We paddled away from the portage and entered a steady shower of soaking rain. We passed 7 campsites before we found an empty one. Ruth and I erected our lean-to tarp quickly. As we sat there relaxing and glad to be out of the rain we realized we were soaked to the bone. Our rain gear had failed us. We changed into dry clothes, put on a pot of coffee and we were warm again. After supper the rain and wind stopped and Mark started a fire. It took him a while but his patience and skill urged a crackling fire out of the wet wood. Marsha and Ruth went to the tents early and Mark and I sat by the warm fire late into the night. We talked about life and other things. In the morning I crawled out of our tent at 10am to find out that everyone had been awake for hours. Mark had gone fishing and the rest of us enjoyed a warm and dry morning in high contrast to the wind and rain of yesterday. That afternoon we all hiked the Snowbank Lake backpacking trail that passed our camp in the woods. While walking we found a threesome of Pink Showy Lady Slippers, the Minnesota state flower. We also crossed a gurgling stream twice, once out and once on the return. About a half mile from camp Mark pointed out a huge pile of bear droppings. The 3 dogs we had along enjoyed the walk and were quiet and contented for the remainder of the day. Ruth and I had venison sticks, cheese, and salsa wrapped in a tortilla for our afternoon snack. Ruth and I played cribbage and I won, much to her suprise. I got to count first, and went out, she was left holding a 20 point hand that she didn't get to count. Coopers went fishing and I went for a swim. It felt wonderful to be clean and refreshed by the cool waters of a northern lake. Around the campfire that evening we shared stories about bears, children and camping trips from long ago. It had been a good day with only a couple sprinkles and occasional sunshine. In the morning Coopers went on a day long trip to a nearby lake while Ruth and I went fishing in bays close to camp. I used a Mepps and Dare Devil with no luck. I switched to a Rapala but soon lost it. It was great to be paddling on such a nice day, but no luck fishing. We played cribbage and quit when it was 1-1. We sat by the beach during whole late afternoon drinking coffee and absorbing the beauty of the lake before us. Coopers caught a Northern off the rock across the bay. He cleaned it a couple hundred yards down the shore and to our delight we watched an Eagle fly off with the remains. Ruth and I fished that evening and it was a wonderfull couple hours out on the water, but, alas, we caught no fish. Cribbage however was rewarding for the guys. We won the BWCA Invitational Cribbage Tournament 3-1. All of us, the 3 dogs and 4 adults spent the last hours of our days in the BWCA gathered around a wonderful fire. We knew this was a special place and knew we would return.
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