DAY 1, AUGUST 28, KIOSHKOKWI TO MANITOU; 12.25 miles, 2 portages (1020 and 1360 meters)

Most of our Quetico trips have started with breakfast at Britton's in Ely. Sadly, there's not a Britton's in North Bay, but we had a great breakfast at Terry's Place, then headed for our Kiosk entry point in Algonquin Provincial Park. We were on the water shortly before 10:00, with overcast skies and a forecast of 2” of rain. After only 10 minutes or so on the water, we saw rain coming toward us and donned our rain gear. We had 15 minutes of hard rain, but it stopped just before we reached the first portage. We had passed three canoes that headed out before us, and hurried to clear the portage landing before they arrived. Kioshkokwi to Amable du Fond River is actually three portages, with water level making the middle segment optional, but why do the extra load/unload operations? We single-walked it as one portage. The portage was impressive—wide, great footing, and dimensional lumber bog bridges. The Amable du Fond was generally wide and smooth., and Tia's smile said we were starting another paddling adventure.

Paddling upstream on the Amable du Fond got us to the 1360-meter portage into Manitou Lake, our destination lake for the night. Again, the portage was wide and had great footing. The Manitou end had a wonderful beach for a lunch stop. At check-in the ranger suggested it was 5 hours to Manitou; we were there in 2.5, and during lunch the sky turned blue, another good sign. We were back on the water at 1:00, and planned to paddle the length of the lake to be near tomorrow's first portage. We claimed a campsite around 3:00. Camp set-up, including pitching the tent, filtering water, hanging the bear bag rig, and pitching a dining fly, took about an hour. It's the first trip for our Platypus 4-liter GravityWorks filter, and we're very impressed. Tia updates her journal and I roam around with the camera until it's time to start thinking about dinner. Had a yummy lemon-pepper tuna with teriyaki noodles for dinner and a fruit compote for dessert. Washed dishes, hung food, read a couple Patrick McManus stories (carrying “Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing” this trip), and were in bed around 8:00.