As usual, I got an early start today. The sunrise was beautiful over Bladebone Bay.

Remembering how quickly the packrafting went yesterday, I was in no hurry as I started down the west side of Kingsmere Lake, and I stopped for a long break at a solitary beach.

I left, paddled for awhile and then stopped at another beach, because why not? A fishing boat moved past far from the shore, but otherwise there were no boats or people in sight.

The wind had picked up substantially by the time I decided to leave beach #2. I felt worried – carrying a load of expensive backpacking gear on a packraft is uncomfortable, at least for someone with a fear of water. The wind was coming from behind me, so at least I didn’t have to fight the waves. It was just a rolling ride the rest of the way to Pease Point Campground, which has no beach and was therefore infested with mosquitoes. I arrived at the same time as a group of canoeists who had been worried about padding on Kingsmere Lake in the waves, and had instead paddled all the way through the Bagwa Canoe Route to get to Pease Point. They warned me about one of the portages, but the joy of a packraft is not worrying about portages.

Pease Point Campground also had another (ambiguous) warning:

This is the kind of verbage I would expect to see outside a McDonalds, not in the boreal forest (warning: mosquitoes in area). Perhaps the bear had stolen food though, or was scaring small children, since there was a bear trap in the campground. A bear trap closed on both ends (with no bear inside).

I ate supper quickly and fled into my tent. Goodnight mosquitoes! Goodnight mystery bear!