Friday, May 22, 2009 Woke up this morning to an eerie silence. No wind for the first time in 3 days! I contemplated staying put on Tuscarora, since I really didn't get to fish or explore it at all. But I figured if I could make it to Lil' Sag the many islands and points would do a much better job of shielding me from the wind. Andy gave me a few spots to try there as well.

Had a quick breakfast of oatmeal and was cutting glass across Tuscarora as I headed to the south end. I thought about trying to fish, but a gentle breeze had come up and I decided to get across before things got worse. No doubt the gales of the past few days greatly influenced me.

As I reached the south end I noticed a group in fully loaded aluminum canoes coming in my general direction. I could see that the site on the peninsula just to the west of the portage still had a tent up. So I guessed these were the folks I had heard last night? Or they had gotten an excruciating early start from Missing Link as it was barely 7:00?

They were paddling hard towards the Owl lake portage, which was where I was headed. Not that I could've kept up with them anyways? But,I was in no hurry and they paddled by, thus saving me from having to locate exactly where the portage was.

They lost me on the Owl to Crooked portage. Not that I figured to have any major problems locating portages on this leg? But the last one I figured would give me any trouble, gave me a bit. Tarry was the smallest lake I would be on today and the short portage to Mora got me a bit confused. It's wasn't difficult, I just had my map sideways.....boneheaded mistake. Ten minutes I'll never get back!! lol Ran across a couple guys here who were just coming from the Frost River. Said they had a blast and were now heading for Tuscarora. I told them about the camp I had recently vacated there near the portage. They were happy as that was their favorite site on that lake. We wished each other good luck and were on our way.

The portage into Lil' Sag from Mora is very scenic. It has steep climbs on bothe ends but is mostly flat and well worn. The amount of traffic here shocked me. No less than 4 other groups were coming out as I was going in and another group was just getting to the Lil' Sag end as I pushed off. I was hoping to linger here a bit and enjoy the scenery, but figured I'd better clear out to avoid the inevitable congestion.

Andy had recommended northerly sites on Lil' Sag. With my recent experience with the wind, for protection,I decided to try for a site on or near the western shoreline. I found the most southerly site on the western shoreline open, so I grabbed it. It wasn't the greatest & it was obvious I was the first to use it this year, but it would be home for the next few days.

Owl Lake, Crooked Lake, Tarry Lake, Mora Lake, Little Saganaga Lake