I was up before the sunrise and started packing with a headlamp on. I loaded up the canoe and pushed off for one last paddle to the border. The lake was calm and had that early morning misty fog drifting around. The sun had started to climb over the trees as I made my way south. I had a sad feeling about leaving the Quetico, I normally do. As I approached the border I could see the American flag was flying at half mast at the motor boat landing. I had hoped that someone just didn’t get the flag all the way to the top of the pole. Then I looked to the other side and saw that the Canadian flag was flying at half mast as well. My first thoughts were that someone extremely important must have died. It was all kind of surreal, paddling through the fog, being melancholy about my departure and seeing both flags flying at half mast. At the top of Prairie Portage I met a father\son team from Wisconsin. I started a conversation with the son as his father went down to the ranger station. We talked about fishing for awhile until he just stops and states “you don’t know what is going on in the world do you?” I mentioned something about the flags flying at half mast and having no idea why they were that way. He starts to explain to me that on September 11th a plane flew into the World Trade Center. I asked if many people were hurt. He said you don’t understand, the World Trade Center buildings are gone, they are both gone. He goes on to tell me another one hit the Pentagon and another one was heading towards the Whitehouse when it crashed in a field. I couldn’t believe or imagine what he was trying to explain to me at the time. When I arrived back at the outfitters there were two gentlemen there trying to figure out how they were going to travel home since all of the flights were canceled. I overheard they were from Cincinnati, 90 miles south from my home. I offered two complete strangers a thousand miles lift home, but they opted not to take the offer. They said they would probably rent a car. For the next eight hours I listened to the car radio about this news and was still having a hard time processing it all. Once I stopped and registered into a hotel room, I turned on the TV and watched it for the first time. I watched for the next three hours and then forced myself to turn off the TV and get some sleep. For years I had told people going into the Quetico with me that World War III could happen and you would never know. This was not World War III, but it was an attack on the United States of America. It was four days after 9/11 before I had any idea about the attack of innocent people on American soil. God bless the people who lost their lives in the 9/11 tragedy. God bless America.