Dave brought us a basket of breakfast items at 7 a.m., complete with coffee for me and tea for Teresa. We ate all that was provided and then headed up to the HJO office for the PFDs, paddles, and permit.

Once we had the necessary items from Dave and Nancy, we followed one of the HJO staff over to East Bearskin. The staff member unloaded our canoe (Souris 16) from his van and showed us how to portage it. After unloading our gear and parking the car, we were paddling east towards the southeastern end of East Bearskin for the portage to Alder. 8:52 a.m.

With the CCS Pioneer pack carrying all of our gear (minus food) on my back, I carried the canoe over the portage to Alder. It was not fun for me. The portage itself is quite easy, but this was my first time portaging and the darn pack was too heavy. I let Teresa handle the next two portages.

We saw a solo canoeist as we reloaded the canoe in Alder. He said that the two Crystal sites had been empty the night before and that he hadn't seen many people heading that way. So it sounded like we were in luck.

We paddled across Alder to the portage to Canoe. This short portage was easy for Teresa to handle with the food pack and canoe.

Across Canoe to Crystal. Short paddle followed by 45 rod portage. This carry has a gentle rise, but it still tired Teresa by the end of it. We were both happy to see Crystal Lake.

When we arrived at the eastern campsite on Crystal, we found it unoccupied! The landing is nice and a tree stump helps marks the site. 12:52 p.m. We quickly set up the tent on one of the two pads and hung the CCS 10x10 tarp nearby. Snacks and naps followed.

Nearby noises awoke us at about 2:30. There was a group of two canoes making the portage back from Spaulding to Crystal. Because the portage was not far from our site, we could hear them as they portaged.

An early dinner of burritos followed by s'mores made with vegan marshmallows ended our first day.