And done. The long portage out of Zenith lake was a killer. Joe dropped his stuff with about a 1/4 mile to go, and just gave up. He had been carrying at least 100 pounds the entire trip and he finally broke. Yao and I help him with the stuff. The wind on Sawbill was absolutely brutal, but we paddled on with images of ice cream cookies and a steak dinner in our minds.

Leaving the canoes was bittersweet, as I'm sure it is for most everyone that leaves the back country. The stars are brighter, the water sweeter, the sweat purer, and the food tastier 'out there'. It was hard to go back to civilization, but how long can you stay in the wilderness? We clamber into the car, all hotels are packed between Tofte and Two Harbors, and we stay in the same place that we stayed in on the way up. A shower has never warmed me so well, a bed has never felt so soft.

Yao said BWCA is an awesome place; beautiful and peaceful the most serene place she's ever been, but it's tough too. She's amazed at how well it's protected and how every visitor seemed to be on board with its protection. We'll be back (Yao says in ten years) and we know it will be exactly the same. It's good to know that as I finish this report half way around the world in Shanghai that there is a peaceful campsite on a beautiful lake in the BWCA waiting for our return.