This year we decided to challenge ourselves. Last year we only had one portage at only 100 or so metres; it meant we could pack as much as we wanted, for it was simple to make multiple trips from one lake past some rapids down to the river below. We’d heard good things about Misty Lake, but getting there required a 20 km paddle with six portages varying from 150 metres all the way to a kilometre. Multiple trips on a portage of that length could eat up a half hour or more of our travel day. Single trips would take some serious packing skills.

We didn’t exactly make all the portages in a single trip. Some packs were heavier and more uncomfortable than others. But we made it. Camp was set up as it got dark and dinner was made before everyone fell over from exhaustion.

Our stay coincided with a radiant moon that blew out the sky when hidden by clouds and lit up the lake when the sky was clear. Jen and I spent a night on the beach and we could see clear across the lake whenever were woken by a noise from the bushes or the ripples on the shore.

On the last day we paddled to an island across the lake, just before sunset.

We made the trip out in record time, maybe even more quickly than our easy trip last year, but even still I think we should take it easier next year.