Last night was the coldest yet. I went out of the tent for a bathroom break and the sky was amazing. The Milky Way was brilliant. I was tempted to just lay out on the rocks and watch for awhile but the chill drove me back inside.

“I got up at 5:30 to a solid wall of fog on the lake. I had let Luna out as usual before I got dressed and now she was nowhere in sight. I got nervous and yelled her name. No response. It wasn’t until walking the path to the top of the falls did I finally see her trotting along the trail toward me. She was probably just being curious and didn’t hear me calling her above all the noise. Whew, scared me there for a bit.”

The view up the falls.

Top of the falls.

The front porch.

The harbor.

The weatherman promised a bluebird day of 80 degrees. The fog burned off as I ate my oatmeal and then struck the camp. I change into shorts for the first time on the trip. We shove off at 8:15. The first portage is right on the other side of the falls and it’s basically a giant open flat rock shelf of 11 rods. Hence the name Bald Rock Falls I guess.

Two more portages and with one of them having a perfect rock at the landing to rest the big pack on. This could be my favorite landing of all time!

Here I catch Luna patiently waiting for me to unload before leading me on the portage. Her routine now is to scout a few yards up the trail first then come back and watch me prep the canoe to portage. This is a dog who doesn’t know the command to sit so she was never “posed” by me. If I say “sit” she will lay down. She knows “come” and “stay” and is very good at those and that’s good enough for me. We got her at a year old and the breeder did a fantastic job of training her. Bearfoot Border Collies on the Illinois/Iowa border. Bearfootbordercollies.com

Our goal for today is somewhere on The Man Chain. The Man Chain lakes are a string of east west running, very scenic narrow lakes. They have names like Other Man, This Man, and That Man. Somebody had a good time naming these.

Exiting the Falls Chain we come out onto huge, island studded Saganagons Lake. Gotta pay attention to the map here as it’s very easy to get confused among the islands and sure enough, I get confused. I figure it out and then make the right turn which signals that I’m on the last leg and on my way home heading back west.

Now I feel the wind pick up to a stiff breeze right in my face. I need to do some island hopping and try to stay in the islands wind shadow. I’m on the long west arm of “Gons” and fighting the wind badly. I zig and zag my way until finally pulling into a protected bay where the portage to Slate Lake lies. It feels good to stretch our legs here and we stop to eat lunch.

We shove off with renewed energy. The wind still slaps me in the face but I pull hard on the kayak paddle. Once through Fran Lake we come to a 74 rod portage that leads to Bell Lake. I tell myself that I’ll go for a site on Bell as I’m pretty beat right now. This portage is where I do something completely stupid.

From my notes. “Well, we were returning from dropping the first load on a long portage and I wondered why an obvious detour was built in the path. On the way back I saw why. At the detour there was a steep sheer slap of rock that was on the former path. Well, Luna thought it to be no problem and just walked down. I saw this and thought "I can do that!" Lets just say I'm very lucky to not have broken my hip and elbow. Very foolish to think I can do what dogs can do!”

I got very lucky here and my hip and arm were hurting. My hand went numb for awhile and my elbow was very sore to the touch. What a goof and definitely thankful but sorry I had to learn the hard way.

Once on Bell Lake I headed for a 4 star site that I had marked on the map. It’s open and looks nice from the water. It sits way up on a bluff with the landing around the corner. The entry is a narrow slot in mucky water and immediately I don’t like it. The site is very overused but is large. After hauling the packs up the hill to the sitting area I scope out tent pads. Not too good and I settle on one without roots but it’s not level and will have me sliding in my bag during the night.

We’re both exhausted and Luna finds a nice bush to hide from eagles in.

There’s no good shore here for swimming and when I wade out by the landing my feet kick up lots of silt. No swimming tonight. I wash off my arm then do some first aid on it.

I cook up a dinner from Hawk Vittles called “Chicken Pilaf” which turns out to be good. I mix some chicken chunks in Luna’s food which she appreciates. After dishes are done back in the forest I see Luna wading out by the landing to drink water. I’m on the high bluff rocks overlooking the lake with a commanding view. I use my new Crazy Creek canoe seat for a chair and it works great. I’m really wiped out this evening from all the paddling against the wind.

“Here comes Luna now and ugh! Her legs are covered in dirty silt water. I immediately downgrade this site to a two and ½ star. The sitting area here is good but the place lacks charm and is completely overused with terrible tent pads.”

I read my book (which is excellent) out on the rocks until turning in for the night. There’s a loon on the lake and he calls but no one answers. The forecast is for no rain and a cold night. Good sleeping weather.