Wednesday, July 24, 2024 Woke up to sunshine! Coffee and ginger/pear oatmeal and we're on our way.

Fraser and Thomas both smooth as glass. It's clear and calm, perfect paddling weather. Lot's of big white pines, almost all campsites empty. The narrows between Fraser and Thomas is really cool, rock faces about 20-30 feet apart. Not quite as dramatic as Snipe Alley, but still interesting. Such beautiful country- classic BWCA lakes. Took the series of portages into Ima, and started seeing people there, especially once we got near Hatchet. Saw a pair of loons with 2 chicks near the portage out of Thomas. Met a soloist at the portage who was from Colorado and doing his first solo.

Ima was SO busy! Took the first open site we saw that wasn't horrible. It's closest neighbor was MAYBE a 1 star site. Bare ground, that's it, with the latrine in full view of camp and no shade. Only tent pad, directly behind the fire pit. It was taken every night that we we're here, but never more than one night running. Tonight it had some noisy young guys, but they didn't stay up late.

Ours is pretty nice. Obviously heavily used, but has 3-4 decent tent pads, some nice shade, big rocks in front, and a private latrine. It also has an "unnatural population of some species", as the BWCA video puts it. Very bold chipmunks that appear to expect us to feed them. Camp got set up with everything rodent proofed. Packs hung from clotheslines after the chippies tried to crawl inside. Heating the solar shower and wood is split. So many people looking for a site.

Had showers, which felt awesome as always. After seeing how busy this area is, we've decided to stay put for 3 nights and explore the PMA and the other small lakes in the area. If we find something open on Disappointment or Parent we'll take it for our final night, and if not we've only lost one day of our trip.

Stayed up with the fire until we saw the first 4 stars, and then the hungry hordes descended. Wow were they bad! Got a dozen or so in the tent with us, and when we used the flashlight to hunt them down the vestibule filled with skeeters. Jesse took a video that is truly horrifying!

~Fraser Lake, Thomas Lake, Hatchet Lake, Ima Lake