I arose at 5:30 by myself (quietly) to watch the morning come. The small crescent moon was overhead and the sky was still quite dark, so I needed my headlamp to get around at first.

There was hardly any mist on the lake and the sunrise didn't keep its pink glow for more than a few minutes.

Still, it was a pleasant morning. Some white puffy clouds drifted by in the blue sky and we had hope that the rain had finally passed us by. It was breezy and cool, but not as cold as other mornings had been.

I scrambled up the seven remaining fresh eggs with a big helping of chopped (pre-cooked) bacon for us to share along with whatever other breakfast we had planned. Throughout this trip, partly because of our different styles of eating, partly because of dietary needs, and mainly because we didn’t know if we would stay together for the entire time, we kept our food separate. Still, it was fun to share some things. By now Bill was sharing his “ration” of Werthers candies each morning, and we each left camp every day with a little stash in our pocket to brighten up the mood whenever a sweet treat would do so.

As always I was still taking photos, photos of the campsite, the lake, and even our activities. For some reason the tarp was exceptionally wet on this morning, and by exceptionally, I mean not only on the top, but also on the bottom side! To sit underneath the “rain tarp” was to sit “in the rain”—is that taking “rain tarp” a bit too literally? Bill and David had a wet job packing it up.

Neil had finally given up on our water filter (we should have bought a new insert this year—note to self, just do it every year!) and he had struggled with it for five days, but on this morning he gave in and switched to the Steri-Pen. Bill and David use theirs exclusively and they seem to be healthy, so we will hope it will work for us, too. Clean water is a necessity for us, probably more than for most people, due to the anti-rejection drugs Neil must take after his kidney transplant, and his resulting compromised immune system. This was our first experience with the Steri-Pen.

Because we had explored Frost before, and because we were hopelessly behind in the packing up department (as usual), Bill and David decided to paddle over to the big rock and check it out while we were getting our gear organized.

We were leaving Frost Lake on a beautiful morning. I took one last shot of the beach in the sunshine and then we were off to Unload once again. What a difference a day makes!

A beautiful day for our return paddle to Cherokee! The sun was shining and the cool breeze made it pleasant. I stopped on the portage to Gordon to photograph this nice big mushroom, which was nestled up against a log right in the middle of the portage trail. When I had come through yesterday I had thought to myself, "Well, one of the guys will certainly knock that one over", and when I saw that it was still there after our portage trips (and perhaps even more), and the return trips of Bill and David ahead of us, I thought it deserved a photo. Neil went by with the canoe while I was trying to get my shot. I stepped out of the way for him, but didn't say anything about the mushroom, and he stepped right over it, too. :-)

I dawdled along on this portage, photographing more fungus formations

and whatever this green ground-cover-like plant is. Funny how you don't even notice these things when you are slogging through in the rain.

I noticed some Mountain Ash at the end of the portage, and tried, unsuccessfully, to photograph a big flicker there. He was entertaining, if not willing to pose.

We stopped for lunch on Gordon Lake at the northern site, where Neil and I had camped in both ’92 and ’02. It looked much the same, a rather difficult rocky approach after a sandy landing, and a nice area around the fire grate for sitting. The biffy location is changed a bit; the trail turns and lengthens out. I was pleased to see that the columbines along the biffy trail are still there, but of course not blooming in September as they were during our previous June visits.

Gordon Lake was blue today, too, of course. And the rocky outcroppings along the shore always make a paddle in Gordon scenic.

And the paddle back to Cherokee was pleasant, but not as moody and ethereal as the day before. I think it was a blessing to see it in two different kinds of weather conditions.

We reached Cherokee Lake at 2:00

and again had a tailwind as we paddled the length of the big lake. That is not our usual experience! As we were paddling along enjoying the beautiful day I saw two loons dead ahead and signaled to Neil that I would like to try to photograph them. They stayed around as we got closer, and then were joined by a third, making it a really fun time to see them close by and to have them willing to pose so nicely for portraits.

We approached the desired campsite and my heart sank as I saw that it was again occupied! Occupied by different people! Now I realized that if we had stayed and base-camped at the site across the way, we could have secured it for ourselves and right now I could be enjoying “my” sitting rock in the afternoon sun!

