After ten full days of exploring this beautiful park, it is time to depart. We are all now looking forward to our reward of a hot shower and a cheeseburger. But first, packing up camp one last time and enjoying the fact that there seems to be a breeze blowing out of the north, perfect for cruising home across Cache Bay and Saganaga. One last portage around Silver Falls and we make quick work of it, happy to be on the last leg of the journey.

Or so we thought!!! After being pushed along by the wind in the channel leading to Cache Bay, we soon realized that the rest of the journey was not going to be a cake walk. Entering the main body of water, the swells are bigger than anything we have ever experienced. We ride the waves, the white caps rising over the canoe. Its a treacherous few minutes and I realize we need to head for shore and beach the canoes. We are blown into the eastern shoreline, hit the rocks and are keenly aware of the situation. No way are we venturing back onto the water until the wind abates. Its only 11AM so we are in no particular hurry. We are nearly out of food so I catch 3 bass for lunch and we just settle in and wait, and wait and wait. The wind is unrelenting , trees swaying above us. We are literally stranded in the woods, so I build a firepit in case we have to stay the night. We decide if we cant get back on the water by 4 PM that we will make camp in the woods. Sitting on the shore and watching the waves crash,we assess that we arent going anywhere this evening. We watch 2 other canoes attempt to traverse the bay and we cant tell from our distance but it looked like one of them didnt succeed and maybe capsized near the ranger station island.

Setting up our tents in the woods, on whatever patch of relatively open spots we can find, we settle in for the night and pray that the morning dawns much, much calmer.