Sunday, June 10, 2018 Sunday morning was dead calm and it was clear that it was going to be hot (low 80s) today. We had some oatmeal and coffee and got on the water fairly early, for us anyhow. Like Cairngorm, Steel Lake is long and narrow. We paddled towards the same horizon for several hours, resisting our temptation to fish along the way. Occasionally we were able to cut close to the eastern shoreline. The proximity to the large granite cliffs acted like a giant air conditioner, and cooled us off about 20 degrees when we could take advantage of it. If ever there was a day that we could use a little assist from a southern wind, it was today, but aside from an occasional gust of wind from the north, it was mostly still. After 3 ½ hours of nonstop paddling, we landed on a small island to take a water break. So much of the shoreline is steep up here, that it is hard to find good places to stop and stretch your legs. After rehydrating, we got back in the canoe to finish the remaining 1 ½ hrs down Steel Lake. In the bay near the outlet of the lake, we paddled past a bull moose standing waste deep in the water, eating grass. For the most part he was uninterested in us. By the time we reached the portage to the Steel River, we were ready to be out of the boat. The first portage was around a set of rapids, and had a very steep beginning. This trail was an absolute mess and it was a struggle to get our gear down it. The next 2 portages were very similar. This was a very long travel day, and by the time we reached the confluence of Steel and Little Steel rivers, we were ready to call it a day. This was a campsite with quite a bit of open room, located more or less on a portage trail, and offering room for several tents or a few hammocks. There were a few fire grates cached on the campsite, along with a couple of ‘benches’ and ‘seats’ made out of logs and firewood. Across the river from the campsite was the first of several sandy landslides that fell off one of the surrounding hills. Apparently someone was camped on this site when the sand let loose and it created a small ‘tsunami’ that washed across the camp. Somewhere along the way, we caught a walleye which we filleted at the camp and prepared in a masala style curry, along with some rice. As would be the case from here on out, we wished we had taken more time to fish, but for some reason we were really pushing to cover some ground. I’m not sure why as we had plenty of time to finish the trip off. We had a long clothesline put up at camp to dry off wet clothes each day now, but we were never in camp long enough for things to truly dry.