The wind had died down during the night and we got a little morning dew. This was the only moisture to speak of during this trip. I guess we couldn't go home with dry tents.

Up at 7:00 and on the water by 8:30. It was an absolutely beautiful morning. Jim commented that this would be our shortest paddle out of the BWCA ever. It couldn’t have been 300 yards. We just loaded up the boats and just drifted to the exit. We wanted to take as long as possible.

We loaded the canoes, packed the car, changed our clothes, drank the final two beers from the cooler, and were on the road by 9:45 a.m.

We were a half hour down the trail when I suddenly remembered I had forgotten my new Granite Gear water bucket! Jim graciously offered to turn back, but I declined. To retrieve it we’d have to drive back, launch a canoe, paddle to the site, return, and then reload the canoe. That wasn’t worth it. 

I had hung the bucket upside down in a tree to dry out. Both Jim and I made a final sweep of the campsite, but the gray-green bucket must have blended in too well and we didn’t see it. My wife has made me blaze orange bags for my saw and my reflector oven so that kind of thing wouldn’t happen. I think I’ll get some blaze orange ribbon to tie on the handle of the next bucket. I hope Bucky finds a good home.

We pull into Tofte at 10:45 a.m. and there is a thick fog over Lake Superior.

We stop in Duluth for gas and Superior for lunch. The bank says the time is 1:15 and the temperature is 65 degrees when we leave Superior. It is much cooler along the lake than further inland. I bet there is a 20-degree difference.

Jim drops me off at my house at 5:30 pm.

What can I say? It was a great trip.