I always have trouble sleeping the night before I head in, and today was the same case. Since my wife likes to sleep in a little later then I do and we were set to eat breakfast at 6 a.m., I got up around 4:30, went to the shower house and worked out for about an hour to pass the time. After a quick breakfast and last we headed off towards Snowbank and reached the launching point around 7. Before entering the canoe, we realized that we left our first nights dinner in the freezer at the bunkhouse. We had two options, head back to get our dinner and lose at least an hour, or catch dinner the first night. We opted for the 2nd choice. Snowbank was very calm and beautiful and we made our way across the the portage to Disappointment with no problems. Besides the thousands of mosquitoes that attacked us, the portage was quick and painless, especially since my wife decided to carry the food pack. Man, she was really surprising me!!! Our target campsite was the island site just as you enter Disappointment, but it was taken. We ended up taken the site just to the west of it, and man was it a great site. Nice open fire area, flat and breezy tent pad, and plenty of room to explore. Even the latrine was a thing of beauty, though a hike from camp. We set up camp in no time, had lunch, and I threw out my line to catch dinner from shore. Within 1 hour I caught 3 20 inch Walleye, dinner was served! They were probably in about 8 feet of water mid-day, so I knew luck was on my side.

After a while, I saw 2 canoes approaching our campsite and heading straight for my fishing line. I made a comment to my wife how out of this whole lake, why and the H E double hockey sticks are these guys choosing to pass right by my campsite? I was really ticked off, but as they got closer I realized it was a friend of mine from back home who was exiting on that day from the lake. He knew I was camping on Disappointment and we had planned to meet up, but not until the next day. It was nice to chat with him for a while. After they left, my wife continued to read I fished and gathered wood for the night. Then it was time for dinner so we headed across to an island to filet the fish. After we were done, I left a peace offering for the eagles and within no time they were there having there dinner as well. My wife sat in amazement seeing these beautiful birds feast. She often sat in awe just watching them fly, as she had only seen them in the zoo before. One time, as she was reading in the hammock they flew right over her and the sound that they made left her speechless. I think she gained a new appreciation of them.

For dinner we had Walleye and cornbread made in my new reflector oven. I have to say, the reflector oven was amazing. We had great side dishes in it every night. After dinner we made a fire and had our night cap for the night. There were literally no mosquitoes at all, so we stayed up till late in the night chatting and looking forward to the days ahead. It was nice to not have to worry about bed time routines, phone calls, and making lunches.