After a loud thunderstorm, the alarm wakes us at 4:30 AM. We get to the public landing on Burntside Lake and are shoving off at 6:15 into a sunny morning with a slight breeze. The lake is a large one and the maze of islands make navigation very tricky for us but we manage to locate the Crab Lake portage. At one and a half miles long, it’s not the ideal way to start a trip when the packs are heavy. We double and triple portage the mostly level path to finish 3 hours later.

The wind has picked up and is steady right in our face at the landing. Both of us are tired and decide to look for a site to camp and take the first one on the left. It’s fairly big with protected areas for our sleeping quarters. The only drawback is the small landing.

The bay and islands block some of the wind for us but it picks up as the day goes on.

This is Jake taking it easy.

Luna chilling out.

Both dogs are canoe country veterans but have never gone with other dogs before. So far so good. There's wind and rain forecasted for tomorrow so we decide to layover here. Our bodies need to recover a bit and we have plenty of time. The dogs play fetch with a tennis ball and a stick. It's nice that they don't compete for each others toys. I'll be finding out just how different these dogs are as the trip goes on.

It rains lightly just before dark but the wind has died down and it's warm going down to the 50's overnight. A thunderstorm is in the forecast around midnight tonight. So far it's been a great start.