Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Ensign Lake June 2023
by birdonbats

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/23/2023
Entry & Exit Point: Moose Lake (EP 25)
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 4
Trip Introduction:
Two couples in for camping and fishing
Report
Departed Entry #25 at 9am and took almost an hour longer to arrive at our campsite on Ensign Lake than it would normally take due to stiff wind from the east. Wind from east is unusual and we thought we would hit the normal west wind on our exit out as well.  Lucky for us, the big lakes were calm on our exit. High traffic at the portages, but not very many folks in the water due to rainy, misty and wind.  Despite some rain and thick mosquitos qwe had a good time. Fire ban was in effect so we didnt have to scavenge for wood. Fishing was adequate and we ate walleye and smallmouth for dinner. My wife and I portaged over to Ashigan and paddled around. Such a pretty lake.  Our favorite part of the trip was putting our chairs down by the lake and watching "The Nature Channel". We saw crawdads, snapping turtles, painted turtles, a merganser with 10 babies, loons, gulls, eagles, a snowshoe hare, and a mink!  The mink was determined to take our fish on the stringer. He persisted for about 20 minutes before we finally got him to leave . We have a great video of him darting out from under the canoe to try to steal a fish.  Another year of great memories!