After being very undecided whether to move on, I arise at 4:20 on August 29 at camp 33 in the canvas tent to the light of a candle. The wood stove has been live for six days and still going strong, although I had to clean the creosote from the stovepipes once. After opening the tent door, I open the stove damper wide so I can see to pack gear from its light without the candle. As usual the night before moving camp, I had prepacked as much gear as possible, and now I finish packing after a cold breakfast. I am up well before the sun, the moon full but starting to wane. The sky is the clearest I have seen in seven days but there are still lots of ominous looking clouds. After eight days spent at camp 33, I am anxious to travel. Loading the canoe at the edge of the slippery sloping bare rock face, my feet go out from under me and I land hard on one buttock which remains sore for many days after, a reminder to be more careful. The next portage is the long 1180 metre one, but I have five portage loads now instead of six because of the reduction in grub after one month of travel. It might seem no big deal to only have one less portage carry, but every load is a big deal. Stopping for lunch after travelling a total of seven km, with the sky looking very threatening, I am not sure if I should continue on, as there are no good campsites after the next portages for several kilometres. It starts to rain at 1:40 pm, and that makes the decision for me, especially as it is a cool 15℃, dropping to 10℃ later.
The rain continues all night, and does so on and off, sometimes quite heavy, sometimes for lengthy periods, for the next four days. Aie! The north wind continues, keeping the temperatures cool. From my journal: "I even resort to chanting 'Come on sunshine or at least no rain' but it hasn't helped. C'est la vie." Each evening I prepack in preparation to move on the next day, and finish packing before breakfast, once even loading the canoe and covering with the tarp. But each day it continues raining and I unpack to stay in camp another day.
