I awoke at 3:30 for nature's call and didn't get back to sleep. I listened to the birds waking up, the bullfrogs at the creek, and beavers slapping in our little sheltered bay. Finally got up at 5 AM and enjoyed the dawn. It was very warm and damp, with gray clouds scudding by, but I felt optimistic that it would clear. We were warm and dry in the night.

The beavers had left a big branch in the water, and I watched it as it floated away, eventually going out of sight. It was wonderful on "my rock" before the flies woke up! After the one photo of the clouds, I took a couple more of the silvery dawn.

We had cornmeal/blueberry pancakes again, along with the rest of the bacon. The flies were waking up as I said goodbye to my sitting rock and we loaded the canoe at 7:40. We paddled around to the little bay beside the campsite before leaving. (Still no moose.)

There was considerable wind assist for our paddle up Cherokee Lake on this morning. It is easy to spot the portage from this direction, as there is a tall stump right at the take-out point. The 13-rod portage to Gordon is easy also. We paddled in a leisurely fashion up Gordon, taking time out to bother some loons for photos. I had to change film, so lost the best shots of these. I again noticed a rock formation that I think looks remarkably like a big-nosed face. I had photographed this in '92 also.

Stopping early because I really wanted to stay at the Gordon Lake site, I was pleased to note that it still has a lot of wild columbines, particularly lining the lower end of the biffy trail. I photographed these and some other flowers in the filtered light.

It is hard to relax and just "be here" when you are being swarmed. We probably should have stopped, seen the flowers, and moved on. Taking refuge in the tent was not a pleasant experience, as we were sweaty and smelly and the tent was HOT! We played some Racko, read our books, and soon it started to blow and rumble.

A tiny thundershower was followed by an intense thunderstorm, and a very angry looking sky. You could hear the wind approaching, then the lightning, followed by the crash! Sometimes the flash and the crash were so close it took your breath away!

When the wind became significantly cooler, I began to hope that we might lose the flies. But soon the sun was shining, the sky was beautiful again, and they returned. We did get out to rinse off in the lake, swatting and brushing all the time, and that made the tent more pleasant when we had to again take refuge against more storms. There was a storm at 4 o'clock, another at 5, and another at 6 when we were thinking about fixing supper. [There is no note in my journal about whether or not we had supper, but I assume we did, and it was made in rain gear.]

This campsite has a biffy trail that ends in not much of a clearing, and a nice overlook of the tent site and fire grate area below.

My plans for an evening paddle had been pretty much squelched by the changeable weather during the day and the late supper. We were thankful that the last storm left us with cooler temperatures, and we retired early.