Day 5 & 6 - Thursday, Friday (9/5 - 9/6/2019) The days are windy and intermittently sunny. We chased the sun around with our solar panels but more out of practice than needing the juice. I like to keep my GPS and phone charged up in the event we have a real issue and would want to use them. For the standard day, they don't do anything. When I leave camp, get to camp, or do anything significant, I use the GPS device to send a text to my wife with my location.

Additionally, she can view the bread crumb tracks that are sent every 10 minutes. The device is nifty, and if needed, she can text me. The subscription plan I have allows an unlimited amount of texts so one day we slowly figured out what to do about my daughter's car that was acting up. That was an unnecessary convenience (the car texting), but it helped move that situation along.

The days were spent taking day trips to explore what was around us. We looked at a few sites on Lost Bay and a few more towards the open area of North Bay. We made notes about the sites if we felt they would work for specific groups.

Wood was gathered and processed. That was relaxing. We collected a fair amount of wood and left plenty for the next visitors. We did that at all campsites we stayed at.

On Friday, later in the day, I discussed with the group (my BIL) about leaving extra early and getting to Prairie Portage as soon as reasonable and call for an early tow. Our designated time slot was 1 pm, but if we got back earlier, it would allow us to get on the road sooner. All were in favor after ignoring JS's departures from the normal flow of conversation. I didn't even acknowledge him in the conversation. It went much better. Leave time was 6:30 am, and paddles would be moving at that time.

A bit after that conversation, my BIL and I were hanging out together and he mentioned that JS needed to take the two canoes from his group back to an Ely person house for storage, along with the third canoe that is still at the outfitter. BIL also mentioned he couldn't do that in his truck due to the short bed. I asked, "How far?" Four miles was the answer. I have a cargo cage on my Jeep Wrangler, so I knew that in some combination of trips I could get them there. This would possibly negate the time savings from getting to Prairie Portage early but since I would have had to do the transport anyway, time may be saved. Another late JS bit of information that wasn't surprising.

When we were out-bound and first went past this camping area, my outdoors buddy and I noticed feathers floating on the water as if a goose had a rough time. When we came back and were now camping we saw a pair of swans hanging out near the grassy area. A bit later a solo swan swooped in and landed and the pair went right over and kicked its ass. Later the pair were noticed with four younger, yet not baby, swans. Aha. The pair was protecting its nesting area. The entire rest of our stay we watched the swans protect the area and sometimes take the kids out for a trip.

On Friday night we were able to catch a decently clear night, the first since our first evening there. We again found some satellites and a few shooting stars. Great way to end the trip.

Photo credit: Mikey