Day 4, Tuesday, September 1, 2026. Agamok L, Gabimichigami L, Peter L, French L, Fern L, Gillis L, Crooked L, Tarry L, and Mora L. 7 portages, 8.6 miles (7.5 paddling, 1.1 portaging).

We awoke to a beautiful clear sky with slight breeze, and enjoyed a breakfast of coffee and gallo pinto with ham. The portage out of Agamok simply bypassed a stream, and there was enough water to walk the loaded canoe up the stream into Gabimichigami, a wide lake that was already showing some whitecaps. It took about 30 minutes to cross Gabimichigami, and after we portaged into Peter we had the wind to our backs. The 121 rod (about 600 meter) portage into French Lake climbed from the base of big cliffs until we were on top of them, then opened into a young birch copse and a bare rock overlook with a great view.

And when we entered French Lake, we found lots of pitcher plants and sundews near the portage.

Some of today's portages could have benefited from trimming, but we suspected our proximity to fire areas disrupted regular trail maintenance schedules this year. We saw a couple grouse on today's portages, and saw a raft of mergansers on one of the smaller lakes. We mostly managed to avoid wind and waves today by traveling smaller lakes, but by the time we reached our campsite on Mora (#526) we were wasted. We haven't seen too much difference in the BWCAW and Quetico portage trails, but have been very impressed with the lack of TP litter which we attributed to BWCAW's policy of a biffy in each campsite.

The night's dinner was curried couscous with chicken, cranberries, and almonds. More Farkle, more McManus stories, then into sleeping bags.