Today was to be an epic paddling day of almost 10 miles. We packed up and left our Vera site at about 9:15, anticipating a 5 hour travel day. The west wind had other ideas. Our first portage - 180 rods as listed in the books - went smoothly and afforded us a great view to the southeast at the top of the first hill. The second hill allowed us to take in Ensign Lake views. Well worth the climb! We dropped some gear half way and continued to the end of the portage, dropping gear and going back for the rest.

Ensign was an incredibly busy lake, thick with canoe traffic. We saw at least 30 canoes on the water with many open camp sites as people seemed to be en route to the next spot. We really had to dig in and paddle against the wind. On the positive side, the wind provided some cooling from the sun beating down on us. A riffle of steadily flowing water allowed us to skip the portage into Splash Lake. This lake is mix of swamp on one end and high cliffs on the other, with one camp site. We thought this would be a nice spot to return to someday.

The final portage of the day into Newfound Lake was an easy path. On the other side, we faced 5 more miles of paddling into the wind. My shoulders and arms were already fatigued, but what choice was there? Must. Keep. Going. We set our sights on Horseshoe Island for lunch, which gave us the push we needed to fight the wind. We sat on the southwest shore to eat and watched the canoes paddling by in both directions. A few towboats zipped by as well.

Back on the water, we continued to fight the wind. The Boy Scout canoe base was a welcome site! We arrived at the landing at 3:15 - a six hour paddle including our lunch stop. Homemade oatmeal cookies called our names. Note to self: always have some kind of treat waiting in the car! After gorging ourselves on cookies, we loaded up the car and headed to Fall Lake campground for our final night before heading back home. Another excellent trip!