10 August 2017, Thursday

No rain this morning, just clouds. We have our breakfast of oatmeal and dried cherries on the rocks, then we are back on the water by 10 am.

We find the long portage into Oyster Lake easily. At least it seems easy, until we get to the beaver meadow. I carry my heavy Granite Gear pack through the muck and then go back to help O. The two of us drag the canoe through while balancing on rocks and logs. We finish the portage at breezy Oyster Lake. Then it’s back through the mosquito gauntlet for the rest of our gear. (Sounds like fun, eh?!) We have two shorter, but steeper portages yet to go, into Rocky Lake and on to Green Lake. The take-outs and put-ins are like puzzles…how to get us and our gear out of and back into the canoe with dry boots. Of course after the beaver meadow my boots are kind of squishy anyway. We have our obligatory rain while on our long portage, and by the time we arrive at Green Lake, our proposed campsite for the night, the sun is shining.

O and I are tired and are hoping to stop at the one campsite here. We have seen only one other party all day, at a distance across Oyster Lake. As we paddle towards the campsite our hearts sink as we see three canoes approaching from the opposite direction. We are sure they have the site, but just as we arrive at the grassy, lakeside spot, they paddle on by and wave.

We are home for the night! Our only unexpected task this evening is cleaning up the clear bear barrel. It seems our bag of wine leaked. There are only about 300 ml of chardonnay left in the 1.5 liter bag. I dip the zip-locked food bags in the lake to get the wine off and leave them drying in the sun. Then I rinse out the barrel and wash our cooking utensils in clean water. We sip some of the remaining wine with our salmon loaf and pasta as socks, boots, tent, and food dry in the evening sunshine.

Wildlife: eagle, loon with 2 fluffy babies, hummingbird