Breakfast fire at camp 31 on August 19 at 6:30 am. The canoe is loaded but I do not need to cover with a tarp as I have only a short distance to go before the first portage. It is a cool morning and a hot drink feels good.
Because of the wet underbrush from yesterday's rain I get soaked from the waist down on the two portages. If I travel here again I will probably need to spend quite a while pruning out the brush which is overgrowing the trail. There are a few trees newly down over the trail that I have to saw or throw off. I want to camp as close as possible to the rapids on the river at the other end of the second portage in order to fish for walleye. Most of the area has been burned, and the first good, perhaps only, campsite is one km downstream. Arriving at 11 am, after travelling three km including the two portages (220, 450 metres), it starts to rain which continues intermittently until 5 pm. I have to cut a spot for the canoe and for the tarp shelter so I can get all the gear under shelter. Likewise I have to fell several trees to make room for the tent.
The next morning at 6 am, there is thick fog over the river valley. Temperature is 8℃ and a warming fire feels good. Above the fog I hear Canada geese flying south, the third day so far.
On the second day I canoe upstream to the rapids thinking I will catch some walleye. No matter what lure, I only catch pike. After releasing the first, still trying for walleye, I keep the next three for supper. The walleye are elsewhere today, or perhaps no longer here at this point in the season. If the walleye fishing had been good, I would have stayed two days longer, but now I plan to move on tomorrow.