It was an awesome morning sharing a pancake breakfast and just kicking back enjoying some camp camaraderie. We had planned to start back towards our exit (same as the entry) today but by the time we packed up and were on our way it was late morning and the southwest breezes were picking up. After we left Jordan, a side-trip to view the falls between Cattyman and Gibson Lakes put us still later into the day before we turned south and the wind had picked up a bit more. By the time we got to Jitterbug and Ahsub there was some significant chop, even though these are pretty small lakes. When we got back to Disappointment we could see that this was going to be work. And work it was, but not impossible. We dug in as needed to keep moving forward and quartered the bow as needed to keep from catching any waves broadside. We aimed for a campsite about a mile from the portage on the northeast section of the lake and by the time we got there it was time for a break. The rocks on the shore and the waves made landing a bit tricky but we navigated the canoes to safe ground and checked out this site as a possible home for the night. While we thought it would do OK, we decided to check out the nearby island site as well. By now the waves were big enough that we were going to get a little wet but the site was not far away and our direction would take us straight into the wind--no quartering needed. When we landed at this site it did not show much for shade and the best tent pad looked quite small. I then noticed that the pad actually wasn't that small but that it was half-covered with a freshly-fallen tree. I remembered that when we came in through Disappointment the morning after the storm, this site was occupied and I wondered how those campers fared if they had their tent on this pad and if the tree had fallen on them! Given the conditions of this site, we opted to go back to the first one.

The front of THIS site was pretty open to the lake which made for nice views but also meant we caught the full wind. Setting the tent up was quite the adventure. The site did have some great sunning rocks so once we got the tent up and fed ourselves, we all caught a snooze in the sun. The wind continued all afternoon and into the evening so there wasn't much to do but sit around. It really wasn't even possible to fish from shore since you could not get a decent cast out without it being blown back at you or having your lure drift away from the desired spot in no time. This meant we were going to have to eat the freeze-dried stuff we had brought along as back up. This actually wasn't too bad--Mountain House beef stroganoff and sweet/sour chicken. I had eaten some Mountain House meals before and did not remember them being as tasty. We did find ways to entertain ourselves by hiding items from each other's gear and even making different shadow puppets near sunset on the sun-lit screen provided by the side of the tent!

The wind today made things, at times, less than fun. But each time I am challenged by the BWCA, I am amply rewarded for accepting and dealing with those challenges. As darkness fell the wind finally subsided and we were again able to enjoy a nice evening fire. Then we noticed a faint light on the horizon that soon grew to one of the most spectacular displays of Northern Lights that I have ever seen. This show of the Aurora Borealis was a first for Scott and probably one of the best ever for the rest of us. We sat out on the rocks watching the show for hours and all thought, "Wow! What a way to spend our last night of the trip."

Once again, the coolness of the evening provided for a comfortable night's sleep once we all turned in.