We knew our remaining group member would be arriving sometime the next day. With our full group present, we planned to move camp on day three. Each of us took off to our activities of choice this day. I followed the portage into Caribou beneath the bright and sunny sky. I pondered the memories of past trips as I looked across the bay towards a site I once occupied with a guided group four years prior. I followed the wolf tracks across the short portage to Horseshoe, where plenty of other memories have been made. There was nearly no snow on the lakes and thin amounts on the trails, so travel wasn't too difficult at this point. On Horseshoe, I headed south before stopping at a beaver pond on the east side for lunch. I was looking forward to checking out a few new lakes on my solo adventure this day before heading back for dinner. I set off for Prop Lake first. As soon as I left the open ice of the beaver pond, travel became exponentially difficult. In the marshy areas, it was common to have waist-deep snow where the drifts had formed. I had left my snowshoes in the sled, but I'm not sure they would have helped much this day. It was an exhausting excursion. The wind-swept snow would hold my weight with uninspired confidence until one misstep above weakened crust would plunge me down into the powder below. Step...step...crash. Drag myself back onto the surface with some exhausted muttering. Heading for the woods wasn't much easier than the marshes, as dense Balsam thickets threatened to tear me to shreds. I finally dropped out onto Prop Lake and sat down in the snow for another snack. It was a tiring retreat to the beaver pond, but at least I had tracks to follow! I crossed the beaver pond, grabbed the snowshoes, and made a hasty push for Gore Lake. As long as I'm here! Gore was more scenic than Prop, and I sat up on a glacial erratic for another snack and some water. It was a decent walk back to the group on Swamp, and I made it by mid-afternoon. Most of the group was out on an adventure, "hand mapping" the perimeter of the lake. I cut some firewood, and we had a lovely evening together with our entire crew at last.~Swamp Lake, Caribou Lake, Horseshoe Lake, Prop Lake, Gore Lake