Monday, May 31, 2010 We area awake and out of the tent by 6:30 am. I slept comfortably but Stephen a bit chilly. Everything is wet from rain and dew. We try for a while to dry out the tent's rainfly and tarp. We pack up the remaining gear and shove a Cliff Bar in our PDF pocket for breakfast on the water. Canoe is loaded and we are on the water by 8:30 am. We stop to fill our water bottles then treat the water then paddle on to the portage to Vera. Nice landing. The portage is 180 rods of HELL. Straight up hill, rocky, very steep did I mention that? We stop to rest 3 times. The view from the top is amazing. I quickly learn that I cannot stoop over with a pack on my back. Just as I try to return to standing, down I go right on my @$$. Stephen puts the canoe down and comes to my rescue. We both laugh and head on down the portage. Yes Down thank goodness. I could not take another step going up hill. We make it to Vera in just about an hour. Vera is beautiful. We enjoy some jerky at the end of the portage trail. We are the only ones on the lake for what I can tell. We check out 3 campsites before deciding on the southern most one on the center of the lake #1236. Its prob a 3 1/2 star. Not a good place for the bear rope. We select the tent pad next to the waters edge. Okay its about 15 feet from the water on a rock ledge. Previous campers had left bits of trash, fish bones, batteries, had dumped noodles into the water and carved their names into the logs. We decide to stay anyway. We set up camp and then eat lunch of foil packet tuna salad on bagel thins with string cheese. It was very good. I was pleasantly surprised. GORP for dessert. I picked out the M & M's. We head out to the lake for water and to try out some fishing. No luck with the fishing. Back to camp. Stephen heated some water and was my "shower". Ahh clean hair and body. Put on clean clothes. Amazing! Dinner of stove top stuffing with foil packet chicken and gravy. Split recipe in half. Just right. It was pretty tasty. Rain starts to move in before we finish eating. We hurry up and get under the tarp. Light rain for about 25 minutes, ending with a beautiful vibrant rainbow. After the rain we tried a bit more fishing from shore. No luck. We are very tired so we hit the tent early about 8:30 pm. Reviewed todays travels, set plans for tomorrow. I journal. Ensign Lake, Vera Lake