It got cold again but I had my underquilt adjusted and slept good and warm. I'm up early and the sunrise is gorgeous. We paddle across Crab and retrace the mile and half portage back to Burntside. There's lots of people on the long portage today. We share it with a solo guy from Texas, another solo guy from the east coast and a couple of guys from Minnesota. Bob blows my mind by taking his small pack and canoe all the way in one trip. I usually stop halfway to drop my pack then come back for it. Bob is crazy strong. Could be a bit of a Paul Bunyan with all the chopping he does.

The wind is down and it's beautiful and sunny as we paddle Burntside back to the cars. We get a room in town and chill out in Ely for the rest of the day. I really like paddling with Bob and Jake and hope to do it again sometime.

The next morning we had plans for a 6:00 AM breakfast at Brittons with Lawrence "Magicpaddler" and Ben "Nctry". The place was packed, the food and coffee great as ever and a perfect way to end our stay in Ely. Lawrence was packing calories in preparation to start another exhausting 200 mile solo for the Watertribe Challenge of paddling the border lakes to Lake Superior.