I couldn’t decide which was better. Perhaps an informal poll could resolve the matter…

Clearly Calm Lake is living up to it’s name. As is the image below of Lake Despair.



Right after I took this picture, it started to rain. You know, the kind of all day rain that does more than just dampen your spirits. The kind of rain that slowly, inexorably soaks you to the bone and drowns your soul. Lake Despair indeed.

I pushed hard to get to over the dam at Sturgeon Falls. Clearing the portage over the dam at 5pm, I debated continuing. Conditions were good but I was tired after portaging two dams, the first requiring an hour to clear the brush and deadfall on the trail, the second impossibly steep, paddling over two sets of rapids, and tracking a third. I also expected the wind to turn against me and no campsites within an hour’s paddle. When I’m tired, simple decisions take forever: It was after 6 when I finally made up my mind.

I set up camp just off the locked, chain-link fenced road that leads over the dam in full view of the sign that read ‘This area under video-surveillance’.

It wasn’t much of a performance, but I wonder if anyone enjoyed the show.