter was typical for my group of friends and luckily no one took anything personal. It gets pretty rough sometimes. We've made those unaccustomed of our "trash-talk" cry in the past. Bed came at midnight or thereabout.