Monday, July 28, 2025 Up early. Wind has shifted to the NW, smells smoky. Had coffee and breakfast and got packed up to go an hour or so after sunrise. Made good time across Fourtown and Boot. An otter swam up and hissed at us while we paddled across Fourtown. Fairy lived up to it's name, a really lovely little lake. The prime campsite was occupied, but we stopped for lunch at the site near the portage in to Gun. It's nicer than it looks from the water.....one really nice shady flat tent pad. It was getting pretty hot and much smokier, so we decide to stop on Gun if we found a good enough site. Best two were taken, so we ended up at the site closest to the portage into Gull, on the NW shore.

It has a shady kitchen area, a flat enough tent pad and a decent landing. Wouldn't base camp here, but good enough for one night. We saw lots of open sites today, which is encouraging. Jesse made coffee after camp got set up and we sat in the shade. The new feet we got for our helinox chairs work great- no more sinking into the soft ground!

The site also has a resident mink which we saw a lot. Seemed like maybe its den was under a bush along the water near the landing. A toad also took up residence in my neoprene sock when I left it on the ground. Saw a snowshoe hare and a hummingbird. The camp also has an old bedspring and remnants of what looks like a stove, and we found a nice pair of fishing pliers.

Dinner was "lasagna" and strawberry cheesecake....delicious but not lasagna or cheesecake. Lots of late paddlers portaging into Gun from Gull in the rain at 8pm. Jesse's back is really bothering him tonight.

~Fourtown Lake, Boot Lake, Fairy Lake, Gun Lake