Mr. Vogeli and Mr. Bailey each had their watch alarms go off at 6:00 a.m. I don't think we knew how we would feel after yesterday's mileage, but everyone felt pretty good. Breakfast was scrambled eggs (powdered eggs with water and bacon bits thrown in). Also in our campsite, we would set up the dining fly to store our equipment and water boots underneath in order to keep them out of any possible rain or overnight condensation. We broke camp and re-entered Knife Lake at 8:00 a.m.

Today, Kelsey taught John the proper way of doing the J-stroke since he was in the stern and she was the duffer. Glen and his Dad always seemed to be in the lead. Glen was an excellent navigator throughout the trek. He seemed to recognize the land formations and match them up to the Fisher maps quite easily. This morning, we went through the "Little Knife Portage"; however, instead of removing the gear and taking the 5 rod trail, Kelsey thought we could walk the canoes up the short 60 foot rapids. So, that's what we did. The water was rushing in spots and the rocks were very slippery; however, we worked as a tandem team and guided the canoes up the inlet.

Shortly after the small rapids, we stopped for lunch at a nice spot overlooking a little cove of Knife Lake. We cut up some cheese sticks and sausage sticks. We counted every slice in order to ensure that everyone received the same portion. And of course, there was the gorp and dried fruit to go along with it. Four miles later we came to the Monument Portage, a challenging 80 rod trail that was almost entirely uphill. Some of us novices needed to stop and catch our breath once or twice. This was the only trail where we spotted the permanent markers set in the ground indicating the international boundary line.

We didn't stop to take pictures; we were more interested in surviving this portage! At the end of the trail was Swamp Lake. This lake certainly lived up to its reputation because Mr. Vogeli, Glen and Mr. Bailey all got their first experience with moose muck!

The end of the trail looked innocent enough - a long plank dock, next to which you could lower your canoes into. But no! One step in and you were up to your waist in the muck. Then Kelsey came to the end and mentioned the possibility of leeches. Oh, great.

That evening, Glen caught a 12 inch baby Northern Pike. Everyone had a good look before it was returned to the water. There is a "catch and release" policy when it comes to the Northern Pike that small. Kelsey commented that the pike is not a great tasting fish anyway. In the days ahead, Glen would have his chance to catch some bass.

We traveled 14 1/2 miles today and Adam is starting to get excited about our progress. We're exceeding our goals in miles covered and the thought of "getting ahead of schedule" is getting us pumped up. We set up our campsite and went for our first swim of the trip.

The tents always seem to be hot inside at night but they cool down as the night goes on. By now we were getting into the "routine" - wake up early, start the hot water for coffee, eat breakfast, do k-p, sump the water, break camp, and get on the water which was always dead calm in the morning. We canoed around "Rocky Point". Mr. McCarthy was insisting on being dropped off so he could be close to home! There was even an island named "Long Island". How about that! We continued to spot bald eagles before we stopped for a "grumper break" on Englishman Island.

We cleaned up the campsite on that island and continued south into Red Rock Bay, did a 10 rod "pull through" and found ourselves in Red Rock Lake where we found a campsite and had lunch. Shortly after lunch, we had to do a 45 rod portage to Alpine Lake which contained many islands some marked and some unmarked on our maps. Once we were confident that we had made the correct turns, we came to our final portage of the day. It ran parallel to a large waterfall and rapids. Mr. McCarthy scouted it out first, in the hope that we could, once again, pull the canoes through the water. It was not going to happen on this occasion.

At the end of the portage was Jasper Lake. We found a beautiful campsite, elevated and overlooking the lake. We had completed another 14 mile day! We went swimming in the cool clear water just offshore. We decided to do "Thorns & Roses" in the water. Typically, we did this reflection after dinner in the campsites every night. Everyone agreed that this had been a great day! Kelsey led us in playing some games with a canoe. We would tip it upside down and take turns trying to stand on the bottom of the canoe. Since there are floatations built into the ends of the canoes, they naturally want to right themselves in the water. So, trying to stand on the canoe upside down was a little tricky.

Mr. Bailey made tonight's dinner of brown rice with dried corn and 3 "MREs" of chicken and salsa, which turned out pretty well. The chipmunks were around this site more than any other so far. After dinner, Kelsey surprised us by pulling out a thick hard cover book of works written by Lewis Carroll of Alice in Wonderland fame. She offered to read to us, so we agreed. We heard the complete tale of "Fit the First" all the way through to "Fit the Eighth". We came to realize that she was a real romantic and a lover of prose and poetry. She would later write her own prose in describing our trip in preparation for our skit at Rendezvous. She was 21 years old and a native Minnesotan, having grown up in a suburb of Minneapolis. She has worked both in the summer and winter programs at Northern Tier. It was evident that she loved the area and loved what she was doing.