We got up early, packed up and left the campsite around 7:30am but realized about 20 minutes into our drive that we forgot the leaches. We turned around to go retrieve the leeches and ended up losing 40 minutes arriving at the outfitters way later than planned. This wasn’t the end of the world but as usual we had an ambitious first day planned to try and get out ahead of the crowds and that set us back. Rumor has it the first week in August is the busiest time in the BWCA especially on the Ely side.

At the Snowbank entry point ready to go!

Our first destination lake was Thomas Lake and with storms in the forecast for later that day we wanted to get an early start and find a nice sheltered campsite to ride out the storms. The canoes would be manned by the same teams the whole trip. Nate(bow) and I were together (much to the consternation of the others, more on that later), Zach(bow) and Emily; Gerardo(bow) and Sara. All loaded up, we set off on Snowbank about 9am, a couple hours later than originally planned but we were back!! Adventure here we come!! It took a little while for Nate and I to get back into our groove working as a team but we soon fell into a rhythm that just felt right. However, the others were not finding this same level of rhythm and rightness.

Hey Guys!! Over Here!

In fact, they were not remotely close to tracking anything that could be considered a straight line…. and at the portage from Snowbank to Disappointment their frustration was expressed freely in words, motions and ideas of wanting to break up the teams to become more efficient. To quote Emily: “Eric and Nate just paddled across like saying hello to a dear old friend. The rest of us stared on with the jealousy of a thousand suns. This was probably the angriest I was the entire trip because it doesn't make sense when both people are paddling on the right side of the canoe and it continues to go left.” On that first portage it was decided that a paddling class was needed. While the bow persons went back for the rest of the gear, a new class was created and taught for the first time. Strategic Paddling for Highly Frustrated First Timers or SPHFFT for short. It’s a 100-level course and is roughly 20 minutes of class time explaining and demonstrating the different paddle strokes (I only know 2) as well as discussing how the wind and waves affect a canoe and what stoke could be used to counter these forces of nature to keep the canoe tracking in an approximate straight line. The team aspect was also addressed and how you need to work with your canoemate and that it is more efficient to focus on traveling in a straight line albeit going at a slower pace instead of exerting all your power and zigzagging all over the place. This is followed by a whole lot of field work; they say experience is the best teacher!! I am in no way a subject matter expert and definitely not qualified to teach this course but it seemed to help as during the rest of the trip the newbies made huge progress on their paddling skills.

The first students of the SPHFFT

The portage from Snowbank to Disappointment is really nothing to be worried about. Yes, it is long (230ish rods) but it is well traveled, worn down and easy to follow. There is some elevation but nothing crazy and it’s a good first portage for first timers to get a taste of portaging. Our Golden rules for portaging, watch where you step and take your time. Safety is number one and front of mind, a busted ankle makes more work for everybody. That said, we did double portage. One of these years I will single portage, probably when I finally get the courage to go on a solo trip or spend the money to purchase the more expensive lighter gear. With the classroom portion of the class completed, the field work portion began.

On to Disappointment Lake!

Disappointment Lake is a long lake that snakes its way north and east and seems to just keep going. There are different types of lakes when traveling in the BWCA. The wide-open lakes (see Snowbank, Kekekabic, Gabimichigami, etc…) where you can see pretty much uninterrupted from shore to shore. You take a compass bearing or a visual bearing and head out. Then there are lakes with false shorelines or lots of islands. You take a bearing and get there only to find out that you’re not there yet. This was also a good test of how well the SPHFFT class went as the wind was starting to increase and we could see clouds building in the west. After more than a few “false shorelines” we were across the lake and to the portage to Ahsub Lake. The portage to Ahsub Lake is a quick up and over and clocks in at a mere 25 rods and we were across in no time. Ahsub Lake is a smaller lake that looked deep and had some cliffs on the northwest side with a conveniently located campsite at lunch time so we stopped. It was a quick stop, maybe 20-30 minutes as we still had quite a way to go before we got to our destination lake to find campsite for the night. Once we left our lunch spot and hung a left around a point we found ourselves paddling down a channel that lead to the portage to Jitterbug Lake. Ahsub being the first of a number of smaller lakes and we fell into a cycle of paddle, portage, repeat. The portage from Ahsub to Jitterbug is a quick 15 rods with a decent landing on the Ahsub side but a muddy “watch where you step or you might lose a shoe” landing on the Jitterbug side. Jitterbug is a smaller lily pad choked lake that is really very scenic with no campsites and a decent beaver damn as you exit the lake heading towards Adventure Lake. We were across in no time.

