High Temperature: 71

Low Temperature: 55

Barometric Pressure: 30.10

Relative Humidity 7AM: 90%

9 AM Temperature: 55

Moisture: .18"

Route: Layover Daytrips

Cherokee Lake

Portage 13 rods

Gordon Lake

Portage 28 rods

Long Island River

Portage 5 rods

Long Island River

Long Island Lake

Long Island River

Portage 5 rods

Long Island River

Portage 28 rods

Gordon Lake

Portage 140 rods

Unload lake

Portage (?) rods

Frost Lake

Portage (?) rods

Unload lake

Portage 140 rods

Gordon Lake

Portage 13 rods

Cherokee Lake

I slept in today until 7:30. It is a layover day. When I got up, the day was overcast and it was a little cool. We had breakfast and putzed around camp.

I set up the tarp differently at this camp. I now like my tarp again. The key is to set one end of the ridgeline high and the other low. The wings then make sense and add a lot of protection.

My tent is doing well, though dressing in it is a challenge.

At 10:00 a.m. we headed out for our daytrip. We were to Long Island Lake by noon. Single portaging is nice. We had lunch there and checked out some of the campsites. One looks like it hasn’t been used in quite awhile. It has an old-time fire grate – welded instead of cast. There is also an old coffee pot at the spot. Sand beach. Vegetation is in the camp very high. The site is very overgrown. There is a latrine so it appears to be a legal site. Poison Ivy? It doesn’t look like it to me, but maybe.

Old Fire Grate on Long Island Lake

We left Long Island Lake at 2:00 p.m. At 3:15 we were on the portage to Frost Lake. That is a tough portage. It is also buggy, the buggiest since the Baker Lake portage.

We explored Frost Lake and checked out some of the campsites. We stopped at the one by the long sand beach on the NE shore. The site has couches around the fire grate area. They are the typical log benches except with an additional layer creating a back. Benches you can lounge on.

Frost Lake Couches

We started back and it began to rain. By the time we reached the Gordon Lake end, about 5:30 p.m., it was a downpour complete with thunder and lightning.  Jim and I stood in the storm waiting it out. It is during this that I discover my raincoat isn’t waterproof. It is a Red Ledge that I bought as a raincoat but apparently it is something else. It looks like a raincoat but it is not waterproof. I was soaked.

By 6:30 the rain was only sprinkling and, so, we continued on. We made it to camp about 7:30. It was still raining. 

Jim doesn’t wear a watch. I do. He said, “Tell me when it’s 6:00 and I’ll start supper.” I responded, “It’s 8:00 now.”

We had chicken and noodle casserole. As always, it was great.

It sprinkled and dripped all night. We had a heck of a time getting a fire going. All the wood was soggy. I found myself wishing several times on this trip that I had brought my hatchet. Either big wood was left from previous campers that needed to be split, or, like today, we needed dry, inner wood. We finally got it going after Jim and I whittle away the outer wet wood of several pieces of firewood.

I went to bed about 11:30. Everything in my tent was dry. Ahhhh…. 

About midnight it started to rain again.

Sawbill must have had different weather than us. We certainly had much more (much, much more) than .18” of rain today.