Wednesday, September 4, 2013: It’s a nice morning when I roll out about 6:30. I have coffee and Outdoor Herbivore’s Apple Quinoa Oatmeal (250 mg sodium) for breakfast. It’s OK; I can eat it, but I’m not crazy about it, although it has big chunks of apple. I finally get on the water 2 ½ to 3 hours after I wake. It’s a beautiful morning and I paddle slowly up Lake Polly and do the series of three portages to Koma Lake without much paddling. I run into a pair of rangers on the middle portage, but they do not check my permit. They have shovels and such-like tools and I assume they are out doing maintenance work.

I make the short portage to Malberg Lake after a welcome paddling break on Koma Lake. I’m enveloped by a cloud of mosquitos at the end of the portage, a portent of things to come. I paddle up Malberg Lake as it evolves into another very sunny, hot day. I stop at a couple of little-used campsites that are plagued by mosquitos. One has a tree too short to provide shade and no discernible tent pad. This is a less desirable site than the 1-star site I will later stay at on Amber Lake. It’s even less desirable than the campsite on Trapline Lake. It must be a zero-star site.

The elevated campsite at the narrows is occupied and I eventually take site #1042, a nice site in the NW corner of Malberg Lake across from the portage to the Kawishiwi River. It’s about 2:00 and my back is sore and I have a blister on one thumb and a blister on one foot. I set up camp and sit down to relax with a coffee. Dinner is Hawk Vittles’ Cashew Curry (65 mg sodium), which is very good and only 65 mg of sodium! It has lots of yellow curry and enough chili to make you notice without being overpowering. I will definitely eat this one again. I go to bed early and leave the fly off the tent again. It’s a cooler night than the first night.