Jitterbug Lake

The portage to Adventure Lake is 40 rods but pretty easy. We were across Adventure Lake with out any individual adventures although this is when it started to rain. Nothing crazy but we put on our full rain gear, moved our sunglasses to the storage position on top of the head and paddled on. The portage from Adventure Lake to Cattyman Lake was also nothing challenging and is only 10 rods, we didn’t even unload the canoes. Just picked them up and walked them over. This portage does have some rocks to watch out for. We were only on Cattyman for a short while as the next portage to Jordan Lake was right around the corner. The portage to Jordan Lake is a well-maintained trail however the entry into Jordan is steep, rocky and can pose challenges when wet. As it was still raining, we took our time to make sure everyone stayed safe. Being on these smaller lakes and more protected from the wind, it is easy to forget that it is actually windy. Once on Jordan Lake, we had to battle across the main part of the lake before we entered some channels that would bring us to the portage to Ima Lake. The rain stopped as we were heading down the channel towards the portage and as I flipped off my rain jacket hood, I heard a soft “plunk” in the water and hung my head in the realization that my sunglasses were now swimming with the fishes. Lost my sunglasses on the first day, rookie move. This section of our trip was fun and different even though we had a lot of portaging. More portaging means smaller lakes with no campsites which I assumed would give us a greater chance to happen upon a moose which I would like to encounter in the wild. The lakes in this stretch of the trip had more water vegetation (which means less rocks but more mud) and channels through tall grass and smaller creeks to navigate and follow. (I would like to do the Frost River loop at some point in the future).

Paddling

The portage to Ima is pretty easy and short however there were a lot of larger rocks to dodge. We were over and off onto Ima and back on the bigger lakes where wind becomes more of a challenge. The wind at this point was coming out of the north/northwest which was relatively at our backs and helped us cruise across Ima. However we took a wrong bearing and had to follow the eastern shore north a little ways before we happened upon the portage entrance…. Look for a narrow passage in the cliff. This was the most challenging entry/exit to a portage I can remember. It gets deep pretty quickly and its maybe 10-15 feet wide (and that’s being generous), definitely one at a time on this portage. Lots of rocks to navigate not only in the canoe but also as you step out of your canoe to start the portage. Once on the portage you immediately start climbing up a set rock “stairs” which at the time were pretty slick due to the constant precipitation from the last hour or so. Not sure how many of these “stairs” you go up but once through that part, the portage turned to a dirt path and while there was some elevation change, it wasn’t that bad. The portage is about 50 rods or so. By this time, we were all getting a little tired and looking forward to a change of clothes and a warm meal at a campsite. But back to the task at hand, at least it stopped raining. From here you take off on a little river/stream (to be honest I don’t know the difference) that had a couple of portages but nothing crazy so we made good time and spilled out into Thomas Pond looking forward to the final leg of the day’s journey. Thomas pond is just that, a pond and Zach and Emily were across and unloading before the last of our group got loaded up and pushed off to cross. So we sent them ahead to find and secure the first and closest campsite they could find. Home for the night and we got there before the storms showed up! We were all thankful and ready to be done for the day. We pulled up to the campsite about 4:00pm and unloaded all our gear and got camp set up remembering to get everything situated before the light was turned off. Everyone was tired and hungry but in good spirits.

Ima Portgage

River Portage

Thomas Lake

The campsite, # 1680: The campsite is located on the south side of a small peninsula just south of the portage. This is nice because you really don’t see a lot of canoe traffic to the north. The landing is not too bad although there is a short relatively steep section to get up to the main part of the campsite but its easy to navigate. The fire grate is in the open and in a pretty flat area with the usual rocks and roots to navigate. The tent spots are on the western edge of the campsite however not a lot of places to hang hammocks. We had to get a little creative to find a bear tree but located some taller trees at the end of the peninsula almost to the end of the point. Not the best situation but we made it work with a 2-rope system. One rope to pull the food sacks up and one rope to pull the food sacks away from the tree. We used this configuration most of the trip.

Campsite

With everyone’s sleeping arraignments situated we started making dinner which ended up being the show before the show. While Emily was making her dinner, she managed to knock over her stove which created a decent fireball (think size of a small basketball) that rose into the sky. It was comical and we all had a good laugh. After we finished dinner, we hung the bear bags and settled in to watch the much-anticipated storms roll in around 7pm. I have experienced downpours in the BWCA before, but this was the first time I experienced a lightening a storm of that magnitude. Thankfully it was not windy, just monsoon like rain and lots of cloud to ground (or vice versa) lightening which was a little unsettling. The fact that we used the large white pine in the middle of camp to tie off the main tarp didn’t make things any more settled. The storms seemed to roll through and then backtrack and roll through again, it rained from 7pm until sometime after midnight.

Side note: I don’t usually pitch gear but Emily brought a gravity water filter and I have to say it was pretty slick! Previously we were using an MSR pump water filter (when close to shore, yes we are dippers) and the gravity filter is WAY easier. Work smarter not harder!!

Lakes traveled: Snowbank, Disappointment, Ahsub, Jitterbug, Adventure, Cattyman, Jordan, Ima, Hatchet, Thomas Distance traveled: 13.5 miles