BWCA-wesome
Originally posted June 4th, 2019.
Even with our new BUS home in progress, there was no giving up on our annual tradition to head up 'nord to the most majestic place on Earth - my precious Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The last few years we have planned for late Aug/Sept, but with some busy months coming up end of summer/late fall, we decided to give spring canoeing a go! & you know, Cleo is ALWAYS game.
Our main requirements with BW trips nowadays are 1) no bugs allowed and 2) the less people, the better! We knew going in May 1) wouldn't be a problem and 2) it was before official "season-opener" so it seemed promising. Check & check! And as always with the BW, all you can really do is HOPE for good weather & expect there will be some not-so-good.
Our trip synopsis: this year was pretty last minute planning (no way, me?!?) which IS possible to do when you go in "off-season". We entered through my favorite Ely this year (Entry Pt 31 - Farm Lake) and filled up our bellies with some delicious food at the Boathouse on our way through town. We stayed in a lovely bunkhouse the evening before we headed in; we were only their 4th customer of the season! On Friday, we woke up to 60F and sunshine, had some hot water oatmeal, slipped on our crocs (boy is now completely converted), and walked out to the glassy water with our 30-something-lb packs <--bags are slowly increasing in weight as we upgrade materials, BUT our one promise is we can only pack as much stuff as we can carry in a single portage. :)
Sun stayed shining bright all 12 paddle miles to Bald Eagle Lake (bottom right corner of map below), even once I realized I left the sunscreen on shore. It was a be-a-utiful paddle and really was the greatest day. Day 1 was the most social we were as we ran into a fair number of groups throughout the portages & a whole TON of people on Gabbro Lake where we were planning to stay. On a lake that big with 10+ campsites, only 1 we found was empty. So we moved to the next lake happily and found a gorgeous campsite with requirement 1) hammock trees and requirement 2) a sun rock. :D
Saturday was Day 2 and we didn't get as lucky. When we woke up, it was ~20F cooler out, overcast, and just a bit less ideal. I was joking that when my fingers would get cold, I would just put them on my sunburnt forehead to warm em up. It stayed cold and a little less perfect, but NOT rainy, the rest of our time in the CA. We ended up paddling a total of 33 miles throughout the 3 days, some miles encouraged by the river's current and some miles against the river's current. :p We woke up on Day 3 with the same overcast and windy conditions and decided it was our time to get back to land. Farm Lake was pretty awful on the way home; we actually ended up bailing a couple beaches early and walking the canoe along the road. Here is us on our Walk Of "the water wins" back to the outfitter.
Although it was a chill, you wouldn't realize that by my tanned face and peeling skin. I got all that I asked for out of this trip - clarity, an escape from the internet world, and true silence from all of the noise.
Find your peace & lotsa love,
Jen <3
