I departed my house in the east Twin Cities metro as planned at around 9 AM. I stopped at Panera to get a tuna sandwich for when I was ready to stop and eat which I did just before I got to Duluth at around 11 AM. I stopped at the Thompson Hill rest stop off of I35 to hit the head, stretch the legs, and admire the view of Duluth and Superior as I enjoyed my lunch. I then made my way up to Grand Marais where I made another stop to get gas before heading up the Gunflint Trail.

Though I had spent a few days this past July in Grand Marais with my family, I had never been up the Gunflint Trail, and it proved to be every bit as pretty a drive as I had imagined. My heart raced a few times at the scenery of low-lying ponds, lakes, and creeks amongst the rugged forest. By the time I got to the turn for my outfitter and entry point, I was fit to be tied. I stopped at the parking lot of the Cross Bay Lake entry point and got out to see where I would be putting in on the Cross River. It was a stunning view, and I was super-excited.

I then made my way over to meet Andy at Tuscarora, and he had me watch the video before we went over all of the equipment that he was outfitting me with. He sent me to the bunkhouse with my equipment pack and told me I could pick up the food pack the next morning after breakfast (to maximize time in the refrigerator for some items). I began adding my equipment and luxury items (camp chair, tarp, whiskey, etc.) to the pack and had a few items remaining for the food pack the next morning.

After a walk to admire the entry point again, I set back out in my truck for dinner at Trail Center. The burger and beer were delicious, and the service was friendly and speedy. I drove back to Tuscarora and fell asleep shortly after 9 PM or so.

"The Gate" sculpture at the Thompson Hill rest stop overlooking Duluth, MN and Superior, WI

My accommodations at Tuscarora the night before the trip.

I woke up before midnight with my left knee throbbing. It felt fine the entire day before, and I’ve never had problems with it. It ranged from uncomfortable to excruciating depending on my leg’s position. It was really only tolerable with my leg perfectly straight as I lay on my back. I quickly realized that I had left my supply of ibuprofen in the food pack, so I tried to just ride it out. The only thing that came to mind was that I was sitting cross-legged for a good portion of the time in the canoe that day. Perhaps that combined the rigors of portaging were enough to stress my knee to this point.

I finally got up and out of the tent at about 2 AM to search for the ibuprofen and try to get a little relief. The good news is that it was the perfect night for star gazing. The bad news was that I was in no condition to lug out my photography gear to try to do some astrophotography. I downed some pills and hobbled down to the landing rock. I was able to sit with my leg out-stretched and really admire the view. I saw a shooting star right when I sat down, and the Milky Way was nicely visible. After about an hour of star gazing (and massaging the muscles around my knee), I retired back to the tent – this time with my supply of ibuprofen. I caught a beautiful view of Orion rising in the east as I went back to my tent.

I finally fell into a deep and relatively comfortable sleep after about 4 AM and awoke to the sound of some kind of honking bird and sunlight around 8 AM. Nice. I never sleep that late. My knee was still hurting pretty bad, and I knew that I would not be taking a day trip that day. I hobbled out of my tent and got my simple breakfast ready. I made some coffee with my new Aeropress maker, and it was strong and delicious.

I then went back down to the waterfront to enjoy the morning sun. After a few minutes, I heard a giant splash off in the distance. When I looked closely, I could see antlers in the water. My cameras were about 150 feet up the hill, and for a moment I considered just watching and enjoying the moose. That moment passed as quickly as it was conceived, and I scrambled up the hill to put the 200mm lens on my DLSR (my longest lens) and the 720mm effective point and shoot. I managed to get a few snaps of him in the water and then finally getting out, but just experiencing the moose was an absolute thrill and one of the highlights of the trip.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing around camp and exploring some of the cool trails. I heard the sound of a canoe landing at about 1 PM and saw two people poking around the camp site that I had landed on the previous day. I was a bit surprised that someone would take that site given the relatively small number of people in the wilderness, but then I realized that they were stopping there just to have lunch. They departed a little after 2PM right after another group of four (in two canoes) passed by my site headed west. The weather remained perfect for most of the day, but clouds rolled in at around sunset. I stepped out of my tent a couple of times that night to see about star gazing, but it was cloudy both times.

Moose in Long Island Lake between campsites 561 and 2010.

Moose exiting Long Island Lake northwest of campsites 561.

Moose exiting Long Island Lake northwest of campsites 561.

Mushrooms around Long Island Lake campsite #561.

Moss near Long Island Lake campsite #561.

Lovely trails from campsite #561 on Long Island Lake.

I slept well that night and woke up around 7 AM or so. There was a decent breeze blowing into my site from the west, and there were some intermittent rain showers throughout the day. The showers were comfortably waited-out under my tarp, and I spent another day bumming around camp and relaxing. My knee was feeling better and better, but the intermittent rain and wind motivated me to, once again, stay out of the canoe for the day.

A group of four showed up to campsite #2010 at around noon, and I wondered if they were just having lunch. They actually ended up staying the night at that camp site. I could occasionally hear that they were having a conversation, but I couldn't hear the contents of those conversations, so that was fine with me. It was kind of nice knowing that I was not the only person getting to experience this majestic place.

Riding out some mild weather under the comfort of my CCS tarp.

It had started raining pretty hard at about 11 PM the night before, and that continued for a few hours. Magically, the rain stopped by the time I got up at 6 AM. I packed up the equipment in my tent, had a quick and easy breakfast, took down the tarp, and did my final packing. I pushed off from the site at about 7:30. Clearly, I'm no speed demon when it comes to breaking camp. My knee was feeling 100% when I left the campsite.

A stupid navigational issue (really, just not paying attention to the map) had me miss the channel into Karl Lake, and I (instead) paddled to the western side of Long Island Lake. Not knowing exactly where I was, I paddled all over that western portion of the lake. Finally, using campsites as my reference, I made my way to the portage trail between Long Island Lake and Karl Lake (I had actually been at that landing about an hour before). I was thankful to finally find myself, but I was pissed at myself for wasting about two hours. Again, I didn't let myself wallow in that emotion, as I still had a lovely day of beautiful paddling ahead of me. It was definitely colder than it had been, and the wind was blowing in from the north. I later learned that there was a frost that night.

I arrived back at my original put-in on the Cross River at about 2:30 PM. I had seen two other two-person groups on Cross Bay Lake, but they were the only people I saw that day. I pulled all of my gear up to the parking lot and walked down to Tuscarora where Andy was available to come grab my stuff in his truck. After a shave and a shower, I departed Tuscarora a little before 4 PM and arrive home and into my bed at about 9:30 PM.

Upon further reflection, I was really happy with just about every aspect of my trip. The CCS tarp, Aeropress coffee maker, Helinox chair zero, and Platypus 4 liter water filter were all worthy purchases that really enhanced my comfort and enjoyment. I used all of the clothes that I brought (excluding the rain gear!), and my footwear choices (rubber rain boots for paddling, tennis shoes and flip-flops for camp) were perfect for me. I had ended up losing about 15 pounds in the eight weeks before the trip via diet and riding my bike over 100 miles a week, and I'm glad that I did. I think for next time, though, I'd really like to shed another 30-40 pounds and work some strength training into my routine -- both of which should help out with whatever is going on with my knee (which started hurting again about half way through the return voyage). I have really good motivation now, and I'm already looking forward to planning my next adventure.

Thanks to anyone still reading, and thanks to everyone who makes this site such a fun and useful source of information!