Day 6, Thursday, September 3, 2026. Makwa L, no-name, Panhandle L, Pan L, Anit L, Kivaniva L, Kawishiwi River and Malberg L. 7 portages, 6.7 miles (5.5 paddling, 1.2 portaging).

We woke to a gorgeous day, but it was chilly enough that we pulled our puffy down jackets from their pillow cases and wore them as we had our breakfast of coffee and hash browns with bacon. Heavy dew was on the tent and campsite, and the lake was shrouded with mist. We were on the water around 8:30. Today was all about portages: we did six before lunch! Most of today's portages were overgrown, but were fairly level. Heavy dew plus overgrown portages meant we looked like we had walked through a carwash by the end of each portage. At the end of the second portage, I hung a foot under a root and crashed to the ground with some 60 pounds of pack and canoe weight driving me forward; luckily I escaped with only bruises to the right forearm and right hip/knee. The portage from Panhandle to Pan started from a narrow, shallow channel. We found boot prints and a distinct footpath at the start of the portage, but it was crazy-overgrown for its entire length. At Pan Lake's end of the portage we found a nice sandy put-in and a new, recently-maintained portage coming in from our right. We had bulldozed through a portage that must have been abandoned five years ago!

Our map showed a couple portages and a stream between Pan and Anit Lakes, but it's now a single long portage. After Anit we portaged into Kivaniva, then Kawishiwi River, where we stopped for lunch at a rocky campsite. After the lunch break, we portaged into Malberg and started evaluating campsites for the night. We stayed at the site (#1042) at the west end of Malberg, near the portage back into Kawishiwi River. It's a great site, with a sandy landing, multiple nice tent sites, plenty of trees for rain tarp and bear hang. It was only 2 PM when we stopped, but Malberg had been the day's objective and stopping early gave us time for afternoon tea/coffee, cleaning up a bit, and studying the maps.

The afternoon sky stayed blue with a few puffy clouds and just a light breeze. Dinner was beef stroganoff with mushrooms, a standard for several years' trips. Solid gray cloud cover moved in while we were eating dinner, and we'd only been in our sleeping bags a few minutes when light rain began. We zipped up the vestibule doors, and the wind and rain increased, accompanied by lightning.