Wednesday, July 30, 2025 Finally a night without rain. Still fairly smoky, but Jesse's back feels a little better. We set the solar shower out to warm in the sun.

We made pancakes on the solo stove! I've always thought that it burned too hot, but that turned out not to be true. Jesse has gone for a walk along the shore to see if he can hike to the Mudhole portage- we are quite close to it. Earlier we cut and split some "fun" wood, just for a campfire if the smoky skies ever moderate. Collected lots of twigs and chips for the solo stove.

The woods along the shore here are fairly open, with red and white pines. It's easy to find trails. There's lots of noisy red squirrels and interesting insects, along with quite a few pillbugs.....which I guess are actually terrestrial crustaceans. And so many mushrooms popping up after all the rain.

We took showers and washed our clothes, then I went down the shore and sat on a pair of granite boulders that formed a lounge chair under a good sized white pine. We've seen a soloist and a group of 3 canoes today. Then we went exploring to find the portage into Home Lake. It's not where the Voyager map shows it, or the map on this site. It's on the side of the peninsula closest to the campsites, on the main body of Gull, not in the western bay. Hiked the portage and saw that someone had left undies and socks on a log on the Home end.....we did not pack them out. I draw the line at some guys underwear.....

Back in camp, had dinner and a fire. Smoke has really dissipated. A couple beaver went swimming by and an eagle is roosting in a tree across the lake from us. Finally went to bed when the sun went down.

~Gull Lake, Home Lake