It was backpackers pantry mashed potatoes with cheese and bacon bits for breakfast. I tried to eat it right out of the bag but it didn't mix well. Next time I'll make them in a pan. It's a travel day today and the portage out of Gun Lake to Little Beartrack lake is average in length, about a quarter mile, but very taxing. It was generally uphill with lots of boulders and rocks to step on and around. Thankfully I have ankle support with the boots I have as I turned an ankle a couple times and would have certainly fallen and maybe hurt myself without that support in my boots. From Little Beartrack it's on to its older brother Beartrack Lake and a short portage with a good trail. When I arrive at the end of the portage I was surprised to see four canoes coming my way. I didn't expect to see this many people up this way this time of year but it is a holiday week so maybe I should have expected it. They ducked into a campsite and waited for me to pass by. After crossing the lake I'm on to the Thumb Lake portage. It's a long trail and triple portaging means I cross it five times to get all my camping gear and canoe across. Some people single portage but I've never been in that kind of physical condition, most people double portage which I usually do but this time I chose to triple portage because of the length of the trip, how far out I am and how old and weak I am. I don't want to hurt myself out here. Anyway, after the day I have had already so far this portage really wears me out. The elevation is more than I expected and I'm happy to put it behind me. All these lakes are quite beautiful and I do love being out here. From Thumb to Finger Lake is a very short portage and I don't even attach my yoke (for carrying it) to my canoe and just carry it like a suitcase to the other end. The first thing I see are a couple swans, at least I think that is what they are, doing a graceful head dance with one another. They are all white with long necks and slowly swim away as I paddle towards them. I stop at an island campsite which is quite spacious and beautiful but I can't find the latrine so I bury my duty and burn the toilet paper. Each campsite has a latrine, Mariel, and is usually straight back in the woods from the campsite. It is nothing more than a metal box with a big hole on top that you sit on. I had trail mix (nuts, dried fruit and sometimes sweets) and left over tortillas on the trail and tonight I'll make myself spaghetti with meat sauce. In the middle of making the sauce it starts to lightly rain so I put on my raincoat and continue on. It was very good but the spicy Italian sausage I dehydrated was a little chewy but I expected that. It's just an effect of dehydrating it. When I'm finished eating and cleaning the dishes the sun has gone down and I am pleased to finish this long and busy day. When I climb into my sleeping bag I notice something smells; I'm pretty sure it's me.

The American Revolution: In school I was taught that people came to the British colonies here in America to seek new opportunities and start a new life. I suspect that it was more of running away from the oppression of the old life than anything else. The British elites didn't think much of the colonists until that is they started making a lot of money-then they took an interest (insert life lesson here). I've heard it said that there was an overabundance of a certain type of personalities in the colonies; those of independence and self reliance. The colonists were also much more educated that the elites back in Britain believed. Records show that the Brits were shipping as much literature to the colonists as they were consuming themselves although their own population was ten times what the colonists had. You can bet that as expensive as the written word was back in those days the colonists weren't buying sappy love stories to be shipped over. It may have been as simple as this personality difference that sparked the American revolutionary war when England decided it needed their cut of the booty being produced in their colonies.

Little Beartrack Lake, Beartrack Lake, Thumb Lake, Finger Lake