Hours of preparation, booking, planning, packing. Three hours of driving and traffic jams followed by an hour of paddling and a mile of portage and tomorrow I'll do it all again on the way home. You might ask if it's worth the trouble just to sit on a rock by the water's edge and watch the world turn. The leaves have turned and float on breezes, a fire red maple and a golden oak back lit by the passing sun frame my view, blue sky with fluffy clouds reflected on deep, dark water. The day greeted me with bright sunshine sparkling across the rippling lake but as the sun passed to afternoon a calm set in and smoothed the surface near glass. The life around the lake appeared for me as if to put on a show, a flock of ducks broke the stillness with the thrumming of their wings, a little later a beaver crossed the still water leaving a glimmering V shaped wake. The bushes rustled with squirrels and chipmunks and sang with many birds, woodpeckers tapped and chickadees flitted ...