The warming trend continued on Day 5 of our trip. It must have been in the 60s when we got up. But the sun was behind the trees so it was very pleasant hanging out at camp drinking the morning joe -

Piwi slept in a little late -

We broke camp and got on the water before 9:30. We decided to take a tour around Marj before heading on toward Joyce. We circled down to the south end of the lake where the campsite database showed a couple island sites. They didn't look too great from the water, though. Next we paddled up the west side of the lake. We wondered if we would see the group that paddled in last night, but they must have left before we got moving.

After our tour we headed for the first portage to Joyce. We learned in 2005 that this 50-rod portage can be tricky going in the other direction, because some maps show the far end starting in the wrong place, whence a phantom trail leads one astray. But going from Marj toward Joyce the true route is obvious, and we were soon ready to load up at the real terminus on the unnamed pond between the two lakes -

Piwi close-up -

From there we paddled across the pond to the short but steep portage leading into Joyce. A big pine towering over the portage path -

At the Joyce landing -

When we paddled out onto Joyce we met a group of younger guys in several canoes going in the other direction. I always like to ask other paddlers where they're coming from and where they are going to, and this group was on an impressive multi-week single-portaging adventure. We tipped them off about the trick portage into Marj and went our separate ways.

Our only previous trip through Joyce was on an overcast day, and I remembered the lake as low-slung and somewhat melancholy. It looked very different today under a cloudless blue sky, which highlighted the rafts of pine-studded islets stretched across the lake -

The downside of the cloudless sky was the relentless sun beating down on us as the temperature shot up into the mid-80s. By the time we paddled the mile and a half across Joyce, we were baking. And we still had two long, rugged portages in front of us on our way to Kahshahpiwi. This picture looks back out over Joyce from the takeout for the first of the two portages -

This first portage, at 140 rods, begins with a steep climb out of Joyce, levels off for a while, then descends to and crosses a bog, and finishes up with a final up and down into an Unnamed Lake. The bog crossing used to be one of those memorable Quetico spots where you just had to laugh at what was expected. This is what it looked like in 2005, when I sank up to my knee in muck because of a misplaced step while carrying the canoe across the pickup sticks -

But between then and now, the park had built a real walkway across. I had been forewarned, but was still disappointed when I saw it. Where's the challenge in crossing this? -

Piwi just ambled right over -

The bog itself remains picturesque -

From there it's a short up-and-down to the end of the portage at Unnamed Lake. We were hot and sweaty after portaging -

Mug shot -

We decided to stop for lunch after carrying our second load across the portage. Then we paddled to the far end of scenic Unnamed Lake and tackled the second portage into Kahshahpiwi. It's another rugged route, and at 175 rods, a bit longer than the portage we had just crossed. But its most noteworthy feature is a VERY steep drop down 125 feet at the Kahshahpiwi end. We had done this portage going the other way in 2005 and the climb had been, um, exhilarating. But it was even more dramatic carrying a canoe down the slope.

When we got to the bottom, we found three guys - a father and two sons - having lunch at the landing. We talked about where we all had been and were going and quickly realized they were the group who had paddled into Marj last night.

We enjoyed talking with them and then let them finish their lunch while we went back for the rest of our gear. On our second trip back to Kahshahpiwi, Piwi ran ahead. As we surmised, we found her waiting at the end of the portage with her three new bestest friends, the father and sons, who were just getting ready to load up. We chatted some more as they set off. Once again I regret not getting a picture of people we met on the trail. But we did get another picture of Piwi -

This is the view looking across Kahshahpiwi from the portage landing. Large sections of the shore are marked by recent forest fires in this area, while many other sections were apparently untouched -

From the portage we paddled down Kahshahpiwi in search of a campsite. There are a few sites on islands in this area. We wanted to pick an especially nice one to spend two nights at. We settled on a beautiful pine-studded spot on the west side of one of the islands, arriving at camp around 3:45 -

There was also a site on the east side of this island. But we picked the west site because it faced some great cliffs, whereas the eastern site faced a largely fire-ravaged shoreline. The downside of our choice was that we were more exposed to the afternoon sun on this hot day. Fortunately the numerous trees provided a fair amount of shade. Piwi sprawled out, tired from the heat -

The view from our campsite looking south, at another island in our little archipelago -

We loafed around camp all afternoon, taking several dips in the lake to cool off and trying to stay in the shade. We were grateful when the sun went behind the western shore. Looking south while sipping some Maker's Mark at nightfall -

A section of the cliffs just to our west -

Piwi enjoying the cocktail hour -

It stayed warm all evening and into the night. Fortunately, there were comparatively few bugs on this trip, so we could sit out in shorts and tshirts, even after sunset. Finally we hauled ourselves into the tent, exhausted from our hot and sunny day of paddling and portaging.

Total distance traveled Day 5: 11.5 miles (including all trips on portages).