Woke up around 4 a.m. Unfortunately, as I'd found out the night before, I had a few more hours of documentation to finish for school before I set off on my adventure. Finished up around 7 a.m. and headed to Ely. Stopped in town briefly for some coffee and nightcrawlers.

Arrived at Latourell's on Moose Lake around 10 a.m. This place feels like a second home to me, and I felt all my built up stress wash away as soon as I see the lake. The weather was perfect, mid 70s and only a slight breeze. I caught up with Bob Latourell briefly, got my permit/fishing license, loaded up and hit the water before 11 a.m. Despite the lack of wind, the paddle through Moose and Newfound gave me some trouble. I use a 280cm Bending Branches 'yak paddle. I did over 100 miles on the rivers back home with it, so I was surprised how much trouble I was having keeping the canoe straight.

By the time I arrived at the short portage from Newfound into Splash, I was already feeling like calling it a day. I took care of the portage, threw all my stuff off to the side at the top, and ventured into the top of the stream between the two lakes. There's a little pool in there that I've always enjoyed. I've never caught anything over 3 pounds in it, but I always catch something there. Picked up a few little smallmouth, which put up a decent fight when combined with the rapids.

Feeling plenty rested, I did some rearranging of my packs and hit the water around 2 p.m. Rearranging those packs was a life saver, and I was feeling much better about the rest of the trip. At this point, most of the good sites on Ensign were taken, and I settled for a decent site slightly West of the portage into Ashigan (site #1216).

Camp was up by 5 p.m. Made dinner, did some reading and enjoyed an amazing sunset. Couldn't have asked for a better start to the trip.

Route for day 1.

Fishing the rapids between Splash and Ensign.

Sunset on Ensign.