I got up about 6:30 again today. It was warm for a September dawn, and strangely hazy -

We had been told a prescribed burn was planned on the U.S. side north of Wood Lake. That was upwind from us, so we thought maybe the haze was coming from a burn, but there wasn't any smoky smell.

Time to fix another cup of coffee -

We skipped a swim this morning and got on the water about 10:00. Before leaving the campsite, we looked back west from the gap in the cedars that had looked like a door when we were paddling toward this island yesterday afternoon -

Once on the water we headed in the other direction, eastbound. After only five or ten minutes we passed an occupied campsite on the north side of the lake. These guys must have been pretty quiet, because we had no idea anyone else was nearby last night.

Now we aimed our canoe for an exploration of Cheatan Bay (I misspelled it on the map above). Cool air wafted down from the shadowy cedars on the steep south shore of the narrow channel leading into the bay -

Once you get through the narrows, the bay is like a separate lake -

We paddled down the bay and stopped on the shore to explore. I saw a big raptor perched in a tall snag across the bay but couldn't quite figure out what it was. We hiked up to a ridge and enjoyed the view -

Late-summer asters were in bloom everywhere during this trip, though blue ones were more common than white -

Moving along, we explored the long southern finger that juts east of the main part of Cheatan Bay. The finger got very shallow toward the end. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the bottom a few inches below the surface of the clear water. We flushed some goldeneyes around here -

Turning around, we stalked a Grackle for a while at the mouth of the narrow finger, hoping to get a good picture. But it kept ducking behind roots and rocks before we could photograph it. Then we went over to the north side of the bay. We stopped again on shore to snack on some bars while we looked around. The view from our snack point -

While we there, the local loons started yodeling like crazy. We looked to see what was up, and found a big raptor circling above the loon family. This must have been the same bird I had seen earlier from across the bay, and now that I got a closer look, I could see it was a juvenile eagle. I don't think it was planning on taking out one of the loons (the loons might win that fight), but it might have been planning on stealing some of their fish (eagles being notorious thieves). The drama soon subsided, and we continued our exploration, circling around a couple islands in the north part of the bay before paddling back out the narrow channel connecting Cheatan Bay to the main part of This Man. By now it had become very calm, and relentlessly sunny -

A strange-shaped Jack Pine caught our eyes as we went past -

Close up -

Once we got back into the main part of This Man, we aimed up the long straight stretch toward the portage to Other Man. We could see paddles flashing in the distance, going the same way we were, but we never caught up to whoever it was. The east part of This Man has rocky shores without many campsites or stopping places -

By now the sun was starting to get to me, and we looked for a shady place to stop for lunch. But the few potential stopping spots were all very sunny. A kingfisher was flying down the lake in front of us, and each time we approached it flew further, then perched until we got close again, causing it to fly further down anew. We followed it all the way to the portage at the end of the lake. When we got there I was very happy to find another shady cedar glen, cooled by the light breeze coming down This Man. Looking back from the portage landing -

There was a good spot to have lunch right by the portage takeout. We moved our stuff aside in case someone else came along and settled in to eat. I took a picture of David that didn't quite get in focus, but I like it anyway -

After lunch we carried our gear to Other Man. A beaver had done some serious work on this tree by the creek connecting the two lakes -

There were a lot of cool fungi along this portage. This one obviously was visiting from outer space -

These were from The Shire -

Maybe from Whoville? -

After lunch and portaging in the shade, I had mostly recovered from my overexposure to the sun (but no more shirtless paddling for me on sunny days this trip). Still it seemed like a good day to find a shady campsite early in the afternoon. Besides, in 2003 we rushed through Other Man Lake, so this was a chance to spend some quality time on it. We loaded up the canoe at the tricky landing. A giant uprooted tree had been blocking this landing in 2003, and though the tree itself had been cut since then, the root clump was still obstructing the put-in six years later.

Out on Other Man, we eyeballed the campsites on a couple of small islands as we paddled by, while we aimed for the big island where we expected to find the main campsite on the lake. We found that site up high overlooking the water, with plenty of much-needed shade under the breezy open pines. We set up camp -

We saw no one else on Other Man Lake, we had it all to ourselves. We whiled away the afternoon with a swim, lying around, trying to identify the tricky little birds up in the trees (was that a pine warbler?), exploring the big island, and just doing nothing. The site has a seating area with a greenstone "table," which came in handy when I made pancakes the next morning -

The trees down by the water lit up as the sun got low -

After dinner we paddled around the big island on which our campsite lay. During the paddle a kingfisher darted in front of us with its characteristic rattling call, the loons were yodeling from different parts of the lake, and an adult bald eagle soared majestically overhead. The scenery was good too -

After the paddle we went for another quick dip, since the day had stayed warm, and then settled in for Maker's Mark, straight up. The best seating overlooking the water was right under where we had hung the foodpack, which dangled over David's head looking like a booby trap set for Road Runner by Wile E. Coyote. A juvenile eagle flew straight at us and just a few feet overhead as we enjoyed our drinks over the darkening water -

The moonrise was getting later, so we got to see a lot more stars tonight between sun down and moon up. The mosquitoes came out about the same time as the stars, but the temperature dropped under the clear still skies, so the bugs were pretty much gone again by the time we headed for the tent about 9:00. After a little reading, it was time for lights out and a sound night's sleep.