First night in the back country means we're not accustomed yet to this lifestyle so we are slow to get ready in the morning, but by 9am we are on our way. This leg of the trip is to satisfy our second objective, walleye dinner. Online sources suggested that Sagus Lake is a good lake to target for eater walleye so we make our way there. After a pretty long wait for a large group at the Hatchet Lake portage from Ima, we make our way towards Thomas Lake.

This part of the trip was against the current in the Hatchet River, with a couple of short portages along the way. James and I made the attempt to paddle up a little swift, which James deftly navigated us through. It probably would have been less energy to just do the carryover like our other boat did, but it was fun nonetheless. These portages were all largely uphill too, so even though they are very short it was a bit of a workout for the nerds.

After this series of short stretches of paddling with small portages in between, we're ready for a long paddle. The wind is cooperatively light, and we really get the paddling muscles moving. The narrows between Thomas Lake and Fraser Lake are one of the coolest places that we've been in the boundary Waters. By the time we get into Fraser it is later than we hoped, slowed up by the mid 80's temperatures. This trip we had brought some double bladed paddles, and it was nice to use some different muscle groups by rotating between the double and single blade. Finally we portage into Sagus, which is actually a pretty neat hike. The trail skirts along a steep dropoff and was more pleasant than I expected.

Paddling in, we look through the narrows to the north and see a couple of canoes. The northern campsite didn't look particularly accommodating so we scouted the southern two as well. We end up at the Southeast campsite which is a nice little site that worked out pretty well for our group. The tent pads weren't the greatest but there were a couple of decent hammock spots and we were all able to fit, even though it was a little tight. With camp mostly set up, Sean and I head out to try and find a walleye hole. After trying a few spots without much luck we managed to catch a couple small walleye just as the sun was dipping below the trees, and we decide to pack it in for the evening.

~Jordan Lake, Ima Lake, Hatchet Lake, Thomas Lake, Fraser Lake, Sagus Lake~Jordan Lake, Ima Lake, Hatchet Lake, Thomas Lake, Fraser Lake, Sagus Lake