We woke and leisurely made some coffee on our stove and tried the breakfast pack that we brought. We each had one bite and decided that it was not for us. We both agreed that our displeasure had something to do with the “eggs.” And, just for the record, there are very few things in this world that I won’t eat, and my previous experience with pouch meals (dinners at least) was actually quite good. This was just plain bad. No worries as we had plenty of other items to make a simple breakfast, and the coffee in the percolator was an absolute treat.

We sat on a rock by the lake for an hour or so just soaking in the sun and enjoying the peace. It might not sound like much, but those moments were the highlight of what was already shaping up to be a great trip. We were happy not to be breaking down camp and looked forward to another lovely evening at the site.

By 10 AM or so, we decided to explore a little and thought a trip over to Loon Lake might be interesting. We headed north up Heritage Creek to the portage that crosses the Sioux-Hustler hiking trail and leads down to Loon. I had some of my camera gear, and Sarah had a pack with lunch, but we didn’t portage the canoe. The landings on both sides of the portage were in fantastic shape, and this had us thinking about heading out this direction when we left the next day. It would be a little more portaging and paddling than on our way in, but the conditions of the landings (compared to those at south Heritage and Shell/Lower Pauness) had us interested. We’d also get to see some new territory.

Loon lake was beautiful, and the beach was big and sandy. It was late enough in the season, that we didn’t see anyone on Loon. I didn’t feel like going back to get the canoe, but we had lunch and snapped a few photos before heading back to Heritage. We spent the afternoon at camp and went out for a water run in the afternoon before preparing dinner. Another couple came by our camp from the creek, but they were the only people that we saw that day (the last people we saw were on Shell the day before). I think we exchanged a few greetings, and they pressed on to the south.

Conditions weren’t great for any astrophotography that night, but I gave it a go before giving up. No dew on the lens this time of year, but there was just a little too much haziness to get anything good. We did hear wolves that night, and it was such a thrill!