I've hammock-camped enough to know the first night of a trip always takes some getting used to: you have to find your comfy spot again in the hammock, adjust your "hang" a few times, and fight with your under-quilt to stay in its place. Additionally, a number of bullfrogs call this island home and throughout most of the night they call to each other across the Island using their "outside voices". So I arise in the morning perhaps not as rested as I hoped. Strong black coffee brewed over the fire is a good remedy, followed by a breakfast of pancakes and bacon.

Our crew starts to put together a plan for the day. Originally we were open to perhaps moving on to other nearby lakes, but we're so charmed by the island site we determine to make it our base camp for the trip as the three nights don't make quite enough time for a good loop.

We decide instead to take this day to do some exploring of the area to our south and we come up with a creative plan to explore more territory. We'll paddle down to the portage to Horseshoe lake. This portage actually intersects with the Pow-Wow trail, so we devise the plan that half of our group will then get out and hike the Pow-Wow trail eastward towards North Wilder Lake, while the others will paddle and portage the remote lakes of Horseshoe, Brewis, and Harbor. I'm in the latter crew. These are lakes largely afflicted by the Pagami Creek fire and are not on the beaten path of many travelers, so we have them entirely to ourselves. Almost 15 years since the great fire, this is area thick with short young Jack Pine and hardwoods (speckled with the haunting skeletons of great old white pine sentinels). The lakes are isolated and quiet. The portages between them barely used, narrow, overgrown, and buggy. Horseshoe has a few modest rocky palisades and a small waterfall greets the lake from nearby Brewis. The portage from Brewis to Harbor is very difficult to find and the back half of it is bog that leads to humorous attempts to paddle through or to sink waist deep in mud. A solitary campsite exists on Harbor Lake but it looks like it hasn't been used since the Pagami creek fire (I believe a short jack pine is growing up through the fire grate). We park our canoes at the landing to the portage to North Wilder and hike up to the Pow-Wow trail. We have timed our arrivals almost perfectly, arriving at the intersection within five minutes of each other.

We switch and a few of us head back west on the Pow-Wow trail while the hikers head down to our canoes parked on Harbor Lake. As the trail follows the shore of North Wilder lake it is pleasant, but the afternoon has become quite hot and humid. I have perhaps not packed enough water and as we plan to hike three miles back to Lake Three, I'm realizing that I may not have planned well for how strenuous this outing has become. I begin to ration my water a bit and press on the mostly pleasant hike. A couple miles into the Pow Wow trail we find a great swampy valley with a large beaver lodge and a beaver couple happily at work. Not long after that we summit a vista above Horseshoe lake before descending back down to the the intersection of the Pow-Wow and the portage back to Lake Three. Our canoes remain in their wooded hiding spot among a grove of cedars. A quick paddle brings us home to the Island in the late afternoon.

The long day of hiking , paddling, and portaging in the heat has me wiped. I opt for a nap in the hammock after returning to the island, but wake up less than an hour later not feeling well. I suspect I've not had enough water as my legs cramp and I realize I am very warm but also not at all sweating. As I make my way to the gravity filter I begin to see stars and experience tunnel vision. A moment later I am wondering why I decided to take a nap on the dirt ground? It turns out I've fainted for the first time in 20 years. Fortunately my head missed some nearby granite and instead I landed on a fairly soft bed of pine needles. I spend the next hour or so faithfully nursing a large bottle of water and fighting off the embarrassment of passing out.

We conclude the evening with a dinner of pork-chops and mashed potatoes, followed by a card game played over our large flat glacial erratic that serves as both a good kitchen counter and a card table. We watch a beautiful sunset over the water and once again retreat from the bugs around 9:45. I am quickly asleep and rest hard through the night.