You can hear the little waterfall at the portage from this campsite. I didn't notice it the first time because I thought it was the wind. But it lulled me to sleep in the night and was the first thing I heard in the morning. Such a pleasant sound!

We had a cool and misty morning, 47 degrees. The sun rose red in a clear sky and the temperature climbed quickly. It was 58 degrees by 7 o'clock.

Breakfast was Krusteaz apple pancakes (made from a muffin mix) and they were good. Having the real maple syrup along makes any pancakes better, worth the weight IMHO! Ended the second bottle of stove fuel on this morning. The lake was still, with beautiful reflections. As we were packing up, Neil suggested that we could take the portage to Snipe Lake and stay for one more day, but when the flies returned we scuttled that idea. We loaded up at 9 AM, after enjoying a leisurely morning in camp with an extra cup of coffee.

We did take the stream up to the Snipe Lake portage and enjoyed the pitcher plants, the dragonflies (mating in air--how do they do that?), damselflies, and no moose! I was so sure that Cross Bay Lake, which is moose habitat throughout, would give us a good moose sighting on this trip, but it wasn't to be.

There were lots of dragonflies and damselflies on this day. I photographed too many, and Neil was so patient as I tried getting shots of the damsels from the canoe.

We ate our lunch at a campsite on Hamm Lake. We could hear engines running and Neil said it was probably a logging operation. It was hot and humid, so we didn't stay a long time.

On the last portage of the trip we were surprised to find that a tree had been blown down at the bottom of the area where the Forest Service had put in some steps. It had caused a washout and some instability in the steps, so there would need to be repairs done. The gravel at the bottom was loose and Neil startled me when he slipped and dropped the canoe, but no harm was done.

By the end of this portage I was suffering in the heat, well over 90 degrees. I half-heartedly photographed some damselflies, but was really just ready to be done. We reached the landing about noon and snacked before loading the car.

HAVE I MENTIONED THAT THERE WERE FLIES?

While we were loading, a septic tank service from Grand Marais came and started cleaning out the toilet. It didn't add much to the hot and sticky atmosphere! The driver said that he would probably draw the flies away, but we weren't that lucky!

The road back to Clearwater had two significant challenges. First of all, there were so many dead and dying worms dropping from the trees and all over the road that the Gunflint Trail was actually slippery! Almost like driving on new snow. Incredibly weird!

Secondly, we were having some serious car trouble. After realizing this, we stopped near Gunflint Road and put up the hood. Ended up hitching a ride with a very nice couple from Wisconsin, who drove us all the way to Clearwater Lodge (even though they weren't going there.) We saw a large bull moose in the water along Clearwater Road, but I wasn't very successful in photographing him.

At Clearwater we ended up making arrangements for our car to be towed to Grand Marais (to Steve's Chevrolet) and Bob Marchino was kind enough to drive us back to the car so we could leave the keys in it and grab some bags. We were glad we had ended a day early and hopeful that the car could be repaired on Friday. We were also thankful that Charlie's room was available for an extra night, or even the weekend, if necessary. Not the easiest ending to a canoe trip, but things could have been worse.