4 lakes, 3 portages

Up at 7:30 again, to sunny skies and 44 degrees. On the water at 9. I think there is a pattern developing here!

We portaged the 55 rods back to South Temperance Lake and paddled across the northern end to a short (10-rod) portage into Brule Lake, by some beautiful rapids. Brule glistened and sparkled in the sun ahead of us and didn't look TOO choppy!

The paddle into Brule was fairly calm, but it did get choppy in the big part. The tailwind was a help. We saw five canoes near Jock Mock Point, heading out against the wind. We rounded the point and paddled to the portage to Juno Lake, where we ate our lunch before the carry. Portaged 78 rods in the sun to Juno Lake and paddled west through this long narrow lake to its end, stopping to look at the next-to-last campsite. At this location I climbed a big hill and saw what there was to see--made me think of the song, "The Bear Went Over the Mountain"--the other side of the hill was all that I could see! After this profound experience :-), we were back in the canoe.

At the end of Juno Lake there is a strange bay where almost all of the tall trees are blown down or dead. It looked like a big wind came through and stirred things up in all directions. The campsite was very barren and we decided not to stay, but to return to the previous one. A "convention" of black butterflies [I guess that is a "puddle" of white admirals] and a beautiful group of iris did beg to be photographed first.

The site we chose was of marginal quality, with the tent right on the lake and lots of rocks in the fire-grate area. The view of the lake was nice, however, and there was some grass.

We climbed the hill together and discovered that the biffy used to be nearly at the top--a really awesome climb in time of need! It was hard to photograph this hill and give the feeling of steepness at the summit, but of course we tried. [Look carefully and you can see me at the top, waving my arms.]

Temperature was 64 degrees, with an overcast sky again, and mosquitoes everywhere. We had both finished our paperback books, and I hoped we wouldn't begin to get on each other's nerves! Ha! Neil's camp saw was broken, and he spent time accomplishing a repair with sticks and duct tape.

The evening brought a dead calm with perfect reflections. The lake was so narrow it had that "river" feeling, and the high hills made for interesting echoes. Songbirds sang all afternoon and evening. We were really alone on this lake and that felt good.

Before hanging the packs, I inventoried the food and decided it would be an "eat every morsel" trip, but that would be OK. [All of our evening meals were freeze-dried entrees, freeze-dried veggies, and usually some sort of dessert.]

At 7:52 PM, with 66 degrees in the tent, it promised to be the warmest sleeping yet!