15.5 miles 1 portage (140 rods)

We were up early and on the water by 7:00. It is raining and cold and windy, we are wet, and we have had a cold breakfast. This isn’t much fun right now! We paddle to the portage at Curtain Falls. The falls are large and powerful and sound like a railroad train. I hadn’t remembered them as impressive as they are. [We had been here in 1980 on another trip] It is a gorgeous spot, but I would like to see it on a nice day; both times I have been here it has been drizzly and with a gray sky. It’s a good portage, too, 140 rods, no mud even in bad weather.

It is really raining now, and I am cold and wet and depressed. We paddle the length of Crooked Lake: Sunday Bay, Saturday Bay, Friday Bay, Thursday Bay—windy, choppy, sometimes heavy waves and whitecaps. At the narrows out of Thursday Bay my teeth are chattering and I am chilled to the bone. When we round the point and see a nice campsite we decide to stop and warm up. It is lovely here, sheltered and pretty, and someone has left dry driftwood for the fire—bless them! Neil makes a great fire and we cook pancakes, Mountain House sausage patties [2011 note: I really wish they still made these, as they were very good], and have lots of coffee and hot chocolate. I take off my slacks and dry them over the fire and that helps me warm up considerably. This may end up being the greatest feeling of the trip—getting warm again! [2011 note: I believe to this day that this is the closest to true hypothermia I have ever experienced, and it was a very good move that we stopped to build that fire when we did. I had a raincoat-style of rain gear that didn’t come down far enough to protect all of my pants, and they had wicked up to make my entire bottom wet and cold. Soon after this trip I bought my first real rain suit with pants.]

On Crooked Lake we saw 2 eagles soaring overhead (or one eagle twice.) There were about four other canoes out today, one had pair of older men whom we saw several times. It wasn’t too bad going, as we rode with the wind and waves. Just the rain and cold made it uncomfortable. It appears to be fall here, the maples are turning red and some of the birches are lightening up towards their fall gold color.

We camped at Table Rock, which is a very old campsite dating back to the Indians and the Voyageurs. It is large, open, and is a nice place. Table Rock is just as its name implies, an enormous table right on the flat rock at the shore. I can just picture the Voyageurs sitting on the warm rock in the evening after a hard day of paddling. Tonight the rock isn’t warm; in fact, there haven’t been any warm rocks for quite awhile!

There is a nice family of ducks who paddle by, also several parties of canoeists wanting to see the rock. I discover that the stupid, bold chipmunk (well. . .maybe it isn’t really so stupid) has eaten into our German’s Sweet Chocolate. This may be war!!

Someone has painted the old birch trees with white paint. Would the Forest Service do that?

The Salisbury steak in the “soft can” is good. We have it with Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. We warmed by the fire for a while after supper, then Neil hung the packs in the rain. It just keeps coming! I am feeling the need of a bath and a shampoo desperately and the zipper in the tent isn’t working at all well in the moisture. We are DAMP, DAMP, DAMP!