Our goal on our final full day of paddling was to retrace the start of our loop and to camp on an island site near the pictographs in a western arm of Cache Bay.

The portages on this day were by far the nastiest of the entire trip. Getting into and out of Lilypad Lake was a nightmare if you wanted to avoid knee-deep mud, which Dan was not able to do at one point. While I was searching for a decent place to put the canoe back into the water on the north end of Lilypad Lake I saw a set of bear tracks in the mud along the dry creek bed.

Once we finally put back into the water we were in a pool in between two sets of rapids from Silver Falls. We paddled upstream a short way to get as close to the upper rapids as we could safely get.

As we searched for the portage around the smaller, lower rapids we very nearly got pulled into the rapids, and my friend said that he watched me turn into a mother trying to lift a car from on top of her baby as I paddled us away from the rapids. Clearly it is very easy to underestimate the strength of a current; we got lucky that we were able to paddle away from the rapids because I imagine if we had to ride them we would've capsized or damaged the canoe. What do you do then??

We eventually portaged around the rapids, back the opposite way past Silver Falls, and paddled into Cache Bay for the second time. The pictographs were fascinating to see up close, but our goal campsite was already taken - by a very territorial loon that clearly didn't want us anywhere near it.

We eventually made our way to an island site at the mouth of Cache Bay. It was definitely the most cramped site of the trip, but after a difficult day of portaging and a close call on the rapids, we made it work.