Tuesday, August 30, 2022. Quetico Lake. No portages. 8.0 miles in crazy wind, 3.5 mile calm evening paddle to visit pictograph sites.

We awoke to a cloudless blue sky and temperatures cool enough that we put on our down layers. The trumpeter swans were still in the sheltered bay, and we saw and heard a pileated woodpecker zip through the campsite. The wet gear took a bit longer to organize, so it was around 9:00 when we got on the water, which was already in whitecaps. We needed a rest break after only 45 minutes of paddling, then pushed on until around 11:00 when we stopped at a sunny campsite for an extended lunch break. While there, two canoes of anglers came by; one returned later and said that due to strong headwinds, they couldn't paddle around the west end of the island and would try to use the island as wind protection. After a two-hour lunch stop, with very little change in the wind, we decided to slightly change our route, use islands and shores for wind protection, and move toward Cirrus Lake. It was still crazy, tough paddling. The bow of the canoe would be lifted by the crest of a wave, then slap into the trough behind it, and we had to be careful not to get sideways in a trough.

We took a couple more rest breaks, and when the whitecaps eased up a bit we made it into a north-south channel that was calm (by the day's standards). We paddled to a campsite between Quetico Lake's pictograph sites and the wind calmed to light breezes as we set up camp. We decided to have an early dinner and paddle to the pictos.

We were back in camp at 8:00 and called it a day. It was so calm all evening that we could hear the rapids at our next portage almost a mile away.