Tuesday, September 02, 2025, our 53rd anniversary: Shade, two no names, West, and another no name Lakes, 2 beaver dams, North Bay, another no name, and Burke Lake. 7.9 miles (7.2 canoe, 0.7 portage). Six portages (65, 120, 600, 75, 240, and 80 meters)

Last night's neighbors weren't rowdy, but they stayed up very late. When I needed to get up at 3:30, they were still talking. Needless to say, we didn't hear a peep from them between getting up at 6:00 and getting on the water. I caught myself smiling when one of their poorly secured canoes drifted away from shore this morning; fortunately for them, it was caught in a shallow spot not far from their site.

The sky had a rosy glow this morning until the glow faded into a uniform gray—not threatening, but with potential for rain. We were on the water at 8:00. Our first two portages were short and had mostly good landings, although parts of the portage trails did require some careful foot placement. The landing for the long portage out of West Lake was marked by a couple Nalgene bottles that someone would miss—we carried them out. The sky turned darker as we walked this portage, which was terribly overgrown. Limbs slapped us and screeched across the canoe, then the rain began. In the no name at the end of the portage we were greeted by a pair of swans.

There are usually a couple beaver dams where one exits the no name between West Lake and North Bay and they were still there today. The first one had something of a walk-around, and the second was an easy lift-over into North Bay. I'm always concerned about wind on big water like North Bay, but today we only had a light breeze. We were both wearing rain coats under our life jackets for warmth—the rain we had on the long portage out of West Lake had stopped, but we still saw an occasional sprinkle. Shortly before the two portages into Burke, we spotted a bald eagle monitoring our progress from a pine top, and a couple more swans swam near the portage.

We planned a lunch stop on Burke, and looked unsuccessfully for a couple sites marked on our maps. We eventually stopped on an island site about halfway down the lake, and while eating lunch discussed the afternoon's plans. Most sites on Burke are tired and worn, so we considered moving through Singing Brook portage into Sunday Lake for the night. As we moved west on Burke, we spotted a small group of mergansers.

We checked out an island site on our way to the portage, and were pleased to find a lovely place to stay. Even though it was only 1:30, we decided we were home for the night, and would exit the Park tomorrow via the portage from Burke to Bayley Bay. The sky had been progressively bluer as we paddled this afternoon, but after 4:00 or so started getting grayer to the west, then we started hearing distant thunder. I strung up ridge lines for our proposed tent site and for our cooking area. As thunder sounded closer, we pitched the dining fly over the cooking area and stashed all other gear under cover. We cooked our 53rd anniversary dinner of shrimp creole under the dining fly, and were happy with the setup because about 20 minutes before it was ready wind and heavy rain reached the island. We stood under the fly eating dinner, then had cups of Key Lime cheesecake for dessert. The rain lasted about an hour, then was light enough to clean cooking gear, pitch the tent, and move the dining fly to the ridge line over the tent. As we entered the tent a second squall came through, but didn't last long. As the next day was our Canoe Country exit, it appeared that we'd be driving a couple days with a car full of wet gear.