Tuesday. This day started at 5:45. Neil has one of his shoes held together with duct tape. The sky is gray and it is sprinkling. Mountain House sausage patties were very good [never found these again, and we really liked them] along with hash browns for our breakfast. The ducks are still around.

We shoved off at 7:40. The sun came out as we got to the pictographs and then it became overcast and super-calm. Great reflections to enjoy on the river banks.

By the time we got to Alice the sky was a bright silver and hazy, and the water completely calm. Completely. In Insula our wake was the only ripple on the surface--a bright, glaring silver sky and a very eerie feeling. It was like paddling on liquid silver under a matching sky. Floating free. I've never seen anything like this in the BWCA. [And as I write this in 2021, I still haven't. A very vivid memory, indeed.]

We had our lunch on a rocky island in Insula and the wind began picking up. The portage to Hudson was really crowded--like a zoo! One boy was asking me a lot of questions and was very impressed at how far we'd gone.

We were feeling ready to camp as we got into Hudson with the wind getting stronger. We pulled in at the first site, but it was so badly overused I rejected it. So we headed north towards Fire Lake, and found a good site on the point at the narrows. We ended up stopping at 2:30.

This was a nice day; lovely places, easy portages, and very unusual paddling environment. The calm until 1:30 was unique--the most breathtaking silence! Why I didn't take more photos is another mystery. Perhaps I was just so mesmerized I didn't think to pull out the camera.

A gorgeous evening, clouds and sky beautiful, temperature warm and comfortable.

I sat up and watched the sunset, and saw the full moon come up over the trees. Watched a beaver swim across the lake, and two large turtles exploring around my rock. A very real feeling of never wanting to leave here.

We slept with the flap open and listened to pine needles dropping on the rain fly.