Tuesday, July 11, 2016

Day five was our planned "dawn paddle" day. I've done this on both of my trips and it's always a memorable experience. We awoke at 4am and quickly packed up, making our way out onto Quetico Lake in the dark. The experience of sitting out on the still, silent water and watching the sun rise over God's creation is a moving experience. Once the sun was up in the sky, we paddled around the west side of Eden Island and then made our way eastward along the northern leg of Quetico Lake. Our old pal the rain returned with a vengeance all morning. It slowed long enough for us to see the pictographs, but then returned. We had to put into shore three times this day due to lightning; and the wind was kicking up white-capped waves large enough to make us hug the shoreline. Finally in the early afternoon it eased up and cleared allowing the boys to enjoy some rock jumping before we made camp at 82, on the north-east end of Quetico Lake. This is a nice open site on a point. It rises up a rocky hill, making tent site selection rare, but was great for hammocks. One of the boys caught the best fish of our trip here and we fried it up to enjoy with our dinner.

Quetico Lake right before sunrise
Sunrise over Quetico Lake
Northwest Quetico Lake pictographs
Rock jumping on Quetico Lake
Relaxing in my hammock after a rainy day
Fish catch of the trip