Wednesday, August 01, 2018

We left the Twin Cities around 7 am in hopes of getting to Sawbill Canoe Outfitters around 1 and putting in before 2. It was a pretty chilly day for it being August 1, but then again you never know what to expect in Minnesota. We stopped at Tobies in Hinckley (I obviously got a giant cinnamon roll) and continued on towards Duluth. We stopped in Tofte for lunch around 11:30 or so at Coho Cafe. It was definitely decent food, though it’s not like there were a lot of choices in Tofte.

After lunch we headed up the Sawbill Trail and arrived right on time. Did the paperwork on our canoe rentals, and we were soon launching off. It had been drizzly all morning and although the weather reports indicated it would taper off, the drizzle was still going strong when we launched around 2:00. Here we are launching our canoes at the very convenient dock.

The plan for today was to camp on Burnt (2 portages away) given the afternoon entry. In no time at all, we were at our first portage to Smoke.

I love watching first-timers do portages the first time. ‘So I just walk this trail until I see water again?’ ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to have 2 people carry a canoe?’ Anyway, they loved it once they got to the other side. On this trip, we single portaged all portages since there were 8 able-bodied young men.

The Smoke side is definitely an adventure. Due to the boggy nature of it, there is a ‘floating’ dock from which to launch your canoe. However, put more than one person on it and it definitely starts to sink. Oh and don’t step off the dock! If you do, you’ll be up to your knee in muck—let’s just say we know from experience!

We really enjoyed the elevation in the distance while paddling Smoke.

The portage to Burnt was pretty uneventful. Being on Burnt, we now started to look for a campsite. We looked at the map and decided which we would prefer, if possible.

We made a beeline for the island site just south of the put-in point. Occupied. How about the southern point? Occupied. The two in the middle of the lake? Occupied. At this point I saw more canoes on the lake than I’ve ever seen in a BWCA lake. We counted 11 (!) canoes on the relatively small Burnt Lake. Needless to say, when we checked out the northern campsites, they were also taken. Okay, so we were skunked on Burnt. No big deal. We’d get the 210 portage out of the way and take one of the 4 sites just after the portage on Kelly.

I really enjoyed this portage. Definitely not difficult, but very pretty. Since I went first, I walked quietly and hoped to see some wildlife. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything.

Once we were all over to Kelly, everyone was happy that we had gotten it out of the way for tomorrow. So we started to check out the campsites on Kelly. We could not find the southern campsite in the bunch of four on Kelly, so we went into the bay to check the others. They seemed pretty low-lying and were quite hidden. We had to get right up next to the campsites before we were able to see that they were… occupied. Went up to the northern campsite in the clump of four: occupied. Finally located the southern campsite (seemed much further south than our maps indicated) and it was occupied. Okay, so now we were 0 for 10, it was still drizzling, and it was going to be dark soon. I don’t generally like to look at the time in the BW, but I looked so I knew how much time we had before dusk. It was 6:15, which isn’t great.

The group at the northern campsite was out canoeing, so we decided to approach them and ask if we could share their site, seeing that it was quite a paddle to the next three campsites, and with our luck those might be occupied as well! The gentleman responded with ‘I’d rather you didn’t.’ Now, I get it. We’re a group of eight guys. I wouldn’t want to share my campsite with another group, let alone a group of eight guys. But at the time we were getting desperate (oh, and we had some steaks thawing that we REALLY wanted to grill). So his response became a joke for the rest of the trip: ‘I’d rather you didn’t.’ He also told us the campsite at the far north side of Kelly was occupied. Just past that one, there were two campsites on Jack Lake that last he saw were unoccupied. We also had the option of paddling south to Peterson Lake as that campsite was much closer. However, being one away from an entry point lake, and it being the only campsite on that lake, we decided to wind our way up the Temperance towards Jack.

Sure enough, the campsite at the north end of Kelly was taken. 0-11. The portage to Jack was nothing. We decided that the Jack side of the portage could definitely be a makeshift campsite if the two sites on Jack were taken. I was bummed we were in such a rush and didn’t get a chance to explore the Jack Lake mine at the Jack side of this portage.

As we neared the bay with the two campsites in Jack, we saw… a canoe. They had the southern campsite. But, to everyone’s delight and relief, they informed us that the northern campsite, though small and swampy, was free! Good thing too, as it was getting quite late. The first 12 were taken but lucky 13 came through for us! They also informed us that the campsite on Weird Lake, just north a little ways, was also free, and by their account was a much better site. Somehow, we decided to get greedy and send a couple canoes to Weird to see if the site was still open.

Wow. What a bad decision. We definitely underestimated how far away it was. I was in the group that checked out the Weird site. By the time we got to the portage, I knew it would take too long to go back, get the others at Jack, come back to Weird and set up camp. So I made the executive decision to call the other canoe back who had found the Weird site unoccupied and go back to Jack. They were both very frustrated as they sang the praises of the Weird site, but there simply was not enough daylight. Should not have done that scouting mission!

