We wake up to a still lake but a light rainfall. The night before we talked that we had seen enough of Cross Bay and wanted to move camp. All of our gear is wet and Tues and Wed are projected to be gully washers so we decide to pull out early, get a shower, dry out and maybe re-enter from a different EP along the trail if the weather doesn't look as bad as suggested. We decide to exit through Ham lake instead of re-tracing our steps through Snipe and Missing Link. Ham is a gorgeous lake. I'll say it again absolutely gorgeous. The falls into Ham lake are some of the prettiest that I have seen and the walleye and smallie fishing in Ham isn't too bad either. I will be back on Ham again someday for sure.

We inspect the campsite where the Ham lake fire began. I am surprised that only a thin strip of land Ham is burned at all. The lake is basically unaffected. The river coming out of Ham is a series of small rapids and some really cool scenery. After a few hundred more mosquitoes bites we are out of the woods and get cleaned up only to find that the rains predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday are reported acurately. Today will be our last day up the trail.

The trip was two days shorter than plan, the walleye fishing was much better than I planned, the scenery was as always better than plan. The wildlife was plentiful and I am glad that we left a little something on the table for another trip. The biggest surprise was Ham lake itself.