September

Retirement has provided travel opportunities for everyone in our dinner group.  The down side of this is it's hard to find a time when everyone is home.  In early September, we managed to get the entire group together for the first time in over a year!

After dinner, the group enjoyed just hanging out together.

Rusty points our places we've been in the BWCAW.

Lorvey checks out the shaving horse and Rusty's paddle-in-progress.

Thank you, Greg, for providing pictures.



We enjoyed celebrating Lindsay's September 14th birthday.

Dad and daughter

Papaw and GiGi always enjoy time with Lindsay and Celeste.

We went on yet another adventure into the BWCAW wilderness this fall.

The deep scarlet of the leaves were so pretty.

Cool place, huh?

Rusty's ready to go.

The first day we paddled up Moose River, across Nina Moose Lake, up Nina Moose River, and all the way across Lake Agnes.  Total mileage: 10.5

Breakfast with good, strong coffee is enjoyable after a hard first day.

After breakfast we broke camp, loaded the canoes and paddled north again.

We paddled Boulder River.  The water was very low and we were constantly on the lookout for rocks.  

I hate it when we crash into rocks that are just an inch or two below the surface!

Just having fun!

Boulder River led us into one of the largest lakes in the Boundary Waters, Lac La Croix, which borders Canada.

Lac La Croix is 34,070 acres.  Maximum depth is 168 feet.  This is just a tiny part of the huge lake.

Rusty and Steve caught some fish for supper.

Dinner is on!

Day 3 we crossed Bottle Portage in Canada and spent time on Iron Lake on our way to Rebecca Falls.

(Warning:  turn your volume down.)

Steve attempted much closer pictures than I did.

This is as close as I was willing to go.

Rebecca Falls is a double falls.  This is the second side.

Near the falls I caught a 24" Northern.

Steve brings back firewood just in time to help rescue Rusty's lure from the rocks.

After Steve cleans and fillets the fish, he puts the remains on a rock not far from camp.  This usually will draw in eagles.  In this video, the bigger eagle (female) isn't letting the smaller eagle (male) have any.  The audio is from the ravens who are waiting their turn for food.

This was the trip for eagle sightings.  On our drive north, we saw four adult eagles and one adolescent having what Rusty called an "eagle rodeo" on the side of the road.  We saw multiple eagles fighting over the fish guts while we were in the wilderness.

Once again, yummy fish for dinner!

I always find portages to be interesting.  Big trees fall across the portages.  According to BWCAW rules, they must be cut by hand.  No chain saws allowed.

It's been several seasons since this big tree was sawn in two.

Rusty & Steve on second half of double portage.

This portage was beautiful!

During high water, this rocky riverbed is filled with rushing waters.

I took this shot while waiting at the end of a portage.

We spent two nights camped on an island on Lac Le Croix and planned to head south in the morning.

I rained a bit during the night and a very strong easterly wind came up.  We heard wolves howling in the night!  By morning, breakfast would be cold, windy and difficult in our exposed campsite.  Steve suggested we paddle a couple of miles and have breakfast on a more protected campsite.

I took down the tent, we packed up, and paddled to a beautiful, warm, campsite and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.

Paddling in unison!

We heard a large group of Mergansers quacking and slashing.  The rust-colored head would indicate the group is all females and immature ducks.

...and we heard eagles calling.  The eagles seemed to recognize that where there are canoes, there is a possibility of fish.

Silly

After setting up camp, I had the opportunity to sit on a large rock on the edge of the lake and enjoy direct sunshine for more than an hour.  I said that experience was better than a month's worth of therapy!

Following our evening meal, we enjoyed hot tea, a few bites of dark chocolate, and interesting conversation as we watched the sun fall towards the horizon.

After the sun was down, the lake appeared smooth and reflective.  We saw the dark shapes of many bats swooshing across the top of the silvery lake, catching insects.

It was such a pleasant evening, that I stayed up later than usual.  I watched the evening stars appear in the sky.  We saw the Summer Triangle, made of Deneb, Altair and Vega.

Just before turning in for the night, I heard the small cry of an animal, almost like the whimpering of a dog.  Then we saw a family of three beaver swim right past our campsite, the adults protecting and guiding the younger one.

This was one of the most beautiful days in my life!

On our last day, we paddled south on Lake Agnes to check out the fresh moose tracks.

This was a BIG moose!

Steve collects sand to fill in low spots on the portages ahead.

It was raining most of our way out, but Nina Moose River was still pretty.

One of our last portages of the trip.

Headed out.  Can't wait to come back!