The plan for the day was to visit the cliffs on Winchell. Of course it was forecasted to be the windiest day of the trip. We got up early again, before 6:30, but we were moving a little slow after yesterday. We still got on the water by 8:30 again after enjoying another north woods sunrise. 

However, we were not going to find much solitude today. One group was coming out of Winchell as we were approaching the portage. Then, after we crossed, we encountered 2 more groups heading towards us.

The cliffs are just south of the north bay into Omega, so we only had to battle the winds for a relatively short distance. This was the truest test of the trip for R’s and my paddling skills. I was quite nervous. Luckily, the wind wasn’t too bad. We quickly found the landing to hike to the top of the cliffs. Our legs were still weak from yesterday’s portaging, and the trail is not as easily followed as I had expected. Nonetheless, we made quick work of the hike up and were overlooking Winchell’s vastness in no time. However, even in the short few minutes we were on top, we could tell the wind was picking up. We could see some whitecaps building. So, we had our mid-morning Cliff bar, took a few pics and headed back down. 

Looking back, the paddle north across Winchell wasn’t as scary as it was in the moment. Once again, R was a rock star paddling.  We met 3 more groups paddling/portaging into Winchell. Once on the other side, we decided to finally fish Omega. We casted around the south arm. R had a big pike hit her lure (orange and brown twister tail grub on a jig with a hairpin spinner) right at the canoe. A small one followed. We then drifted some crawler harnesses on the east side of the central island, where we came across a couple folks that were staying at the south site. They weren’t having much luck either. So, we went back to camp for lunch, hang in the hammock, and to regroup. Several canoes had come by to see if our site was open.

After lunch, we casted white 5” Powerbait minnows on jig/spinner combos around fallen logs in the north arm and had decent luck on pike. We then decided to try our luck on the lakes to the north of Omega. We located the portage into Phalanx pretty easily. However, it looks fairly unused, so we decided to walk to the portage before taking gear. We were glad we did. Some fallen trees and thick brush would have made carrying the canoe a pain. Someone had been through there recently though, as we saw fresh footprints in the mud. After admiring the lovely ferns and fall colors, we went back to Omega where we caught more pike and one solid smallie.

Dinner and marshmallows over a fire, and into bed early. Tomorrow was going to be a short move day – Pillsbery the destination. ~Omega Lake, Winchell Lake, Omega Lake, Phalanx Lake