Monday, day two.
The sky was clear in the morning so the first thing everyone did was hang up their wet stuff from the day before, we actually got most of our stuff mostly dry by the time we had to pack up. While that was going on I made breakfast which consisted of english muffin sandwiches (eggs cheese and canadian bacon) they took a while to make but were tasty and we weren't in a hurry.

Rob was amused by Lucy's habit of taking the shortest path to the lake to get a drink because it involved going straight down the "cliff" we were on. Then she'd wade out chest deep in the water to get a drink, she's always had her own way of doing things.

Once everything was packed up and in the canoes we set off, one canoe to the west and one to the East. We regrouped for a second, looked at the maps and decided East was the more efficient way to go.

There was a strong steady wind from the southwest and as we paddled through the center of Malberg it was right at our backs. As you head that direction (northeast) toward the portage the lake the lake constricts down to a very narrow spot and then widens out to a long channel up to the portage. As we approached the narrow spot the wind was getting funneled in by the shoreline making it blow harder and harder as we got closer to the bottleneck. It was a pretty cool effect, as we went through the narrowest spot it was almost like being a cork getting shot out of a champagne bottle.

Travel was pretty uneventful, we might have run into one party coming the other direction but I can't remember for sure. We did portage through a section of blowdown from the July '99 straight line wind. It was pretty dramatic, even carrying a canoe I could see lots of downed trees, there were very few left that had trunks over 5-6" in diameter.

Our objective for the day was to get to Makwa. It's a lake I like a lot, it's deep, has lake trout, is far enough in that you don't see many hosers there and has a really awesome campsite. We got the good campsite which is on a big rock outcrop on the western side of the lake. There's a huge cliff that tapers up from the site until it's about 45' straight down to the water, it's scary to stand up there and look down but it's an awesome view out to the east. Down on the site itself the water is really deep right off the rock so you can jump right and swim without having to worry about hitting the bottom or a log or anything.

Once we set up camp and had some lunch Sandy, Carrie and Rob were laying in the sun on the rock near the water. I decided I was going to go for a swim and took a running jump off the rock into the water hoping to surprise and splash the three sunbathers. They were surprised, but the splashing was a total failure. Eventually Rob and Carrie joined me in the lake, Rob was kind of a chicken about it. It took him about 5 minutes to work up the courage to get in, it was almost like when he was in 3rd grade and couldn't get into the pool very fast. Sandy spent the time taking pictures and enjoying the sun.

Later in the afternoon I hiked up to the big cliff to see the sights, I found a big white pine high up on the hillside (not right on the cliff) and climbed 25' or so up that. I was hoping that the combination of the hill and the tree would get me high enough to see up to Little Sag. I was hoping to get a preview of the fire damage in that area. I could see a long ways but not that far, mostly I just got a lot of pine sap on my hands.

I went back to camp and gathered everyone up Rob was taking a nap in the tent and had apparently slipped into a coma. After Carrie went in and revived him we all went up to the cliff to take a look at the view. The sun was beginning to set and was illuminating the trees on the East side of the lake nicely.

Rob and I were on our own for dinner since Sandy and Carrie were having some vegetarian thing. We had some Betty Crocker cheesy potatos to which we added some diced ham, it was ok but not awesome.