Friday, September 02, 2022, our 50th anniversary. Jean, a couple no-names, Boulder and Your Lakes. 5 portages (220, 50, 30, 160, and 660 meters). 8.0 miles total travel.

We were up around 6:00 hoping to get an early start and miss the afternoon winds. We were treated to a beautiful sunrise.

As we left our campsite, we heard some thunder, but the only heavy cloud cover and lightning strikes I saw were about 2.5 miles to the south and moving east, so it appeared we would avoid the storm, and the day turned out to be sunny with scattered clouds. We paddled against the wind most of the day, and the day's portages don't appear to get much use or maintenance. Beaver activity has turned some of the 'portages' into 'float your boat' or even 'pole your canoe' segments, with a couple of the transitions between walking and floating segments hard to recognize or find.

Because we paddled longer yesterday than planned, we arrived at today's planned campsite on Your Lake at lunch time. We decided that if the wind died while we were eating lunch, we'd head into Badwater Lake, but that would commit us to three more portages. The wind didn't die, so we set up camp at our lunch stop on Your Lake, had baths and rinsed out clothes, had hot drinks, then cooked up a meal that's been more than one canoe trip/anniversary dinner: Shrimp with creamy garlic shells followed by fruit compote with crunchy granola topping. The sunset was a matching bookend to the sunrise.

I'm using Tia's journal to remind me of each day's events as I write this trip report, and just found this: “I've been thinking today that marriage is like a canoe trip. Sunny days and rough weather, calm waters and unexpected storms. Beauty in unexpected places, and through it all we must work together for success.”