I woke to the sharp chirps of an eagle’s call. There were several eagles around our camp calling. I could hear the wind against their feathers when they flew overhead. It was cold and I was cozily buried in my sleeping bag but curiosity got the best of me. I had to see what was going on outside the tent. I tried to make as little noise as possible as I got dressed and slipped out. I must not have been stealthy enough because as soon as I stood up two eagles took off from the trees above me. I could see others soaring over the lake in front of our campsite. By the time I walked to the shore I counted five mature and immature eagles heading off in various directions and there we still others that I could not see, chirping from the trees behind camp.

It was a cold and cloudy morning. It looked like we were going to be in for a cold and wet day. The others were not so quick to crawl out of the comforts of their sleeping bags. I put on the hot water for coffee and oatmeal and tried to stay warm by pacing around camp and occasionally going down to the shore and try a little fishing. Once in a while eagle would fly by heading through the narrows to the north of our camp as I waited. 

The rest of the crew eventually got up when they heard the coffee was ready. We watched eagles and seagulls harass each other as we ate our breakfast and enjoyed the hot coffee.  After packing up camp ReelHappy and PennPaddler paddled north to see if they could go fish below the waterfall that we could hear but not see from the camp. pghportager and I made sure our raingear was handy as we packed up the canoe.

Once ReelHappy and PennPaddler returned we headed off toward another pictograph site north of Eden Island. The narrows to the north of the island were shallow and fishing without snagging was proving difficult. The wind was starting to pick up from the west and there was a little rain. The pictograph site is a composed of a circle and several hand prints. There may be some other figures but they are pretty faded and hard to decipher.

After visiting the pictograph site we headed south along the western shore of Eden Island. Just as we reached the southern tip of the island I hooked into and landed another lake trout.  Once we rounded the southern side of the island the wind picked up this time coming from the east down a long stretch of lake we intended to paddle.

The paddle down that stretch of lake was grueling. There was a cool wet mist in the wind. Some gusts were strong enough to stop our canoe completely but we continued to paddle on. My lower back was starting to give me shots of pain periodically when I would sit or twist the wrong way. At some point I ended up reeling in my line and quit fishing just so I had no distraction from paddling. The others continued to fish and every once in a while somebody would catch a lake trout. As I am writing this report and looking over the maps I am surprised, sort of, to find that we had paddled into that wind for a little over 18 miles.

When pghportager and I stopped for a snack and a break from the wind we decided to head for the next campsite we could see and make lunch. By the time we arrived at that campsite everyone was exhausted. It was debated as to how much farther we wanted to travel for the day since it was still early. In the end I opted to make this site our home for the night due to concerns with my back. I think everyone was relieved. After our camp was set up and a tarp was put up we did a little fishing from camp with no luck. At times it seemed like it was going to get nice out and made us second guess stopping, but then the rain really came. It rained all night.