Big day trip today, and unfortunately, it was also breezy. We scarfed down coffee and leftover banana muffins for breakfast and headed out on our day trip. The paddle to Bottle Portage was breezy and the waves were already whipped up pretty good. Fortunately, our route over to Curtain Falls was fairly protected from the wind. I find it a little unsettling to travel far from camp in the wilderness, especially in the wind, in the event I get wind-bound somewhere separated from the bulk of the gear. I had put together some tiny survival kits that fit into each of our life jackets that included an emergency blanket, shelter, matches, lighter, tinder, knife, duct tape, a whistle, LED, and string which gave me some piece and mind with the chilly water and wind.

Bottle Portage was pretty dry til we got to the landing at the end, which was all mud. The paddle through Bottle Lake to Iron Lake was very pretty, as was the rest of the paddle over to Curtain Falls. I had a little trouble navigating into the proper bay to get to the portage over to Crooked Lake and Curtain Falls but we eventually found it. The colors were really popping on the portage and it was a beautiful walk over to the falls.

The falls were magnificent and we had them all to ourselves. M and I took a boatload of pictures, scarfed down some lunch, and then hiked the portage back to the canoe to head over to Rebecca Falls. I hadn't done any research into Rebecca Falls, so we landed the canoe and took the portage over to McAree only to figure out we couldn't see the falls. I was assuming (wrongly) we'd have to bring the canoe over to see them, so we decided to move on.

Because we were headed to the ranger cabin on the south end of LLC, and because of the nasty landing at Bottle Portage, I decided we should take the 225 and 60- rod portages back to LCC since we had minimal gear. In addition to being a more direct route, we'd avoid paddling the large bay down to the cabin. The 225-rod portage was a long slog, but pretty flat and it's definitely the quicker route. At the end of the 65-rod portage, we were greeted to the instant view of the boathouse of the ranger cabin right on the water. M and I were both surprised at the well-maintained nature of the cabin. It clearly still get used and is a beautiful spot, with a boat house of the east end of the peninsula and a dock on the west side.

After a windy but short paddle back to camp, we rushed to make dinner after it started raining briefly, and had camp packed up pretty early. It stopped raining, so we got to enjoy another wonderful campfire with a reading, journaling, and more whiskey and cider.

The forecast was brutal for tomorrow (40s and rain all day and overnight) so I was a little sad at the prospect it could be a last night in the BWCA.