I made my 53rd trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) earlier this summer and had a blast. The BWCA or "The 'dub" as I like to call it is a special place, one that calls me back again and again. I love it for its pristine waters, its quiet solitude, and haunting beauty where one can see and hear a multitude of wildlife in their home, feel the sun, wind, water, and trees, and relax, leaving day-to-day stress and struggles behind.
I was accompanied on this trip by three great friends from my youth, Greg, Jon, and Steve (aka Sven of the North). We've known each other for over 50 years, having attended school together in our hometown, and have stayed in contact off and on in the years since. Somehow, we all still like each other! We are all experienced paddlers - Greg being the most experienced and well-traveled by canoe - but this was the first we had all made a canoe trip together. Jon, Steve, and I tripped together last year and had so much fun we decided to invite Greg. It was a fantastic decision! We reminisced, traded stories, generally had a great time solving many world problems, and answered philosophical questions that have plagued scholars for centuries.
We planned the trip remotely, meeting online to discuss goals, expectations, tripping styles, gear needs, meal plans, and potential routes. Everything came together easily. We settled on doing a loop route out of Sawbill Lake, heading north out of Alton to the Louse River then west to Amber before turning south and then east through the lady chain of Polly, Phoebe, Grace, Beth, and back to Sawbill on day 5. It was a total of just 52 miles (43 paddling and 9 portaging), made easier by relatively light loads and single portages. My daughter and I had done this route in reverse a few years ago and I remembered it as being fun, and crowd-free due to the somewhat challenging portages and difficulty of finding them. The water levels were high this year and so many of the areas where paddling had been difficult before were more easily paddled this year - including a few portages and beaver dams.
Steve and I headed to Jon's place the night before our trip to consolidate our gear and pack up in order to get an early start on the 5-hour drive from the metro area in the morning. We stopped to get our permit at the Tofte ranger station and Greg met us at Sawbill Lake, having a shorter drive from Grand Marais.
Day One: Sawbill to Wine We had been warned by my daughter and also Greg that the bugs were heavy this year. They weren't lying. When we got out of the vehicle at the entry point we were immediately swarmed by clouds of mosquitos - heavy in spite of the strong wind. We had all treated our clothes with permethrin and had head nets to keep them off our faces. We wore these nearly the entire trip.
We met at Sawbill, unloaded the gear, got the canoes in the water, and started padding into the wind at about noon. It wasn't long before we reached our first sizeable portage - the 470 rod (about 1.5 miles) Lujenida portage that was fairly dry but seemed to be constantly uphill. We did that in one carry and then had a short couple of hops to our first night's camp on Wine Lake. This was a short day as we were at camp in just a couple of hours. 7 miles paddling, 2 miles of portaging.
Greg and Sven
Jon, the butcher.
Day Two: Wine to Boze This was a relatively short paddling day on small lakes and the Louse River with a great many short, wet portages with challenging footing and more than a few beaver dam pullovers. The Louse River route is less traveled than others - largely due to the length and number of portages required to get there. This means that the portages can sometimes be difficult to find. Because of the heavy snows and late Spring this year, we were able to paddle a few of the pullovers and portages. Likewise, areas of the river that require one to walk or line the canoe were easily paddled due to the higher water levels. The day was warm and I was somewhat dehydrated from the night before so we took a mid-morning break to refuel and get some liquids and electrolytes in ourselves. The Louse river area is gorgeous with a little bit of everything - open lakes, marshes, grasses, cool rock formations, white pines, and boreal forest. We rewarded ourselves with a swim from our campsite on Boze Lake. 6 miles of paddling. 2.5 miles of portaging.
Day Three: Boze to Kawishiwi This was a short day featuring a relatively easy paddle from Boze lake to the Kawishiwi - with a very wet portage out of Malberg just for sport. We reached our campsite before noon, set up camp, had a snack, and paddled down the Kawishiwi to Fishdance Lake to visit some pictographs there. Steve and Greg dawdled on the way back to do some fishing and brought a good-sized northern and bass back to camp for the night's dinner. When we arrived back at camp, we found moose prints that hadn't been there before moving right through camp. 9 miles of paddling. .5 miles of portaging
Day Four: Kawishiwi to Phoebe The weather was fine and the paddling easy - owing to an early start and the fact that we were hopping between lakes and meandering rivers. There were the usual beaver dams and pullovers along the route - some of which we were able to paddle over, or almost. On one of these, Sven of the North tried exiting the canoe as we teeter-tottered a the top only to slip on the wet rocks or tree branches. I dug deep with my paddle to try and brace us but Sven was pulled under the canoe as it then slid backward, gliding across his torso as he orangutanged a hold on both the bow of the canoe and the beaver dam - in a sort of self-imposed medieval torture device, stretching himself, but holding fast onto the cane to keep it from shooting back out with the current. This backwoods ninja yoga complete, we made our way forward while Greg and Jon had an easier time of it and we were back on route, no worries in hand. By the time we reached Phoebe Lake, the wind had risen and we hugged the shore, staying on the leeward side of the small islands as we made our way down the lake to an open campsite. We hadn't seen many people in the past 3 days but started seeing a few groups as we neared Phoebe. 14 miles of paddling. 2 miles of portaging.
Day 5: Phoebe to Sawbill
It had been a windy night with a small bit of rain. The sky was gathering more rain while we broke camp. When we got on the water a fog had settled and light rain started as we paddled into the mist, making our way to Grace. By the time we reached Alton, the temperature had dropped and it was raining pretty well, making us a bit damp and a bit cold all the way back to Sawbill. We arrived in driving rain in front of not too far off thunder so there was no time to linger as we got off the water to pack up the gear and get the canoes on top of the vehicle, ready for the drive home. We said our thank yous and goodbyes to Greg before changing into dry clothes at Sawbill and then headed south feeling content with another great trip in the books, already thinking about the next one! 7.5 miles of paddling. 2 miles of portaging.
We saw eagles, beavers, loons, mergansers, green ducks, turtles, frogs, snakes, mice, pine marten, moose prints, but no other large animals.
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