Woke up early in the morning again for another trek to the latrine. The moon was so bright it made the stars difficult to see. I thought about just staying up, but the temperature had dropped significantly, and I chose to crawl back into the warm sleeping bag and try for a few more hours of sleep instead. By 8 it was starting to warm and the lake was perfectly calm. I ate a quick breakfast and headed out to find some fish.

The laughing campers from the night before left site 629 early, so I tried the area west of their site for awhile with no success. By lunch time the wind had picked up again and I was starting to feel discouraged, not just by the lack of fish, but by the persistent chill and difficulty managing the canoe alone in the shifting breezes. Had a loon surface withing a paddle’s reach of my canoe, take one look at me, and quickly dive back into the water before I could even think about getting out my phone. Saw one other solo paddler fishing, but we kept our distance from each other, and he moved on pretty quickly. I found myself thinking about going back to check on Allen Lake, but decided I didn’t want to have to make the portages again if it was still occupied. I made up my mind to try fishing again after lunch, and if still unsuccessful, move to another lake on Tuesday.

Eating lunch helped my spirits, but the wind played with my mind for sure, calming to perfectly still for a few minutes, then picking up again to remind me it was still there. I decided to try to ignore it for awhile by reading in my hammock, and that helped too. After the rest, I was ready to hit the water again and checked out the cove by sites 630 and 631, hoping it would shelter me from the wind a little bit. I finally was able to find some bass near the shallow point connecting the bay to my campsites’ side of the lake, and the trees were well situated to help me better control the canoe in the wind. I discovered that the canoe could fit through the shallow gap, so I didn’t have to go all the way back around the island to return to camp. I also discovered just how much protection from the wind I was getting in that cove, as I had to work a little to get back to camp across the larger open water against the wind. None of the fish were quite big enough to keep for dinner, but I was happy to finally catch some. I decided to try getting up earlier Tuesday morning and give Gaskin another chance.

Back at camp, I enjoyed dinner and another beautiful sunset. The loneliness was starting to affect me as well, as I spent a bit of time using my Zoleo to chat with family back home. I read for awhile as it got dark and was interrupted by the sounds of a moose somewhere across the cove to the south. I tried to watch for a while, but between the advancing darkness and the heavy tree cover, never did get sight of it. I retired early to the tent and tried to read some more before calling it a night.

~Gaskin Lake