In the morning, it was still overcast, but it was dry. We spread our things over a line and out on the large flat rock of the site to dry. We hung around all morning, not wanting to make the same mistake as yesterday. Then, a patch of blue sky opened up. My dad has a name for that. He calls them “Sucker Holes.” He told me a story of when he was climbing Mt. Rainier, and had seen a Sucker Hole, so his group had continued up, only to be stranded in a tent for 3 days.

But, the sky cleared some more, but not completely, so we set off. We had made the decision to try and make a loop, up through Turtle Lake, Clearwater Lake, Camdre Lake, Pietro Lake and Gull Lake, then back into Bald Eagle. Turtle Lake was half burned, but absolutely gorgeous. I have to say I had never felt for isolated in the BWCA then I did on Turtle Lake. Clearwater Lake was beautiful, and correctly named. We could see down a good 20 feet or so. There were also many loons on Clearwater.

It also soon became apparent that not many people came back here. The portage from Clearwater to Camdre was horrendously overgrown. It was very difficult to find, and we lost the trail halfway when we crossed over an open grassy area. Cambre Lake was small and desolate. And the portage from Camdre to Pietro was nowhere to be found. We must have searched for the better part of an hour, both from the canoe and on shore. In the end, I think we did find it, as a water portage part of the way at least, but it was impassable. Just from the beginning, we could see a half dozen trees downed over it.

We had to admit defeat and take the grueling portage back to Clearwater as the sun was setting. We crossed Clearwater, and set up and an overgrown site. It was little used. We made a new trail back to the latrine, dug out the fire grate from its prison of weeds, and cleared off the single tent pad. We pitched the tent in the dark and ate some sad ramen noodles. It had been a long day.