Sunrise between 5:35 - 5:50 am at camp 27 on August 9, prepared to move on to the next lake. The past few days I have questioned if the haze is smoke as there is no smell, but the ruby red ball of sun verifies that the haze is in fact smoke. Mosquitoes are very bothersome so I wear a hat scarf most of the day.
Camp 28, after travelling seven km and an 150 metre portage that only requires 30 minutes of clearing. I have camped in this spot previously. There is a bumper crop of berries - orange bunchberries, red lingonberries and blueberries. Of course where there are berries so too there may be bears.
Starting to set up the tent, I realize there are some very tall, dead spindly aspens that need to be felled to make sure they do not come down on me in the tent. Even live aspens are susceptible to snapping like a matchstick in the wind, but the dead ones saw through like butter, a scary finding.
The pine tree beside the firepit dug into the sandy ground shows old scratches from a black bear.
The weather is smoky, humid, dead calm and a hot sweaty 32℃, as I move the Bug Tent away from direct sunshine to a bit of shade later in the afternoon. The continual buzzing of wasps around me is annoying, so thank goodness for the Bug Tent.
I am up early with the intention to do laundry, but there is no sun, no breeze ... no laundry. Finally I glimpse the sun through the tall trees which had been obscuring my view. So a change of clean clothes and laundry is on ... yeah!
One of the two Tilley hats has a hole worn in the crown. Not even Tilley hats last forever. I do sew this one using waxed dental floss and it is still serviceable. I have worn out at least six Tilley hats over the years.