I'm a light sleeper to begin with, but with no rain fly to block out the first light of the early morning, I was up by 4:30 AM. I packed up camp, and was at the portage into North Temperance before 6:00 AM. That portage, the paddle through North Temperance, and the portage into Sitka went by fairly quickly and easily, but soon enough it was time for the beast of a portage between Sitka and Cherokee. Afterwards I decided the portage (listed at 140 or 165 rods depending on the map) had to be closer to 200 rods. It was constant up, down, back up, back down, over and over. There was some tight spots where trees had fallen, mudholes, slippery areas, rocky sections- it had it all, and it thoroughly kicked my ass. When I got to the Cherokee side, I sat down fully clothed in the cool water for a good 5 minutes before heading back for my 2nd trip, and repeated that again upon returning. I was out of water, my foot was pounding, and I sweating non-stop. My video of celebrating my completion of the portage has me saying "I 100% absolutely never need to do that portage again, but I made it, and I'm here on Cherokee". The thumbs up and smile I gave the camera told the real story though, and I would definitely be up the challenge again were I to ever get the chance, preferably with a temperature 20 degrees cooler!

I stopped at site #890 near the portage and filtered enough water to refill all my bottles. Another magical moment happened there- a painted turtle was digging a hole for her eggs in the middle of a rocky slope halfway up from the water to the site. She paid me no attention, going about her business calmly and casually. It was a good reminder to me to do the same on this trip.

I paddled the rest of the way through Cherokee (what a beautiful lake!) and checked out a couple open sites on the north end of the lake in case I needed them (I didn't) and then turned east to head towards Town Lake, my ultimate goal for the day. By then the winds had picked up out of the E/SE fairly strongly, and the last mile towards Town Lake was a bit of work through the whitecaps. The easiest way to portage into Town Lake is a bit hidden, but there is a channel that leads into a small beaver pond around the right side (south side) as you approach the last little peninsula. I did have to get out and pull around some rocks, but paddled through the beaver pond and probably cut out about 2/3 of the portage.

When I got to Town Lake, the wind was blowing stiffly in my face and the entire west side of the lake was whipped into a whitecap frenzy, which made for a slow and tough paddle to check the lone campsite on the lake. I followed the shoreline as tightly as possible, put my head down, and pushed onward. Luckily the site was empty and I would not have to turn back to those other sites on Cherokee. The site sits close to the water with a fairly rocky landing, two tent pads, and a walk up a steep hill to the latrine. The tent pads are very open to the sun, which on a hot and humid day was not at all appreciated, since all I wanted to do was lay down and take a nap. I also made this observation "I don't know what happened between yesterday and today or if it's just this lake, but there are flies everywhere- deer flies, horse flies, stable flies and they are annoying". It seemed too early in the year for all of those flies, but I made due by putting my chair right along the shoreline in the wind and sitting there relaxing.

I did eventually take a short nap in my oven of a tent, but when I woke up a strange fit of soul searching began. I spent a good 3 hours complaining internally and out loud about the heat, my foot, my lack of catching fish, the upcoming forecast (thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday), and my general exhaustion, all with no one else around to break me out of my funk. It was then that I decided that soloing wasn't really for me. I like people, I like talking, and I like sharing the wilderness experience with someone else. I decided I would exit the BW the next day, despite being a fairly good distance away from any possible exit. Once I made that decision, it was like a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders. My brain relaxed and doubts and worries were pushed aside enough for me to calm down and get back in the moment and the mindset I wanted to be in.

When on a lake trout lake in a fairly remote lake of the BW, you had better get out and see what you can catch, so when the winds died down a little bit about 8:00 PM, I did just that. The western end of the lake was still mostly whitecapped, so I trolled a giant circle around the eastern half of the lake, and about 3/4 around that circle I hooked into what felt like a very nice fish. I picked up my rod and let the wind do what it would with my canoe while I reeled up my catch. I got the lake trout to the surface and grabbed the net, only to have the fish come off the hook, swim into my net, and then flop back into the water to return to the depths when I tried to lift it into the boat. My best estimate put that fish somewhere in the 26-28" range. It would have been my first BW lake trout, but alas, that would have to wait. It was still an exhilarating experience, and one I won't soon forget.

I continued trolling for another 20 or so minutes and had another tug at my line. When I went to grab my fishing rod, the paddle slipped out the side of the canoe and into the water. To make it worse, there was no fish on the end of the line. I watched helplessly as my canoe drifted away from the paddle. I took quick note of what was in the canoe to help me, but neither the net or my fishing pole were able to help change the now pissed off drunken sailor (I'm glad no one was around to hear me!) back into the pacified canoeist I had been moments earlier.

So I did what needed to be done. I jumped in the lake, grabbed the side of the canoe, kicked against the wind until the canoe and I caught up with my paddle, and then kicked the boat another 50 or so yards over to the nearest rocky shoreline. For the first time all trip I was happy for it to have been so hot. Most years jumping into a deep cool lake on an early June night at 9:00 PM would have been damn cold. But not this day! I had a good laugh at myself while I loaded back into my canoe, completely erasing any remaining negativity from earlier in the day. I went back to camp happily soaking wet, which turned out to the just the ending I needed to what had become a wonderful final evening in the BW.