The morning was clear and cool, and we had coffee and a quick breakfast at the motel and headed for Sawbill to pick up the rental canoe. Soon we were loading up our gear and on the water!

I really love that part of a trip, when you push off and the lake opens up before you, it's so full of possibilities. How far will you go? Base camp or travel? What new sights await you? I'd been on this route once before- it's the first trip in the BWCA that I took my kids on.....only 25 years ago. Nope, did not remember any of it.

Nick only balked briefly when I helped him on with the lightest Duluth pack at the first portage, and then he did great!

There might have been some bickering as the human pups got the hang of navigating a twisty stream, and I confess that after the first little portage I pulled ahead in the prism and just let them do it. The 5 rod portage into kawasachong has moved downstream quite a ways now, beaver busy at work I assume.

We had decided that if one of the kawasachong sites was open, we'd take it......and the second one was free, so we had our new home for the night. The rest of the group caught up with me eventually, and they set up camp with ol' mom as straw boss. They fried up steaks and made mashed potatoes, and Nick elected smores as dessert. It was a warm night, and you could hear this noise from the woods as dusk approached....and then the swarm was upon us! We drove for the tents, and maybe a hundred mosquitoes made it in with us. After killing the little varmints, and inflating my new solar lantern, we read until bedtime and then slept like babies.