Thursday, September 5, 2013: I’m lazy getting up this morning, but eventually have to answer nature’s call. It’s a cool foggy morning with a temperature about 40 degrees, but almost cloudless and the sun burns through the fog quickly. Breakfast is Hawk Vittles’ Oatmeal (107 mg sodium). It didn’t rehydrate well and was chewy and soupy. Maybe I added too much water and didn’t let it sit long enough. Otherwise it was OK.

I’m underway at 9:45 and quickly over to the portage to the Kawishiwi River, where I run into a kayaker I saw earlier in the trip. He’s in a small kayak with the pack strapped on the deck. He advises that the end of the portage is muddy and there’s a way to the right where people have worked around the mud and low water. Shortly after starting the portage I traverse a flooded section. I almost lose a shoe in the mud on the work-around, which leads to an awkward, rocky little put-in.

It’s another cloudless, sunny day and warms up rapidly as I paddle west on the Kawishiwi River, then north towards Trapline Lake (sometimes unnamed). I stop at the campsite on Trapline Lake for lunch. It’s not much of a site – there’s a tough landing and climb to a cramped site with no good tent pad or even a good place to hang a hammock. The view is nice though.

I take the short portage to Beaver Lake and head towards the Adams Lake portage. It seems odd that a lake the size of Beaver only has two campsites. I find the portage from Beaver Lake to Adams Lake without difficulty, but it helps that I know what to look for. The landing on Beaver is very rocky and makes for some tricky footing. It’s a very cool portage to walk, but obviously less used than the other portages on this trip. There are scrape marks on a lot of rocks on the portage – it almost looks like someone has drug a canoe across them.

The island campsite is occupied and I paddle around Adams Lake and eventually take campsite #1045 on the north side. This site is high up on top of the rocks and not obvious from the water, but it is a nice site. The landing is a sloping, slick-rock granite landing and there’s a long climb to a very elevated site with great views from all the open rock. It’s moderately spacious with a couple of nice places for tents.

I set up camp and relax with a mug of coffee on the rocks out front, bare feet drying in the sun. Outdoor Herbivore’s Lickety Split Lentils (500 mg sodium) makes a very good dinner – almost as good as Hawk Vittles’ Cashew Curry. I enjoy a nice sunset view to the west. It’s another warm clear night and I’m too warm in the sleeping bag and too cool out of it in just underwear and a T-shirt.

The birds have vanished into the sky, And now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains. Li Po