We wake up, break down camp and head north around 10am. We're targeting the site on the north shore of the lake, the site just west as you leave the long portage. The rocky porch would be in the wind and would take the bugs away. This is really nice site and has all the intangibles. Great firegrate area, nice rocky porch and lake views, and an excellent tarp area. The tent pads were just OK. Several were ruined by campers who had fires over them and were now covered in coals. This is an extremely overused site. There were sticks and wood debris everywhere. It felt like a cluttered house.

We ended up staying at this site over the next two nights and finally started seeing the expected traffic come onto the lake. Some friendly fishermen tossed us a trout they had caught on their way out, thanks for the snack fellas! That evening we had two young men come up to our site asking if we had seen 3 canoes come by. We were off looking for firewood and hadn't seen anything. They said they lost them shortly after coming out of the long portage around 6pm. They said they circled the lake once, dropped their gear off at the sand beach site, and were on their second round of searching. All I could think is 'What the hell is going on on this lake!'. Now we are sitting on the front porch for a while searching out into the lake as we see these two frantically paddle in decent winds looking for their friends. They end up going back to the beach site after an unsuccessful search. How do you lose 3 canoes? Who knows, weird week I guess.

The next morning we are visited by a forest ranger doing a routine latrine check. He asks to come up and take a look and off he went into the woods. On his way back, I ask if he's heard anything about the missing man. It was at this point he let me know they retrieved the body Wednesday afternoon. My heart shrunk and stomach dropped. It was what we all had been thinking but to hear it spoken felt so final. I was relieved to have closure but it was very sobering. We chatted with this Ranger for a bit. He lets us know it's his first official year as a ranger and that he'd been doing it for 17 years as a volunteer and paid pre-ranger? Anywho, we were all very impressed with his dedication to the job and thanked him for his duty. Those guys and gals are awesome! We also let him know about the two guys who stayed at the beach site searching for their lost friends. Ranger said he'd check it out. He came back not too long after saying there were two chairs and a bag left at the site. We were all confused by this, but hopefully those two guys found their friends and just happened to leave their gear there.

We decide this would be our final night, one night short of what we had planned. The events that took place were all we could think or talk about and we wanted out. We left swiftly on the morning of Sunday May 23rd, arriving to the lodge at 11am. We spoke with Andy at length about everything and he was very informative about search and rescue and past missions.

A lot of learning lessons came out of this trip: both life and canoeing related. Main lesson, life is precious and things rarely go as planned. Learn to accept that and go forth with your best effort. Another one being, if you flip your canoe don't try and flip back as it's nearly impossible and retreat to shore immediately, especially if the water is freezing. Everything is easier to judge in hindsight of course. Also, make sure everyone on the trip knows the route plan and what you'll do in certain situations. Keep survival items on/in your pfd. Survival items are only good if you have them on you when you need them. I think I'll also want to make sure everyone has seen or has a map on them.

I'm excited to get back out there and use the learnings of this trip to guide me to more enjoyable future trips. I have a trip planned in August with a couple newbies. Should be a great way to experience this wilderness for the first time vicariously through them. Happy paddling!