BWCAW Annual Trip - or Half-Assed Knot (Day 2 - Friday August 1)

We had such amazing weather. It was calm on the lake so we decided to paddle to the west end and hike over to Johnson's Falls. We had been there years ago and remembered how pretty it was.

I don't think we realized that there are three major water falls. As you hike up, there is another and another... and at the top is a beautiful view of a calm stream.

The valley stream that is the head of Johnson's Falls

I slipped on a wet rock while trying to take a photo of the second falls. I hit the rock hard which knocked my camera out of my hand into the water. I reached for it but it was gone. The water was rushing crazy but I kept feeling around in the rocks and walking down the cataracts.

I then realized I had busted up my right forearm and was bleeding but I wanted to find my camera. The searching with my hands underwater as successful. I find the camera and it is still working!

We had lunch and played in the water and had a fantastic time before heading back to camp.

Brian in the "spa"

On the paddle back Jenny and Brian fished and I took photographs of the shore. There was a loon pair and one loon baby on the lake. We came on them on the way back to camp. The loon parents are teaching the young one how to fish.

Water iris

Loon parent

Queen Anne's lace

Jenny caught a good-sized Northern Pike which I had to get the hook out of. We decided not to keep it thinking that Brian must have been doing pretty good catching small-mouthed bass.

Back at camp we found that a large walleye had been filleted and left at our campsite. We were not to happy about that thinking someone left it on purpose knowing it was obviously a campsite. When Brian got back, he did not have a kayak full of fish... he had none. Brian went to get the food bags down and said that obviously someone had been at our campsite because the food rope knot was "half-assed". I confessed that it was my half-assed food knot and perhaps an eagle or seagull had found the fish and dropped on our campsite rock for later. We are still laughing about the half-assed knot remark.

I took the fish back into the woods. When I later was walking over to do some fishing in a different place along the shore, a bald eagle flew out from where I had thrown the fish. So perhaps the bald eagle had dropped it and was back having found it again.

That walk through the woods was when I scraped my forehead on a tree and opened a pretty good gash. It bled quite a bit but not so much that it was alarming. We carry a first aid kit and I got my forearm and head taken care of.

We witnessed a new phenomenon on this trip. Since the mosquitos really were not that bad in the evening we were able to sit outside of the tent to watch the sunset and then the stars come out. I was sitting out on the shore rock and noticed dozens of dragon flies zooming around.

As I watched I realized the dragon flies were catching gnats and mosquitos in mid-air! Brian, Jenny and I laid out on the rocks and watched the amazing feat of dragon fly squadron taking on the gnats and mosquitos.