Back at the Jack site, we got tents set up during dusk and it was pitch black by the time we had things set up. We tried to get a fire going, but everything was too wet and we were too tired! We made some instant mashed potatoes and called it a night.

~Sawbill Lake, Smoke Lake, Burnt Lake, Kelly Lake, Jack Lake

We didn’t rush to get to EP #39 Baker Lake and let the rain die down a bit, as forecasted, before setting out. We used my sturdy 18’ aluminum canoe to haul enough gear for four. We only had one 10 rod portage on our trip we were glad there were no witnesses! 

After crossing Peterson Lake and fished the passage into Kelly. We had fun catching a lot of small mouth bass in this area (out of season) but nothing to cook.

I had been wearing leather water skiing gloves which had gotten wet from the start. My hands were freezing and making paddling very difficult. I learned that no gloves keep your hands warmer that wet ones.

We paddled against a good wind up narrow Kelly Lake to the camp site on the north end. Unfortunately it was occupied but looked like a good site. This meant we needed to continue to Jack Lake where there are two camp sites or backtrack to the other end of baker where there are four sites. We chose to go back instead of portaging all of our loose gear and set up on the only available site. The only site available was #826. It was exposed to the cold wind. We had a heck of a time starting a fire but were in great spirits. This was a good thing since we noticed it was snowing!

The next morning we went back to the north side of Baker again and campsite #927 was vacant. It is a secluded site in a nice little bay next to the creek/river that runs into it. I like camping with the sound of fast flowing water. 

The site doesn’t have a good landing for a canoe. There seemed to be plenty of firewood but we had trouble getting a good fire with all of the rain that had occurred.

Later in the afternoon two older women came into the bay to see if the site was available. We told them of the other site on Kelly which we knew was open and wished them luck.  I felt bad that had fought the wind all the way to the end of the lake, only to have to head back to the other side as we did the day before.

The biggest negative of this trip was trying to sleep in the cold weather. My new 20 degree northface sleeping bag did not come close to keeping me warm even with me wearing a stocking cap and multiple layers. I vowed to get a warmer bag! It is also very important to have a good insulated pad between you and the ground. The ground will sap the heat from you quickly.

The days were sun filled and warmer which was great. We portaged to Jack Lake to fish. It is a fairly easy 65 rod portage. The fishing was very poor. We paddled by and said hi to some kayakers on their way north to Cherokee Lake. They were obvious veterans of the BWCA.

Peter and I stopped for lunch at the southern most camp site on Jack which is on a peninsula. It felt more like an island. It had a couple of nice tent pads that were on a hill and nice views. We lounged around here for a while enjoying the warm sun and even tried to catch bit of sleep. We both agreed this would make a good base camp if we took our wives here in the future (understand that we were naïve to all of the other possibilities that the BWCA provided.)

That night we fried fish and potatoes. After a day of fishing we only had kept two small northerns, but they tasted good.

The water pouring into the bay was about the only decent fishing spot we could find during this trip. Luckily it was by our camp so we didn’t have to go far to catch a meal. We positioned the canoe to the side of the current and the swirling water kept us in one spot.   

The next morning I was up around 5:30am since I couldn’t sleep in the cold anyways. I walked down to the river to see if there was any wildlife around. It was a beautiful morning, completely calm with a little fog hanging over the water, and our little bay was picturesque. I couldn’t resist paddling around and making some casts.  

On our way out we neared the entry point and saw that a family of three was just arriving. We kept our canoe (barge) out of site so that we didn’t have to hear them snicker at us. By this time we were laughing at ourselves pretty good!

After jumping in the cold water to freshen up a bit, we headed home. This was a quick fun trip that I hope will spur many more!  

Friday, August 03, 2018

Wow, layover days are nice. It was amazing being able to wake up and know that we had nothing we had to do! After a hearty breakfast of French toast and shelf stable bacon, we parted ways and everyone did his own thing. Tim and I decided to check out a bluff in the southeastern bay. We paddled to shore and bushwhacked our way up the hill to see if we could get to a decent overlook. Here’s the vantage point we had.

Another day of swimming, fishing, cards, and hammocking made it a good rest day. I do like to explore, so I wouldn’t want to do more than one layover day, but it was a good change of pace. Kyle caught a particularly large creature while fishing from the point.

After about 20 minutes, we were finally able to break the turtle free from the hook, and the snapper swam away quickly!

Tonight the other two sites filled up. In the evening, we saw a couple canoes portage in and we could tell they had their packs in the canoes with them. We briefly discussed with each other and decided that we would absolutely let them stay at our site if they asked. (If we hadn’t had troubles of our own a couple nights earlier, we may not have come to that same conclusion.) However, they never ended up coming near our site.

Another beautiful sunset tonight.

The weather radio says possible storms in the area and that it could rain most of the day tomorrow. We decided we need to get up early tomorrow if we want to have any chance of making it through Cherokee and back to Sawbill to camp our last night.

