9.5 miles, 4 portages, 320 rods

Ahhh. . . back in the Boundary Waters. A beautiful sunny start—with six miles of paddling—avoiding those wet shoes for a few hours. It’s pretty out in this eastern part of the BW. Steep hills and more Birch trees. Today we saw a bald eagle, a tiny 1 cm toad, a diving loon (along with hearing the calls of many others), and a sign of moose (i.e. their droppings). Jason has picked up portaging well despite the steeper, rockier portages out here. Kevlar is so light compared to the Grummans I’m used to hauling all over the BW (35 vs. 80 lbs.). We both wonder how Oscar would fare out here as well as the best ‘skeeter killing tactics if you take evolution into consideration. Should you really kill the ones that are easy to catch if they don’t seem capable of landing in a good spot for biting you? Or the ones who hate DEET?

Good dinner of red spaghetti with our only fresh veggies. A nice night watching the clouds roll by, letting in dappled sun. It’s already 8:30 PM and still quite light out. We’ll probably be in bed before sundown.

Sparky fact (he is a guru of interesting plant and animal facts, and yet is also a creationist): water striders inject their prey with a dissolving agent creating “moth malts” and “skeeter slurpees.”