Route:  Queer L., Little Misty L., Misty L., Petawawa R., Grassy Bay, White Trout L.
Distance:  17 miles
Portages:  2435, 935, 850, 155, 195, 160, 80, 200
Travel Time:  8:00
Map

The morning was quite cool - the coolest one of the trip. The lake had a light misty fog over the entire surface. It was an interesting effect.

It was another day of excellent weather. This was good because we had a long way to travel. It was the most difficult day of the trip. We quickly broke camp and hit the water before 9:00.

The first portage of the day was the longest of the trip. It was 2435 meters to Little Misty Lake. We were probably the first people of the day on this portage and we managed to stir up all of the mosquitos along the trail. It was already hot and they were swarming around me under the canoe.

I had forgotten how long this portage was. Fortunately, Seth came back and carried the canoe the last few hundred meters. At the end of the portage, we rested in a nice grassy area. A few mergansers swam buy while we were there.

We only had a short paddle on Little Misty L. before a 935 meter portage to Misty L. Once again, Seth helped with the canoe at the end of the portage.

We paddled the length of Misty L. and ate lunch at a campsite just before the next portage. This portage brought us onto the Petawawa River.

The water level on the Petawawa R. seemed higher than normal. We only bottomed out once along the whole river. Along the way, we crossed over two beaver dams. One of them was quite large.

The difficulty of the day was taking its toll. The day was quite hot and we were becoming exhausted. The lowest point during the day was at the 160 meter portage. This was a "triangle" portage - 80 meters up a steep hill followed by 80 meters down a steep hill. After this portage, we rested and then took it easy paddling to the next portage.

At the 80 meter portage, we stopped to take a look at the waterfall. In years past, the water level was lower and the water barely came over the waterfall. This year was different and the waterfall was spectacular. We climbed right to the base of the waterfall to take in the view.

Finally, we reached Grassy Bay and had nothing left but paddling. We decided on a campsite on the northeast side of White Trout Lake. The entire shoreline of the campsite was solid rock which presented some difficulty in unloading. After we cooled down a bit, we went for a swim. The water was refreshing, but not too cold.

As the sun was going down, we heard a very strange sound, which sounded like a far off highway. The sound could be heard throughout the entire campsite so it was difficult to isolate the source. We were able to determine the general direction of the sound but still did not know what it was. Since we had seen a lot of bees at this campsite, we figured that the sound must be all of the bees returning to the nest for the night. The buzzing sound lasted for about 30 minutes.

We sat around the campfire toasting marshmallows and drinking hot cocoa. It was a very pleasant night and the loons were very vocal. Several mice were running around looking for food. After two of these mice tried to run up Seth's leg, we decided to call it a night.