Day 2 Wednesday, August 7

We awoke the next morning to a sunny and wet camp. We sipped hot drinks and cooked a breakfast of pan-fried bagels with cream cheese while things dried up bit. After camp was packed up we paddled empty boats across the lake and through the lily pads to Crawford Lake.

It was here I caught my first Quetico fish, a very nice bass among the lily pads. When I first hooked it Tony speculated that I had merely snagged the lily itself, but the ensuing thrashing (by the fish) and exclamations of joy (by me) convinced him otherwise.

Fish were caught and many beautiful lily pads were viewed as we made our way back to retrieve our bags and make the short portage into Sheridan Lake where Zach caught his first bass. It actually jumped off the hook and into the boat with him but we assured him that this “qualified” as landing it though maybe not with grace or dignity. We fished our way across Sheridan and entered the portage into the Man Lakes Chain. It was here Zach was initiated (hazed) with his first lesson in portaging the canoe.

Given that he is 6’5” 200 pounds we didn’t want to wait to long to make it clear that this very important task was his responsibility. We joked with him that we had carried him for years on many backcountry trips and this was his chance to pay us back. He embraced the ribbing with his usual casual style and along with Sammy and Ryan (and the rest of us of course) did a great job pitching in to move the gear and boats across the portages. Next we had lunch and fished along That Man Lake before paddling up the creek to No Man Lake avoiding the portage altogether perhaps because of the high water year. Regardless we had a lot of fun negotiating the clear little waterway and there was only one pullover. We pulled into camp late in the afternoon following a brushy portage into This Man Lake. It was very nice site on a SE peninsula with a tiny island out front and many tent pads. After last night’s squeeze it was nice to spread out a little. The weather had been a nice mix of sun and clouds all day and a light breeze (that served as a nice tailwind through the day) kept the mosquitos at bay (until dark) and dried all of our gear. We caught and released many fish especially from the ledge right at camp.

Zach officially declared it, “ a really fun day!” We had early evening dinner and fell asleep to the calling of the loons and the hum of the mosquitoes.