I woke up at 7:00 a.m. What a great night! I slept warm and dry. I love my new(er) Big Agnes pad. Ahhhh … 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I never get that at home!

Breakfast was bacon, eggs, coffee, and tea. Three eggs each! We plan for breakage but have never had one break. We wrap extra cardboard around the egg container. Traditionally we make the first supper and breakfast a little more fancy (and heavier) than the rest of the meals. Then we settle into “BWCA” food.  

Between the extra cardboard, bulky eggs, and last night’s steak and salad, there is now a lot more room in the food pack, which gets filled with some back-jabbing items from the other packs. We start packing at 9:00 a.m. and are paddling by 10:00.

The 280-rod portage to Ruby Lake is only a short distance away. The portage is well worn with good footing. Most of the portage isn’t too bad, however, there is one big hill that is a “heart thumper”. One-way portage time is 25 minutes.

We meet a soloist traveling the opposite direction, however, since he is double portaging too, we wind up walking the portage together twice. He is very friendly and talkative. Sometimes he’s with me, sometimes with Julie, but always in a conversation. The results, I’m sure, of soloing. When he finds out we are heading to Emerald Lake his response is, “Isn’t that a dead end?” I guess that seems strange for some, but we often seek out those kind of places.

After paddling across Ruby we easily find the 15-rod portage to Hustler. However, we make note that when we come back this way in a couple days it may be harder to find. The landing on the Hustler side is obscured by over hanging branches. In fact, the soloist we met mentioned he had a hard time finding the portage. Once on the water we make mental notes of the landmarks near the landing.

A downed tree in the water blocks the 48-rod portage from Hustler to Emerald Lake. Unloading and landing was a challenge. Good thing I had a youngster along to help me. Once gear, canoe, and people were on shore, the rest of the portage was easy. 

We arrive on Emerald Lake at 1:00 p.m. The water is clear with a green tint. We check out both campsites and both are open. It’s our choice of which to take. The southern site looks good, but the northern site looks great. The northern site is closest to the portage but a small island blocks sight of the portage. The site is high up on a cliff face. It’s a beautiful overlook of the entire lake. The water appears to be deep out in front of camp. The weather is beautiful. This is home for two-nights. Others calling this lake home are 2 loons, 2 gulls, and at least one beaver.

We get the camp set up and then take time for a swim. There is a throne area at this site. It is an elevated rock shelf that overlooks the fire pit and the rest of the lake. It is the perfect size for Julie’s and my chairs to sit side by side. We look like a king and queen holding court sitting there. It is a perfect spot for lounging. Actually the entire site is about as perfect as you can get, and we’re the only ones on the lake.

Supper tonight is Lipton Side Dish – Creamy Chicken Noodle - with a foil package of chicken stirred in. This is a recipe/technique I picked up from Jim Balow on our BWCA trip earlier in the year. It was great.

I cooked. Julie did the dishes. I nodded in my chair while she washed.

We didn’t have many bugs, but this night a few mosquitoes came out. Since I was sleeping anyway, I let the bugs be my excuse to head to bed at 9:30. I read for about a half hour, and then … ZZZZZZZZ.