It is a beautiful morning though a bit breezy. We have a quick breakfast, pack, and are on the water by 8:45. This time we take the longer, 40-rod, portage to Upper Pauness. The portage is flat, and very easy. Soon we are paddling the LIS again. Very beautiful. There are lots of ducks and their young out today.

The trip is relaxed and uneventful. Of course, now we are paddling upstream and the portages are uphill. We are to the entry point parking lot with all our gear by 11:00 a.m. I retrieve the car.

This is the moment of truth. Julie and I left a small cooler in the car with a couple beers in it. Would they be cold? We stored the cooler with ice in the freezer at VNO to have it as cold as possible before we left the bunkhouse. I open the cooler. No ice, just beer bobbing in the water … but the water, and beer, is still cold!!

Even with our beer break, changing shoes, etc. we have the car loaded by noon. It is 33 miles to VNO in Ely and we arrive shortly after 1:00 p.m. for showers and souvenirs. We do lunch at Vertin’s at 2:00, and are heading down Hwy 169 out of Ely at 3:00.

We stop in Duluth at 4:45 for gas. Gas prices have risen 24 cents a gallon since we were through here six days ago. It is now $3.14. It could be worse. We drove my Toyota Corolla wagon and got 31 mpg with the canoe on the roof. That fill up was enough to get us home. It was 9:15 p.m. when we pulled up, still early enough that the family was awake to greet us.

Another great trip!