Woke up the next morning around sunrise and enjoyed a little more time with the beavers. Only one came out this morning and not for that long. Got things dried a little bit and quickly packed up camp. Short trip over to the portage to Henson. After the previous travel day, the portages today were easy. Henson is another long skinny lake that is just beautiful. Spotting the portage to Gaskin was fairly easy and we enjoyed a quick lunch on the other side before heading off. Mike had recommended a couple spots on Gaskin, but they were occupied, so we kept on for Horseshoe (our original planned destination). Another beautiful travel day: sunny, light breeze, and low 60s. Gaskin was also a beautiful lake, but we pressed on for Horseshoe. After one last portage, the clouds started to gather, so it was time to find a campsite.

Our intel was that all of the sites on this lake were good (minus one) so we decided to cruise along and see what was available/looked good. It was the Monday of Labor Day weekend, so we were hoping most people had already packed up and left. (We’d encountered one person on a solo who’d started the same day as us. They’d originally planned on staying on Horseshoe, but all of the sites were full by the time they arrived around noon.)

As we paddled by, site 674 was open and looked good, so we grabbed it. This site is on the west side of a small peninsula with an almost 180 degree view north and west. There’s a small bay just to the southwest of the site that looks like it should be moosey (no luck for us) and a very easy/shallow area right off the front of the site. There were several tent sites to choose from. You could tell someone had been there the night before as there was an obvious dry spot where their tent had been. We opted to take a tent site a bit further from the fire grate, but up a slight hill. We put the tarp over another site between the tent and the fire grate. These decisions proved wise the next day.

Only bad things about site 674 is that it appears to be fairly heavily used (i.e., lots of pathways worn between the trees) and it was a hike to the thunderbox. (Looking around on the walk to the thunderbox, I bet it used to be a lot closer but has moved out over the years. There were several spots which looked like former locations.)

Once again, it was a bit too cloudy for a sunset/stargazing. However, mother nature did not disappoint. Just before the last of the light faded, a group of what we think were otters appeared just north of our campsite. It was too dim to get a good look/take a picture, but there were 3-4 heads out there frolicking in the water and having a grand time. After they disappeared, we slipped off to bed.

~Omega Lake, Henson Lake, Gaskin Lake, Horseshoe Lake