Route:  McIntosh L., Timberwolf L., Misty L., Little Misty L., Petawawa R., Daisy L.
Distance:  11 miles
Portages:  405, 765, 935, 450, 135
Travel Time:  5:00
Map

We woke up to amazingly thick fog. We could only see about 50 feet down the shore. Strangely, the fog was isolated to the water - there was none in the campsite. There was no way we could leave until the fog lifted. The fog finally cleared and we were on our way by 9:30. After the fog lifted, it turned out to be a very nice day - lots of sun, but very humid.

The big news of the day was that we finally emptied the first propane tank. Seth had been moaning about carrying all of the extra propane tanks. Clearly, we did not need the four tanks we brought.

The first portage to Timberwolf Lake was only a short paddle away. At the far side of this portage, there was a large pile of bear droppings.

On Misty Lake, we paddled along the southern edge of the lake on our way to the portage. This part of the lake looks like a vast wasteland of dead trees and muck. We passed a great blue heron perched on top of a beaver lodge. As we got closer to the portage, a turtle surfaced near the front of the canoe and startled Seth.

We took the portage to Little Misty L. and began a leisurely paddle up the Petawawa River. It was very scenic with only a single beaver dam to cross. Just before the first portage on the river, there is a small waterfall.

We met two couples on this portage who told us they had to walk their canoes several times further up the river. Their canoes looked heavily loaded so we hoped that we would be OK. Further up the river, we came across some other people who also complained of shallow water. We were becoming concerned, but I stated confidently that I'd been down this river half a dozen times before and never had to walk. I had not intention of starting now. We tried valiantly to stay in the canoe, but in the end, we had to walk a couple of hundred meters.

We finally reached Daisy Lake and headed for our favorite island campsite. Unfortunately, this campsite was taken so we opted for the site we used on our last trip. A few trees had fallen since the last time we were here. It also looked like someone had managed to start a ground fire.

It was around 2:30 so we ate lunch, set up our hammocks and relaxed. After being on Burntroot L. and seeing no one for almost 24 hours, this almost seemed like the big city. Several canoes passed by while we were in our hammocks. We heard many envious remarks.

As we were packing things up for the night, the clouds had thickened and it looked like rain would be coming. We were both convinced that it would rain this night. As it turned out, we were both wrong.

There was a strange occurrence just before bedtime. We heard something moving behind us and figured that it was a mouse. Instead, it was a toad - a rather large toad. We looked around and quickly found two more toads. We weren't too concerned about the toads, but we thought it would be pretty gross if we stepped on one by accident.