The next morning I woke up before everyone else. I wanted the time to myself so I did not wake the others. As I sat on the logs around the fire grate I suddenly heard a sound rushing toward me. I turned and saw a large Golden Retriever padding around the camp. At first I was confused but soon noticed a person on the portage between the lakes and figured the dog was his.

The pup seemed friendly and snooped around the site, getting a few pets from me, before wandering a bit more and finding Donnie’s poop on the trail. I figured the dog would sniff it, get disgusted (it is Donnie’s poop after all) and head back to his master. He eventually did head back but not before EATING the huge turd. My jaw just dropped in surprise as the dog sprinted back to his master, climbing in the canoe, and took off.

Everyone woke up shortly after that and we ate breakfast. I relayed the story of the Turd Eating Dog and we all had a good laugh before packing up camp and heading over to the Ottertrack side, launching the canoes, and putting in another long day of paddling. I showed everyone the distance we were shooting for (Swamp Lake) and we took off.

It was another annoying day of paddling into the wind. Matt and Donnie were either far ahead or far behind of Gopher and I as we went along. Donnie was trying to get in as much fishing as he could and I was hindering that by trying to get us to our next campsite as quick as I could. We were butting heads the entire trip about this but both kept our opinions to ourselves (to each other) in order to keep the peace. We were content to bitch about each others actions to our paddling partners.

We passed by the Ben Ambrose plaque without even realizing it and made it to the end of the lake, and Monument Portage, well before 11am. The trip was very easy since the wind was a non issue due to the narrowness of Ottertrack Lake. We crossed Monument Portage, which was congested with other paddlers, and pushed off on Swamp Lake as quick as we could, not wanting to hang in the large group of people.

Once on Swamp Lake we started scoping out for a campsite but were once again skunked by the lack of space; all of the sites were full up. So we pushed on into Big Saganaga Lake. The wind had died down and there was hardly a breeze so the going was really easy. What was not easy was finding a campsite.

Site after site we passed; all of them filled. Not much after 1pm we reached American Point (“Rocky Point” is my BWCA bane) and as we rounded the corner we saw a boat parked on Hook Island, the stopping point for the Seagull Outfitters tow-in drop-off. Donnie at this point (due to a lack of alcohol) became excited; and I became ever more annoyed.

We still had planned on staying two more days (our out date was Sunday) but Donnie would have none of that. He was excited to get off the lake and back to Grand Marais where he could get some booze, some smokes and, with luck, some women. I really did not want to leave and this put me in a very sour mood; one that I shared with Matt and Gopher. Looking back I realize I was being an ass but I was disappointed. I was not willing to leave yet. I wanted to stay for two more nights. I acquiesced however and we convinced the tow-boat driver to send out another boat, pick us up and bring us back to Seagull Outfitters.

We packed up the car, loaded the canoes on the trailer and took our free shower in the Seagull shower shack. With fresh clothes on we started our trip back. It was a gorgeous day and by this point I was pretty pissed off and let Gopher, who was riding with me, know it. He agreed that he too did not want to be done but there was nothing for it and that we should just take Donnie up on his offer of a hotel room (which he promised while standing on Hook Island) and enjoy the night in Grand Marais.

It was then that Gopher sprung on me a “job”. He had just gotten a new job in Duluth a week before we went on our trip and as part of that job we had to stop off at some lake along the Gunflint Trail, paddle out into the lake, and scoop up some mud for his lab to test. Needless to say I was not happy. Raging is more like it. But I helped Gopher, very grudgingly, and we paddled out to the lake to get his mud. It should be noted that the device for collecting mud broke on the first try, which pissed me off even more. By now I was so angry that I took it out on Gopher as well. We spent the rest of the drive into Grand Marais in silence.

We got into Grand Marais almost two hours after Matt and Donnie (who already had a room and were out getting drunk) arrived. Gopher and I packed away our gear in the room and we met them at Sven & Ole’s for pizza and beer. I wanted nothing more than to get drunk by this time. I did not want to talk to any of them and I think they knew it. My shitty mood was ruining the party for them.

We hopped around to a few different bars before I decided I wanted nothing more than to go to bed. I left them to their own thing (Donnie and Matt would end up closing the bars that night). Gopher came back to the room with me, looking for a bed as well, and we watched some TV before turning in for the night.