A long, hard day, seven portages and several lift-overs, under beautiful blue skies.

We were away by 7:30, stopping on the way to see the Kashahpiwi pictographs, before undertaking the long bog portage out of the SW bay toward Side Lake.

The 182 rod Kashahpiwi to Side Lake portage was beautiful--the first half a smooth, level walk through majestic pines. There is a new trail cutting off to the left about 50 yards before coming to the bog on the old trail. It is a little hard to see. It follows the east side of the bog but you will get your feet wet. The new trail hits dry ground about halfway across the bog and there is a rocky outcrop and a path goes up into the woods--don't take it! It peters out. Keep skirting the east side of the bog and you will eventually hit dry ground/bedrock. It was my first time on the portage and the cliffs and rock slide on the west side of the bog/former beaver pond are as spectacular as anything I've seen in Quetico.

Double-portaging, including several scouting forays and one dead-end turn took two hours.

The portage heading SE from Side Lake to Isabella via un-named lake is an incredibly steep and long climb, a really heart-attack hill, although I was more worried about my knees. The un-named lakes between Side and Isabella looked inviting but we were hungry and looking forward to lunch. We stopped at the hilltop campsite in the narrows of Isabella for lunch, a pretty spot with great views and good tent sites that we had considered as an overnight spot, but it was still early and the bluebird weather was better for traveling and sightseeing than fishing so we pressed onward.

The pretty little stream connecting Isabella and North Bay starts with a ~25 rod portage around the rapids flowing out of Isabella. Two or three beaver dams and a couple short stretches too shallow to paddle and we are on the small un-named lake just above North Bay.

We stopped for the day on a luxurious campsite just across the channel from the entrance to Lost Bay. A quick swim/bath and dinner under threatening clouds, then to bed by 8:30 with rain most of the night.