In regards to our sleep last night, I will just say again how much I hate the humidity. We're used to it in the Midwest but I find it makes camping to be extremely uncomfortable because there's really nothing you can do. Just hope to be able to fall asleep. Breakfast was bacon, eggs and hashbrowns again. They turned out well and didn't take too long. The bacon just ends up being a pain to clean up because of the grease on the pan. As we had breakfast, there was discussion about what our plan was. My original plan was for us to get to John Lake. Seeing how busy it had been on Moose & Mountain so far; I knew getting a site on John Lake would be difficult. It was a group decision that we would try to move quicker than prior days.

We head out onto Moose Lake and start paddling towards North Fowl Lake. I thought the portages between Mountain & Moose were muddy but the landing onto Fowl was worse than anything I've experienced. Waiting for everyone to finish portaging you were basically standing in deep mud that smelled horrible. It was so unpleasant that a few of us waiting for the rest decided to paddle out a bit just so we didn't have to wait there. Our good friend Detroit John ran into us on this portage. We discussed our plans once again and we were both planning to stay on John Lake. We thanked him for scouting the site for us earlier. I think there was a mutual appreciation between our group of 8 and John being a solo paddler. It's nice knowing there's friendly paddlers nearby.

Continuing to head South through the Fowl Lakes, we saw a few cabins on the West side of the lake. This was a first for us and I think I can speak for the group when I say we weren't the biggest fans. I know it was a potential with this route but it takes away from the feeling of being in the wilderness. Maybe that feeling was stronger because someone at a cabin was running a chainsaw. Oh well, we will keep on paddling towards Royal River/Lake. A lot of tall grasses and shallow water forced us to get out of the canoe and walk through the weeds looking for the portage into Royal Lake. Once we made it to Royal Lake it was super weedy with tall grasses again. We had a general sense of what direction to head but it wasn't easy to see where the river exited on the other side of the lake. It was a lot of hard paddling to make it through the weeds.

After another portage, we finally approached John Lake. The first site on the right (748) was occupied and once again, I started to get nervous. Thankfully, the site on the peninsula (747) was open. This site was the first site that actually felt like it was meant for a group our size. Plenty of room, decent tent pad areas, and good seating around the fire. Tents were set up and it was time for lunch. Lunch today would be pita bread, cheese, and salami. Some of us heated it up over the fire and that really brought the meal to another level. It's always nice seeing the mood of the group improve after a meal. The rocky shoreline of our site led to decent fishing. A few pike were caught but nothing noteworthy. Detroit John would come past us and I told him I thought the last site (749) was open. He would end up camping there.

One thing we worked on at this site was building a 3rd bench. Fun to have a few guys working on a project like that. We took a tree that was already down, cut it to length and then cut notches in it so it would sit level. Turned out pretty good if I say so myself. Additional seating is needed with a group our size. Today it would prove to be slightly colder and windier so we were huddled closer to the fire. As I started to prepare dinner, a father and daughter came past in a canoe (from MacFarland Lake) and asked if any other site was open. I told them they were all taken to my knowledge. He then asked about East Pike Lake which I had no idea on. Mind you, it's after 4pm right now and his daughter was under 10 if I had to guess. Could be a long night if they don't find a campsite.

Tonight’s dinner would be the redemption of spaghetti. On our first BWCA trip, we did a complete outfitting package and one of the meals was spaghetti. My dad had warned me from his BWCA trip that the spaghetti was awful. His warning was confirmed for us in 2022. This year, I was determined for that not to happen. I brought noodles, had bagged up spaghetti sauce and picked up meatballs from an Italian deli. We also made some garlic fry bread and had a garlic herb spread to go with it. Let me just say, it turned out incredible. I could not have been happier. Plenty of food for everyone and a warm plate of spaghetti goes a long way when it's a little chilly. As we were finishing dinner, the dad and daughter would come past again, heading back towards MacFarland Lake. They must not have been able to find a site. As we saw them, there was discussion about allowing them to stay at our site. We would be breaking BWCA rules (2 permits and a group of 10 at a site) and we didn't want it to be uncomfortable for them. Again, we are 8 dudes in our 30's, we're enjoying ourselves having some liquor and might not be the right vibe for them. In seriousness, I wasn't sure what the right thing to do was. They would end up going past and there would be continued discussions on if we should have offered. I can tell you now that in the future, I would at least make the offer.

After dinner, most of the night was spent by the fire keeping warm. With the clouds, we weren't able to see many stars. Knowing that we have been running into a lot of people, we decided to look at the map and make a plan for tomorrow. Originally, my plan was for our last 2 nights to be on East and West Pike Lake. It would be pretty easy to get to East Pike tomorrow so it was suggested that maybe we try to make it to West Pike. I knew there were a few awesome sites on West Pike and the group seemed to agree, let's make a push for West Pike Lake tomorrow.