Dead calm allows perfect reflection of clouds on lake surface.
A waterfall empties the big lake into another. The portage is a short 10 metres over the bare rock face.
I would like to go to the next portage but there may be no good campsites there as the shoreline gets steeper as I continue down the lake. I stop to check three campsites along the way with no success.
Continuing on, I spot a North American river otter swimming along shore. He stops ahead of me about 100 metres and climbs out onto shore where he gambols with his long body in typical undulating fashion and disappears under a big spruce tree. Then all of a sudden another otter startles me by jumping into the lake right beside me. We are both equally surprised I think.
Finally I stop at 3:50 pm at a big island after travelling 24 km, including a short 10 metre portage, five km from the next portage. It has been calm and I am wet with sweat just from paddling. It is starting to rain so definitely would be nice to set up camp. Landing I check for a tent site only 50% optimistic that I will be successful as the shore is steep. Finding a suitable place, I mark it with orange flagging tape, having learned my lesson more than once when "losing" a tent site and wasting time to find it. The only downside to this tent location is that it is so sheltered that it does not get as much breeze as would be nice in the hot weather. It takes about 30 minutes to clear the area's perimeter to fit the tent.
The fireplace and tarp shelter are situated on a thick layer of crunchy reindeer lichen. On the second day there is a very welcome heavy rain over a period of two hours that dampens the fire risk and cools the weather. I finished a refreshing bath as it starts to rain and spend some time under the tarp to catch up on my journal.
On the second day I walk through the bush about 500 metres to the peninsula jutting into the lake, from which I can see my camp across the bay. It is slim pickings but I manage to collect a salad of alder and birch leaves, plus a bit of fireweed, rose petals, spruce buds and green dock seeds.