A group of family and friends took a 3 (planned 4) night trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area is Northern Minnesota starting and ending at entry point 30 on Lake One. We explored Lake One, Lake Two, Lake Three and Lake Four and took a base camp approach. The post covers the highlights of the trip.
We stayed at Snowbank Lodge the night before and checked out the Blueberry Festival in Ely on our way in. The lodge was a rustic place on the lake with friendly and helpful owners. We played several hands of Uno, had a nice thunderstorm with a few flickers of the electricity and enjoyed a band called Irene's Entropy. The music was a nice surprise considering it was a Sunday night and the place is small and relatively remote.
There were 8 people in our party ranging in age from 13 to 71. For 3 of the members, it was their first time. We planned to set up a base camp, relax and do day trips as the weather allowed. In previous trips we moved more and designed this trip to be more relaxing. We used Paddle Planner in determining the route and estimating time. We rented 3 Kevlar canoes from Snowbank Lodge and had them delivered to the entry point. We brought all other gear and food.
 |
| Entry Point 30 |
 |
| Entry Point 30 |
8/1/2022
It was a misty morning and we got on the water around 9:00 am. We traveled for about 4 hours and ended up on Lake Four. We were able to take over a nice campsite from a group of Boy Scouts from Los Angeles. It was in a small bit of older growth forest that survived the Pagami Fire. We waited until they left and moved in. Very nice site, south facing, plenty of space for our 6 tents. Offered some protection from north and west winds. Tried some fishing in the evening and only got a few bites.
8/2/2022
Storm was forecast so we decided to stay in. Moved the kitchen tarp to a more protected location and changed the orientation of the opening parallel to the wind direction to minimize creating a sail. We played Uno and ate snacks while it rained. The forecast of 60 mph winds with hail and cloud to ground lightening did not fully pan out and was the storm was much milder than forecast. It was breezy with light rain for a few hours.
When the rain cleared people fished off the shore and I went crayfish catching with Alaina. She caught one and also unintentionally lots of leeches on her feet and legs. They were tiny but tenacious. They were thick between her toes. We used a tweezers to get them off. Several of them had latched on and were filling with blood, like a mosquito does, before our eyes. I had a few on me. One on my left leg became very itchy and was weeping a serous fluid the following morning.
 |
| The gang waiting out the "storm" |
 |
Cooling off with a swim, south view from the campsite Pagami Fire area.
|
8/3/2022
Windy cloudy day with intermittent sprinkles. Went on a trip toward Hudson Lake to see the sights and catch some fish. Found a great spot at the downstream side of the 10 rod portage where rapids are noted on the map. Our group caught 2 Small Mouth Bass and 4 Walleye total. Found wild blueberries and raspberries. Took lots of photos and underwater video. I accidentally left one of my cameras in black and white mode for our outing. Back at camp we fileted and cooked the fish. It was delicious. We also saw some painted turtles and 2 otters checked us out as we were relaxing in the evening.
 |
| 10 Rod Portage between Lake Four and Hudson Lake |
 |
| East side of Lake Four |
 |
| Walleye and Small Mouth Bass on a stringer |
.JPG) |
| Downstream (West side) of the 25 Rod Portage between Lake Four and Hudson Lake |
 |
| Blueberry |
 |
| 25 Rod Portage between Lake Four and Hudson Lake |
 |
| A days catch! |
8/4/2022
Beautiful sunny day. Decided to head in a day early due to forecasted strong winds on Friday. Enjoyed the morning and then picked up and got on the water around noon. Alaina got a treble hook stuck in her leg, luckily not too deep. Two barbs stuck, one shallow and one deeper. Broke the skin above the shallow barb with a needle to free it. For the deeper barb Chris took a piece of fishing line and put it around the shank and popped it out with a swift yank. Very effective and bled minimally. The psychological preparation for the removal took the most time : ) the intervention was quick! Good reminder to wear eye protection anytime you are around treble hooks. We didn't have any issues on our return. Just sunshine and smooth water.
 |
| 38 Rod Portage between Lake One and Lake Two |
 |
| Downstream (West) side of the 38 Rod Portage between Lake One and Lake Two |
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
Comments
Post a Comment