Friday. We were up at 6:15, a misty, damp and cool morning. Smokey and Ray caught five more bass. Fish and pancakes for breakfast--Mmmm!

Left camp about 11 AM. Enjoyed lunch on a "blueberry hill" in beautiful Kekekabic Lake. Gathered blueberries for pancakes, and also ate a few. (More than a few.)

We ended up on a lovely two-bedroom campsite on the South Arm of Knife Lake. Neil and I are off in the woods by ourselves.

Bathed, did more laundry. Smokey is so sunburned! Also his feet are badly blistered. (He was wearing a pair of old, raggedy tennis shoes.)

A group of eight loons came by. Here are some more photos that will make you use your imagination.

There was a lovely sunset. We sat and enjoyed it while Smokey fished unsuccessfully until dark.

DAY FOUR: SUE

Paddled four miles. Smokey stumbled out of this tent this morning. . .couldn't get himself going. Ray immediately ushered him into the canoe, complete with coffee cup, and they went fishing. Smokey caught three more bass to add to a splendid catch for breakfast. What a mess of fish to cook up, and to accompany them we had pancakes, too! Absolutely divine!

The skies are still heavy with gray clouds, but we won't let that deter us. We are on the water by 10 AM.

The sky was clearing by the time we got to beautiful Lake Kekekabic. The sun was painting the gorgeous, high, alpine-like hills a golden tinge. Gosh, that lake was so beautiful we stopped paddling and floated for a while, hanging onto each others' canoes. The wind was very gentle, creating tiny rivulets across the water's surface. And nowhere have I seen the water so astoundingly clear!

Finally we got up our ump and paddled slowly in tandem to a hill that just had to have blueberries on it. Smokey said so. And, by George, it did! So we lunched and picked berries and found it increasingly hard to leave this fabulously beautiful lake. Someday we vowed we would return.

On we went, through Pickle, Spoon, and Bonnie. Just small lakes. Then we made our camp on the South Arm of Knife Lake. We all had a nice swim and rest before supper. Camaraderie is high and we find ourselves reluctant to leave this trip. Such good fun!

Ray rigged up a sort of makeshift "hook'n'sniffy" using the pack hanging rope and a rock. The object was to loop the rock over a certain branch. I did pretty well, but as usual Ray got better and better, and was beating me at it consistently. Smokey did fairly well, too. I can still see him poised for action as he got ready to swing that rock over the branch.

Neil has been such a good and faithful fire tender. We could always count on him to have a just perfect cooking fire for all of our meals and a warm, glowing fire for our evenings.

Ray was our trusted Voyageur of the group. Map in hand and compass at the ready. Between him and Neil, we always knew where we were going.

Lynda, more often than not, had her little pad and pencil in hand in the evenings. Writing down details and times of each day to capture in her future journal. Her easy-going manner made her a most enjoyable companion to canoe and camp with. Loved that reversible red and white hat, Lynda!

[Note: The aforementioned hat was just one of a string of canoeing hats that I have had over the past 50 years. It fit well and on a sunny day I would wear the white side out, to give me a more shaded view for my eyes. On dark days I reversed it, giving a white underside and a feeling of light in my view. It worked remarkably well. This photo is from 1992, as there are no photos of me at all on this canoe trip.]

And Keelee, our ever-present and ferocious bear dog. Bless his little heart, he does love these canoe trips even if he is a little terrified of thunderstorms. One of Keelee's more notable moments came this evening, when in hot pursuit of a squirrel, he went tearing across the campsite, stumbled and did a triple somersault. He came up looking in the opposite direction of where the squirrel went. Poor little fella was totally confused and humiliated. Smokey, Ray and I didn't help matters by nearly rolling on the ground in hysterical laughter. Neil and Lynda, you missed one of Keelee's more historic moments when you didn't catch that little incident. [I suspect we were out gathering firewood.]