Side note: Today is the day that $h!t was going down in the real world. It would be 48 more hours until I knew anything. I can't ignore that when I recap the day.

~North Temperance Lake

Saturday, August 04, 2018

We arose early and roused the rest of the group to get an early start. The goal was to camp on Sawbill tonight, if the weather allowed. It was cloudy when we woke up, but no rain yet. We portaged into Sitka and were surprised to see a group of nine at the other end of the portage so early in the morning. Then we remembered that when we were at the outfitters, they talked about a group of 54 they were outfitting that were entering the day after us. This was evidently one of the groups. The group informed us the Sitka-Cherokee portage was quite difficult. After some slight difficultly finding the portage, we were on our way. It was definitely up and down (this one goes over the Laurentian Divide), but going north as we were, you are definitely going downhill for more of it. There was one particular spot I remember where I had to jump down from a rock and veer my canoe at the last second to avoid hitting a tree directly in front of the rock.

The landing at the Cherokee side is definitely cramped, much to the chagrin of another group of nine who had just approached the portage from Cherokee. I suggested waiting for the rest of our group as were single portaging and would just be a couple minutes, but the group leader (the lone adult among some middle/high schoolers) seemed very impatient and was intent on starting the portage immediately. He started to portage a canoe up the very steep landing while our second canoe was coming down, and he had to retreat back to the water. He decided to just wait at this point, but let everyone know how frustrated he was. I’ll give him a pass since he was the lone adult in the group and probably had other things to be frustrated about as well.

Cherokee is beautiful. I feel that we missed out by not camping on Cherokee. We wondered if we could pass to the south of an island on the way to the Cherokee Creek, noting a small amount of blue on the map. It turns out that it is navigable, though does get fairly narrow! The Cherokee Creek is also beautiful.

I love the elevated walls during parts of it and the intimate nature of the more narrow part of the creek. I was nervous that the landing would be difficult to spot for the portage to Skoop, but it was extremely obvious. Still no rain!

The next 4/5 portages were full of boulders and muck, as I recall. It looked like one part (Ada Creek) must be navigable at times, but we had to take the longer portage around the entire thing. The landing at the north end of Ada also proved difficult. It was a huge mud pit and I believe unavoidable in order to get access to the water. But, we made it through just fine at the end of the day.

The last portage to Sawbill was very easy and we all celebrated upon completing our final portage. We decided we would take a campsite on the northern end of the lake so we could enjoy one final paddle Sunday morning. The first few campsites we passed were unoccupied, but we were hoping for a little more elevation.

We were all just paddling along when all of a sudden, one of the canoes tipped and all of its contents spilled into the water. We immediately made sure the two guys were okay, and they frantically grabbed for their packs and threw them back in the canoe. We ended up pulling their canoe to shore while they swam over so they could easily get back in. I guess one of the newbies shifted his weight very suddenly, then they both overreacted to the initial weight shift and in they went! Unbelievable! Because of that, we chose the next site we came to so they could dry off. And lucky us, it had elevation and a great view of the lake!

No sooner had we set up camp then did it start raining again. And it rained the entire rest of the day.

So people read in their tents, or sat in the rain soaking up the outdoors. One highlight of the day was when we all emerged from our tents (getting some tent fever) and we decided to have a pancake party! We passed the stove around as one by one we each made our own pancakes.

That was the highlight of the day for me and by far the best pancake I’ve ever had! Dinner was chili which was also delicious.

~North Temperance Lake, Sitka Lake, Cherokee Lake, Skoop Lake, Ada Lake, Sawbill Lake

Sunday, August 05, 2018

We awoke and as is true for every trip, we somberly packed up, sad to be leaving the BWs. And of course, it was turning out to be a nice, sunny day.

Good for our last paddle, but makes you want to stay all the longer. It was about an hour paddle back to the dock where we unloaded our things and carried the canoes back to the outfitter.

I went inside to settle up and got the message nobody ever wants to get: ‘Call your wife ASAP.’ Well this is the first time anyone in our group has had cell phone service. I call my wife and she drops the bomb that her brother had died (unexpectedly, he was 27) two days earlier. My heart sank and I couldn’t stop the tears from filling my eyes. All at once a million thoughts flooded my brain. I couldn’t reconcile that I had just been spending the past couple days enjoying my time in the wilderness while my wife and her entire family were reeling. The fact that I couldn’t be there for my wife was making me sick to my stomach. By the time I met up with the other guys, they already knew. Of course, everyone had been trying to contact all of us for the past two days, so everyone had messages on their phones.

The ride home was very quiet, as I tried to wrap my head around what had happened. Is the BWCA the real world? It didn’t seem like it at all. It seemed like some playground I was in, isolated from the pain of the real world. A few months later, it is still difficult to talk about the good parts of this trip, given that I know what was going on back home at the same time. This is one of the risks you take going into the BWCA with no satellite communication device. Who knows, maybe my future trips will be including one of those.

~Sawbill Lake