Ah, today's POD shows one of my favorite campsites! 

The last time I was there I was shocked to see that some idiots had chopped a few live branches off of some of the cedar trees. 

On the brighter side, years earlier, I was camped solo there late in September.  It was an overcast, very chilly, and windy as hell Sunday afternoon.  I was trying to follow gameplay of the Minnesota Vikings through the heavy static on my tiny radio.  By half-time I was hungry.  So, I challenged myself to dodge waves & wind (in a relatively protected area nearby) to try to land a decent laker for my mid-day meal, yet be back in time to catch the balance of the game.  Conditions were gnarly and fast becoming far worse, so I had to hustle. Hunger had overcome my sense of caution... but this time I got lucky.

So it was that I was busy fixing the very nice eater-size lake trout that was sizzling in my big BWJ fry pan, listening to the 2nd half of the game, when I happened to look up from the flames at motion that caught my eye near the beach.  I was flabbergasted to see MagicPaddler blowing right into my camp. While we WERE supposed to hook up sometime that week, no way I figured Magic to battle big wind & waves on Pickerel all the way from French Lake THAT particular day. It was rough; REAL rough.

Anyway, I got over my shock at seeing him (did he have a death wish?) and hurriedly ran to beach to help him land before waves knocked him over. AS I am reaching for his hand to pull him ashore, INSTEAD of grabbing it, he sticks a cold plastic bottle into my outstretched fingers, saying "I brought you a present." He had filled it with cold beer just before he launched at French Lake and, somehow, managed to keep it cold during 3-4 hours of battling the waves.

Magic gladly helped me gobble down my lake trout - he deserved it - and I enjoyed the first and only beer I've ever had in Quetico.  That was our ONLY beer but - as is only appropriate since these ARE, in fact, PJ's sequence of PODs - I DO recall there being a jug of something else stashed away somewhere nearby on that beautiful sandy beach site.

A single picture but MANY great memories there!  Thanks for that.

Later,

Jimbo  8-)