Thursday. Up at 5:30. Nice morning. Had country breakfast [whatever that was?] and biscuits. As we started to eat it began clouding up and was raining when we finished.

[Note: The photo above is two loons. When I think of some of my last loon photos, these just make me cringe. but at the time, it was the only photo I could make. I grew as a photographer during the decades to come, and I also purchased decent equipment. Here is a loon from 2013:

I never realized in 1982 that photography would change so much in the next 20-30 years.]

One of the nicest things about Smokey, from my perspective, is that he washes the dishes! Such a treat!

Another thing about Smokey was memorable. A dedicated fisherman, he kept a "pet leech" that he discovered on his heel, for several days--"So that I won't run out of bait." Of course it grossed out the rest of us, but he insisted that it didn't hurt and there wasn't too much blood visible. It stayed on his heel for at least three full days.

We sheltered in our tents to wait out the weather. Smokey told us he heard large animals in the night--the herd of deer, perhaps?

We ate lunch and hung around until 1:00, trying to decide on the weather (waiting for the tents to dry out.)

[Note; waiting out the rain in the tent seems odd by today's standards, but we dressed in cotton back in those days, and we didn't have modern rain gear, nor did we take a tarp along with us. Procedures certainly changed in ensuing decades of travel.]

Finally we left, and paddled through Thomas, Fraser, Gerund, Ahmakose, Wisini, and camped on Strup with a thunderstorm threatening.

Ray and Sue's tent was up high, overlooking the biffy, so we had a tri-level camp.

Keelee is very frightened of the thunder. He just hides and trembles. Keelee rode in our canoe twice today--a really good little tripping dog.

Ray caught four bass this evening. Fish for breakfast! Yumm!

DAY THREE: SUE

Paddled 7 miles. Woke to a cloudy day at 6:30 AM. Fixed breakfast quickly, ate it, and then it began to rain. We retreated to our tents, expecting a rainy layover day. Around 10 AM it calmed down. We milled around, doing nothing special. Smokey, as ever, continued to fish, but didn't catch anything but a log or two. We kept a watch out for old "Moosie-poo" and remembered with great joy the experience we had with him yesterday. Smokey tried calling him a couple of times, but it seemed the moose had headed to other regions unknown to us. The weather calmed down even more, so we grabbed some lunch, packed up, and headed out for another day's adventure.

We enjoyed a glass-smooth ride on Thomas Lake. It really is an exquisite lake. Through the narrows we passed into Fraser Lake. On this lovely, still lake, we passed an old abandoned island homestead. Once it was a paradise, no doubt, but now looked very lonely and haunted. We portaged and paddled into two small lakes and then into Wisini. . .looking in vain for a campsite. There is a storm moving in fast and we do not relish being on the water during a lightning storm. No campsites anywhere! Desperately we paddle into Strup Lake. There, after much looking, we finally found a very secluded campsite back in a deep bay.

This campsite had three levels: a cooking level, two-tent site level, and then there was "Biffy Palace Level." I called it that because our tent sets high on the hill overlooking the lake to the front and the biffy to the back.

Poor little Keelee is petrified because of the on-again off-again thunderstorm. Luckly, after all our desperate efforts to find and set up camp before the rain hit us, we had no rain! For supper we had macaroni & cheese Trail Food Casserole, veggies, and bran muffins. Ray and Smokey went fishing and Ray caught four very nice bass.

Parts of this lake have been in a forest fire.