Wednesday, July 17, 2024 Up early, coffee and oatmeal and broke camp. The Vera to Knife portage was....interesting. There's the climb out of Vera, which I was expecting, and then there's a washed out downhill section complete with sloped curving rockface leading to a creek crossing. Would be tough in the rain, potential to be pretty slick. Once on Knife the winds picked up and the skies started looking ugly, so we ended up camping on the east end of Robbins Island, just past Dorothy's Isles of Pines. Nice open site tucked away in the cedars with loads of native fruit- red elderberries, pin cherries, raspberries. Lots of birds in the fruit trees/bushes- song sparrow, hermit thrush, tanager, red eyed vireo, cedar waxwings, veery, ovenbird. Also the border marker is in a rock on the north edge of the campsite. Great hammock potential, most of the tent pads look like they would be swampy if it rained hard. Found one tucked along the latrine trail that looked drier and it's flattish. Lots of groups paddling by looking for a camp. Knife is busy busy busy. Already feels odd to hear other voices in the woods. Had a nice fire and coffee and I'm sure we had dinner but I couldn't tell you what it was. ~Vera Lake, Knife Lake