When you have an 8 hour drive to get home and a few hours of wilderness to paddle through before that, its somewhat important to get an early start to your day. So for only the second time this week, I had to set an alarm. 5:30 AM should be early enough to need an alarm, but I was up by 5:15 so I packed up most of camp and let Jaden sleep a bit longer. We were on the water at 7:00 AM while most of the lake still seemed to be sound asleep. The 2 longer portages between Polly and Kawasachong were still wet from the morning dew and yesterday's rain, so there were a few muddy and slippery spots. Both Jaden and I had a couple times we slipped in the mud and nearly fell while carrying our loads, but thankfully neither of us got hurt.

When we got to Kawasachong, there were lots of people out fishing and all four sites looked occupied. We did see a couple fish get caught and I wish we would have had time to join them. But alas, we pushed through Kawasachong and Square and starting meeting groups headed in once we got to the river near Kawishiwi Lake. We did get a bit lost in the islands headed through Kawishiwi, but figured it out quickly enough to not lose too much time. When we rounded the last point and could finally see the landing, it was jam packed full of people There were 6 canoes and 15 people from 2 different groups trying to get things loaded. It was a true northwoods circus in every aspect, but we pulled off to the side, unloaded and got out of the way before any of them made any true progress. A long and uneventful drive home capped off yet another wonderful visit to the Boundary Waters, and planning has already begun for our next journey north!