We were worn out from our long day trip the day before, so we slept in just a little later on our second full day. We had more hot chocolate, and another MH Breakfast Skillet. This time we wrapped it in pita and added some cheese. It was amazing.

We originally had planned to check out Pillsbery or take a day trip to Vista on this day, but we ended up opting to stay on Gaskin and explore the lake more because we loved it so much. It turned out to be a great decision!

We saw some more loons, and then we found a stream near the portage to Allen. We wandered around there for awhile, enjoying the running water and foliage.

When we were done at the stream, we paddled over for a bathroom break at the first site on Gaskin. We'd heard from a couple on the way in that it was a really neat site, but it was taken on our way into the lake on our first day, so we didn't have a chance to see what it looked like. Since it was empty today, we thought we'd check it out. It was nice, but we were glad we picked our site on the peninsula.

We spent another hour or so paddling around Gaskin and watching the loons. Eventually we stopped and had lunch (the same as the day before) on a large rock in the water that was connected to a little bit of land jutting out into the lake. I found some left over fishing items and put them in our trash bag. I'm glad to report that it was the only trash I had seen on the trip so far, other than a hair tie at the entrance to Lizz.

After we finished lunch, we sat on the rock chatting for a bit, when we suddenly noticed a large bird perched in the trees across the lake. We had seen an eagle's nest on Winchell the day before, and were wondering if we would be lucky enough to see it's occupant before we left the BWCA. Using our camera, we zoomed in on the bird, and sure enough, it was a bald eagle. I had seen one in the wild once as a little girl, but my husband had never seen one. We started to climb down the rock to cross the lake and get a closer look, but just before we began to load our canoe, the eagle swooped out of the tree and flew right over to us!

We spent over an hour watching the eagle perched in the tree right next to our rock. It was fascinating to watch! Eventually he flew off, back in the direction he came, and we watched him circling over the trees, searching for food. It was one of my favorite moments of the trip.

Soon after, the sky started to cloud up, and a few sprinkles fell. Concerned about storms, we decided to head closer to camp. We made our way back to our site, had a snack, and played cards before taking a short nap. It sprinkled on and off, but nothing serious.

After our nap, we had dinner, with MH freeze dried Neapolitan ice cream for dessert. I probably wouldn't buy again unless it was on a really good sale. The MH ice cream sandwiches we had the night before were a little better.

After dinner, we went out to get water, and explore a little secluded section of Gaskin that was near our camp. It rained while we were paddling around, but when the rain stopped, we saw a beautiful rainbow, and lovely beginning of the sunset through the hazy clouds. We also saw a couple of beavers swimming around, but weren't able to get any good pictures of them.

It started to sprinkle again, so we paddled back to camp. It was the chilliest night of the trip, so we had a small fire and roasted a few marshmallows to keep warm. We looked through all of our pictures from the day, extremely happy about all the wildlife we got to see.

After put our fire out, we got as much organized as possible for our trip back to civilization the next morning, and then headed into our tent for the night. We were sad it was our last night in the BWCA, but we were looking forward to telling our family all about our adventure.

Lakes visited: Gaskin