The next morning, we were awakened by the persistent knocking of a hairy woodpecker on a large pine tree not more than 10 meters from our tent. The early morning sun gilded the rising mist hovering over the Petawawa.

We continued up the Petawawa to Narrowbag lake where we encountered our first Loons of the trip. Throughout the trip, we noted an abundance of juveniles, which was encouraging considering the Loon has virtually disappeared from our native Michigan.

About midmorning, we endured a couple of brief showers as we made are way to Catfish Lake. We experienced some difficulty finding the shallow, narrow outlet from Narrowbag to Catfish, our anxiety increased by the discomfort of the rain. By the time we reached the pinched midsection of Catfish, the rain had stopped. As we were passing through the narrows, we spotted a large flock of common mergansers sunning on an outcropping of rocks. Minutes later, we followed two muskrats, and were curious to discover that they apparently shared lodging with the local beavers.

The rest of the day remained dry, and we took our time in the lower end of the lake, pausing in several spots to try our hand at fishing. As we discovered later, we did not have the proper gear for the season. It was still rather warm, and the trout had not yet begun the spawning migration into the shallows, so we had no success. We decided to continue on to the campsite at Catfish rapids, where I had camped five years previous.

The south end of the lake is extremely shallow, no more than six or eight inches in most places. It is largely a sea of grass at that spot, and prime moose country. We were not disappointed. That evening, we saw the first of four moose during our trip, which was Joe's first encounter with a wild moose. She was enjoying her supper, so we gave her a wide berth.

We arrived at the campsite about an hour before dusk. As we were setting up camp, we heard some rustling in the underbrush. We were surprised to spot a spruce grouse feeding on berries not 3 meters from where we'd dropped the canoe moments earlier. I was fortunate to snap off several shots before it thundered off over our heads.