Monday, May 30, 2011 The fair weather was nice while it lasted, but for the rest of the trip I had some rough weather, primarily strong winds. A storm system moved in and brought cold air and WIND. I got an early start, but before I knew it I was paddling in some very rough water. White caps everywhere, big swells, and strong winds, but my canoe performed nicely. I did struggle to keep the canoe on track, but the Q16 was as stable as a tandem (which it is, minus one seat). Even with the strong winds, I still managed to get to Iron Lake, portaging around Curtain Falls. I hoped to camp on Iron, but I was unable to find a campsite. No one was breaking camp because the weather was so terrible. Here I was wet, cold, and ready to get off of the water, but I had to continue on.

Mark told me to avoid the 320 rod portage from Iron to Boulder Bay. He advised me to take to Bottle Portage instead. However, because the weather was so terrible, I had no choice but to take the longer portage. This trail was lightly traveled, by humans at least. I saw fresh wolf, moose, and bear tracks on this trail. The trail was a little sloppy, but relatively flat. I found the first open campsite in Boulder Bay, which was a five-star site. I set-up camp, ate, and caught some smallies and walleye from the bank. My only complaint so far was how dirty the campsite was. There were orange peels, sunflower seed shells, and other trash everywhere. After cleaning up camp, I explored around the area for a bit, and hit the hay.

Day 3 Summary: Crooked-Iron-LLC

Regardless of the wind, I was able to cover a lot of water. One disadvantage to getting an early start is that you can leave a nice campsite and then get stuck in some nasty weather with no where to go. I realize that I could have just setup camp in an undesignated area, but there were enough islands on Iron that provided protection, thus allowing me to avoid the open water on my way to Boulder Bay.