The lake that had been rough as all get out the two previous days was like glass when we put in early. It took us only fifteen minutes to paddle all the way to the Annie portage. A short and extremely flat portage to a tiny muddy lake. Up to Jenny Lake after another flat easy portage. Across Jenny, where our one friend who had never stern paddled before gave it a shot. She was not so good, but it was a small lake and we had a good time helping her learn to J-stroke and so forth. The portage from Jenny to Eddy was unusually dark, I couldn't tell whether it was the clouds or the tree cover or both. It followed a scenic little creek down to the next lake. There was one point almost at the muddy Eddy landing that was hairy: steep, rocky, and wet. (On the return trip, we helped each other hand up the canoe over that stretch rather than risk falling trying to have one of us carry it.) The Eddy portage to Knife was also no trouble. For a second, I though the current down into the falls was going to be a problem. At Knife we met a group trying to dry foot with kevlar canoes. I though a couple of times there were going to go into the drink, but somehow they made it out with all of their stuff, which was in random dry bags and scattered totally yard sale across the end of the relatively wide portage. They must have quadruple portaged, with one young lad coming back to pick up the forgotten toilet paper that we had rescued from floating away when they left it in the water. I laughed myself silly once they were gone. By this time it had started to rain, and the wind had picked up. We chose to paddle toward a portage that would cut off the west end of the South Arm, to make up some time for our unexpected layover day. Knife was a beautiful lake, with such clear water. We made camp on a point just before Ottertrack. The wind blew and it poured rain all night, skunking my attempt to fish, again. Tempers ran a little high that night, and we ultimately decided not to try to risk paddling up Ottertrack and across Saganaga with the weather as it was, too few campsites along the way and steep shorelines.