Bill and David confererred with us out in the lake, and they said they would paddle to the site across the way, already familiar to us, and claim it for the night. They headed over that way, and I decided upon a bold move, very uncharacteristic of my usual “leave people totally alone” philosophy—I was going to go over and ask if we could come onto the campsite and take photos of each other on the “sitting rocks”!

There was a young man at the site, and when we approached, I explained my request to him. He said “Sure.” Then he seemed to disappear. We couldn’t use the normal landing spot, as their canoe was in place there, and we had more than a little difficulty landing on the rocky point. Finally, when our canoe was secured, we walked along the point, over the trail and into the campsite. Another young man, slightly older, was in the campsite, and he was very friendly and hospitable. His name was Matt. He listened to my story about this being my favorite campsite on the 22-day trip and he said, “Well, that’s good to know.” After we exchanged some pleasantries, I asked him to move the sleeping bag that he had drying on the rock, and he did so very willingly. We took our photos, said our “thank-yous”, and went back on our way to the campsite across the lake, where Bill, David and Piwi were awaiting us.

This is Matt. THanks, Matt (and Bob).

And here are our guys and Piwi, waiting for us.

My photos of Neil had a lot of sun for competition. None of them are as good as I had hoped for—we didn’t have the time to do it right. All of this should have been a major disappointment, because this was the focus of the trip in my mind for years—it was the actual purpose of this canoe trip. So I was suddenly surprised to find out that it didn’t matter nearly as much as I thought it would.

Something else had replaced my original goal. We had gone beyond a return trip to a specific place in Cherokee Lake; the trip up to Frost was full of new memories, new challenges, and new experiences. My decision to forego waiting for the expected result and to set off in a different direction gave this trip its own personality instead of just a “down memory lane” feeling. I don’t regret the decision to break camp and head on, even though it did mean that Bill and David didn’t get their more challenging loop off by themselves. Heck, they live in the canoe country! They can take another BWCA trip whenever they want to! :-)

(Seriously, we did appreciate their willingness to let us decide the direction of this trip, and to go along with whatever we wanted to do. They were the perfect tripping companions, most excellent portaging friends, and never made us feel like they were doing a favor for the “old folks”. Plus, we had the extra fun of getting to know Piwi, who is really a first-class traveling dog!)

Bill and David had stopped at another campsite earlier on our paddle down the lake and left their gear, just in case there were no sites available on the southern end. So they paddled back and retrieved their gear, dipped water from the center of the lake, and returned to our common camp for the evening.

I went out into the woods with a pan of water and did a quick wash-up, discovering that there were a few small mosquitoes that found me tasty. When I came back to the tent area I asked Neil to go up the hill in the woods and bring back my stool and the water bucket and soap dish. Significant fact: more about that later.

We were all a bit tired and cranky this evening. Our little, (unreliable, inaccurate?) pocket thermometer said fifty degrees but we agreed that it felt colder. Neil and I tried a new Mountain House entrée that didn’t get rave reviews from either of us: New Orleans Style Rice with Shrimp and Ham. I made a batch of corn fritters with rehydrated freeze-dried corn and Bisquick, but he decided he didn’t want many of those either, so Piwi got a little extra treat and most of them were saved for breakfast.

Piwi was getting frustrated by a red squirrel that was teasing her, running along the ground and then chattering from up in the tree:

Finally she gave up and just got a long, cool drink from the lake.

Everything was running late on this evening. I was scrambling around to get the dishes washed up by headlamp at 7:20, and we were out of fuel for our little stove so Bill was heating my rinse water on his stove. I lifted up the pan for my hot rinse water and promptly dumped it out on the ground, narrowly missing my feet! So rinse water was back to square one! Did I say I was tired and cranky? That didn’t help much!

A lighter moment came when we realized that Neil had left our soap dish open by the door of our tent when he brought the washing things down from the hill. We knew Piwi liked soapy water and enjoyed chewing on soap, but I don’t think any of us were quite prepared for the idea that she would EAT a half-bar of Ivory soap! Thankfully, she didn’t seem to suffer any dire consequences from this naughty behavior. Also thankfully, the trip was nearing an end, so Neil and I wouldn’t need too many more cleanups!

It wasn’t a lovely colorful sunset, but it was a nice calm night. We didn’t stay up very late; Neil and I were heading to the tent at 8:50. Bill, David and Piwi retired early as well.