Sometimes things work out just right, for when I climbed out of my tent shortly before sunrise I saw that we had clear skies and no wind. Before climbing out of my tent I stuffed my sleeping bag and liner into my compression bag and opened the valve on my sleeping pad. While the air was running out of the pad I quickly closed up the compression bag holding my clothes and gathered any other loose items in my tent and placed them in their proper stuff sacks. A quick roll of my sleeping pad had all my gear put away so I took that gear from my tent and put it into my portage pack. I hung my tent fly over our laundry line to let it dry while I took down the rest of my tent and began preparing breakfast. I was pleased to see that my partners were similarly progressing with taking down their tent. While I prepared breakfast they took down our screen shelter since there were no clouds in the sky.

After a quick breakfast did one more walk through of our campsite and after confirming that all gear was loaded in our canoes we slid our craft into the water and began our trek south down Friday Bay. Although this bay had sent us seeking shelter on two other days, that morning it was blessing us with calm water and just a slight breeze to keep down the temperature. Our trek to the first portage went without a hitch. Although we had lightened the load of the food barrel, we redistributed gear to keep loads close to equal. I also elected to carry our water container, which still had about a gallon of water after we filled everyone’s water bottles. I knew that it was going to be another hot day and I was willing to carry that water so that we could easily refill water bottles to stay hydrated. Our goal that day was to paddle past the mile long portage between Wagosh and Gun Lake, so that we had that beast behind us. Ideally we would find a decent campsite on Gun Lake where we could relax for the rest of the day. Our journey that day went pretty smoothly, as we traversed the portages more efficiently, being blessed with a nice breeze that kept the temperatures more within reason for us. I had a good lead on my partners as we doubled portaged the mile-long trail between Wagosh and Gun and we decided, as we finished the first leg of that portage, that I would load my canoe after I finished my second lap and paddle ahead to scout and hopefully find an open campsite on Gun.

As I put my canoe into the water on Gun Lake and loaded my packs into the vessel, I realized that the breeze that had been keeping my cool during the portage had turned into a strong gale of wind that was funneling right down the barrel portion of Gun. I really had to dig in deep with each paddle stroke to keep my canoe moving forward. Based on intel that I gathered from a group that had just crossed Gun from the other direction, I knew that the first two campsites I had hoped to get to were already occupied, and as I paddled by them I confirmed that tents were up and canoes were on shore at each site. So I paddled around the bend and was ecstatic to find one open campsite left on the lake, which, upon closer inspection, was a gem of a site with nice tent pads, an open area for fishing, and a sunset view, which we had been lacking at our basecamp site on Crooked Lake.

I pulled ashore and unloaded my gear to claim the site, and then I just sprawled out on the rock face near the lake to rest for about an hour before my partners came paddling around the point. They took a slower pace on their last leg of the portage, but they also struggled to paddle against the same wind that I faced while traveling down the barrel of Gun. We took a walking tour of the campsite and decided on tent placements and spent the rest of the day lounging, fishing from shore, and eventually swimming (and washing off a couple layers of grime). At the end of our last full day in the BWCA the three of us sat on a large flat rock and watched the sun slowly dip below the horizon.