6 days in the BWCAW

We spent 6 glorious days in the wilderness and the weather was unbelievably beautiful!  This trip was filled with multiple eagle sightings on every day, including one from our hotel room on the trip north.  We saw 2 blue herons take flight right in front of us.  The adult loons are often gone by the time we make our September trip, but due to the unseasonably warm weather, we had plenty of loons singing throughout the day and night.

We paddled almost 13 miles the first day up Moose Lake, into Sucker Lake where we saw 2 eagles' nests, through Birch Lake and and eventually to our campsite on Robbins Island in Knife Lake. 
  We were only a few yards from the Isle of Pines, which was the home of Dorothy Molter.

Looking from Robbins Island to the Isle of Pines, home of Dorothy Molter.

Dorothy was known as "The Root Beer Lady" because she made and sold root beer to paddlers passing by.

Dorothy lived by herself in a cabin without utilities or electricity on the Isle of Pines until she died at 79.  Her cabin was about 1 1/2 days paddle from any road.

The next day we fished and paddled our way up Knife Lake.  We stopped at Thunder Point and climbed to the top for a breathtaking view of the area.

Rusty & Di at the top of Thunder Point

Looking up at Thunder Point.

Knife Lake borders Canada.  We paddled for nearly two days along the border.

Canada, eh?

Forest fire in Canada.

We could see the smoke from the fire during our next 3 days of paddling.  The area we were in was closed soon after we left because of the fire.

On the south arm of Knife Lake we found a nice campsite.

Looking up from water's edge to campsite.

We had our own little island near the campsite.

The boy's are headed out to catch tonight's dinner.

Rusty came back with a nice Northern.

We had a granite stone bordering our fire grate that would be welcome in most modern kitchens.

We had a scary paddle the next morning with tailwinds gusting to 30 mph.  They produced some waves that were 2 and 3 feet high.  It felt like we were driving a car on a solid sheet of ice.
We did many short portages this day, one of which was very steep.

 But the steepness has its own rewards, this time a fantastic waterfall!

After completing 5 portages, we turned into Lake Kekakabic and fierce headwinds.  We knew we couldn't make it far up this huge lake.  Luckily there was an open campsite in the first bay.  After we pitched our tents, Steve went back into the bay to fish for supper.

3 bass made for good eating!

Lucky for us, Steve is very good at cleaning fish.

This loon seemed to enjoy swimming close to our campsite.

We ate well, we were out of the wind, the loon was singing, and the sun began to set.  Just a piece of heaven on earth!

The Canadian fire probably contributed to the gorgeous evening sky.

The next two days were easy paddling with intermittent clouds and sunshine, not much wind, and pretty vistas.

The water was crystal clear on most of these border lakes.

Di with pack on portage.

Glad to be at the end of our last 180 rod portage.

This was our last lunch stop before paddling out.  We hated to leave this beautiful wilderness!

 

In 6 days we paddled 50 miles.  If we add in the 20 portages (all double portages), the total mileage goes up to almost 60.







I always get a little carried away by the beauty of the flora.  So, without comment, here are my pics.
(Apologies to Lorvey, who is a much better photographer!)