BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
June 01 2024
Entry Point 7 - From Big Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1161 feet
Latitude: 48.0651
Longitude: -92.0188
From Big Lake - 7
the short, early april solo
Entry Date:
April 07, 2010
Entry Point:
Little Indian Sioux River (south)
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
1
left the driveway at about 5:15 am. that was alot later than i was originally planning. oh well, not in a big hurry anyway.
arrived in ely around 10 and began looking for The Great Outdoors to meet jim for the first time. great guy. we chatted for awhile and as i was leaving, i was offered a beer...talk about tempting. i declined though and headed towards the echo trail.
stopped at the ranger station and self permitted, and hit the echo.
i had never gone very far on the echo before, only as far as the mudro turnoff. what a wild drive...i hope it never gets paved. at one point i got stuck behind a road grader. 4 mph for one mile. lost some time there.
arrived at the little indian sioux landing around noon. there is one truck in the parking area...im kinda bummed when i see that.
it seemed to take forever to get the canoe packed and floating. finally, im paddling. within 15 minutes i run into a couple paddling back out from a morning paddle. the truck owners...im happier now. :)
the river surprises me. very wide with expansive marshlands bordering it.
the wind is from the north and no part of the river affords any wind break. its nice having the wind at my back but the river twists and turns so much i often end up battling it.
definitely a wind chill. i caught the forecast when i was in ely. low tonight, 22. low thursday night, 18. now im happy i threw in a 40 degree bag to supplement my 20.
im at the sioux falls portage at 2:30. 
i think it would take me about another 3-4 hours to get to bootleg which would put me in camp fairly late in the day. i decide to take bogwalkers advise and camp at a winter site right above the falls. ill sleep well tonight with the sound of rushing water 30 feet away. 
its now 5 pm and just ate dinner. its 38 degrees right now. i didnt set up the tarp, wish i would have...the wind is ripping thru here now. im shivering so i add another layer of fleece and throw on the raingear.
this is sad. even though there is a ton of firewood at this site, i wont be having a fire tonight. its a winter site, not an official one. not even a fire ring is present. hey, thats ok...its just good to be up north again. ill have a nice fire on bootleg tomorrow night.
for wildlife its just been ducks, mergansers, many robins and one osprey so far.
this is the first trip in years where i dont have a "certain something" in the back of my mind. its a great feeling, one im not used to yet. lol
at the last moment i packed my little grundig radio. i guess that even though i love solo trips i also enjoy the human voice.
sleeping will be interesting tonight. the coldest ive ever camped in before was 28 degrees. tomorrows 18 degree low will be even more interesting.
its difficult to write with wool gloves on. its 35 now. its been a totally grey sky since i got here.
its 8 and without a fire i hit the bags. hope i can stay warm.
By lunch time, my desperate thoughts of escape and rapid retreat had faded. I lowered the Nemo and weighted the edge with rocks. In retrospect, I was incredibly lucky this hadn’t happened before, saved only by early to bed times and windless nights.
It was hot, and for the first time I noticed smoke in the air. The sunsets and dawns had been spectacular, and I realized that, in part, the northern forest fires contributed to the twice a day bedazzlement. I swam in a foggy despair, hoping my next night would avoid the nightmare of the last. Between swims, I chased the shade around the pines, reading, relaxing, writing. I realized there wasn’t anything to find out here; I travelled all this way to realize that everything I need, everything I am looking for, I have always had. Here, I can find it within myself more easily, and I hoped to bottle it up, save it for staff meetings and traffic jams, for the interminable process of grading essays, for the mindless plodding of civilized life. Here, I can more easily find and hold my deep WHY, and with such knowledge, I can survive, like Nietzche said, any HOW.
Shepherds Pie for dinner, although I could barely stomach it with the heat that lingered. I swam just before bed, but was sure to get screen side before the swarm. I waited in abject fear, but the windless twilight and my copious rocks made the difference. I feel asleep hot but unbitten.
out of the tent at 7:30. slept great last night, zero leg cramps.
no ice on the lake but alot of it in the nalgenes. 
grouse drumming, woodpeckers pecking.
the lake is glass.
they are forecasting a rain/snow mix for tonight and tomorrow morning and suddenly i DONT need a 3rd night up here. thats one of the best things about solo trips...i can do what i want.
im heading out the same way i came in.
nice little trip. again, april 7th entry....WOW! 
