I woke up at 5:00 am, packed up and went to Briton’s for a big breakfast. After leaving Briton’s I went to fill my truck with gas and picked up a large coffee for the road and headed out of town toward entry point 25 on Moose Lake. The weather was nice with a slight breeze from the north east. (In fact, I had headwinds for almost the entire trip except for the last day where I had a tailwind.) I unloaded my gear at the entry point and parked my truck and was on my way up the chain of lakes by 9:00 am. After paddling for about 2-1/2 hours I arrived at the short 5 rod lift over portage between Sucker Lake and Birch Lake. (I could have avoided the portage and paddled another mile or so up to the border but decided to do the portage instead and eliminate some paddling.) I unloaded my gear off to the side and took a short rest and had a snack before carrying to the other side and shoving off again. My goal this day was to go as far as the east end of Birch and find a campsite early per the recommendations in Robert Beymer’s book. Beymer says to resist the temptation to go further than Birch Lake on day one as there is only one campsite between Birch and Knife on the US side. I am glad I did as suggested because I was already tired and I found the last available site about a quarter of a mile west of the 48 rod portage into Carp Lake and settled in there for the night. I was in the hammock by 9:00 PM.