Annual Boundary Waters trip (full recap)

Our annual Boundary Waters Canoe Area, BWCA, Wilderness adventure did go on this year. We considered the COVID-19 situation and took precautions prior to departure. Afterall, we were going to be spending a great deal of time in very close quarters where wearing a mask was simply not possible or practical...the long drive up north, canoe paddling and sleeping in a tent together.

After careful consideration and precautions, the group decided to go forward with the trip.

Getting ready to paddle in

This year’s itinerary had us entering the BWCA far up the Gunflint Trail. We spent our first night up North in Jenny and Andrew’s cabin as usual but instead of paddling out of the BWCA and returning to the Twin Cities all in the same day, we returned to the cabin to spend the night and rest up. It was a good pre-decision.

There were really only two “tricky” parts to the trip this year. One was that we had planned on pitching our tent on a campsite on Ogishkmuncie (Ogish) Lake. But because of COVID-19, the BWCA and all camping facilities in Minnesota are super popular and there were no available campsites on Ogish. We knew that it was going to be along paddle to Ogish to begin with and never expected that it would be full of campers.

Seagull to Alpine to Jasper

We entered the BWCA from Seagull Outfitters on Seagull Lake. Seagull is a very big lake and we were to paddle pretty much the full length of it to get to our first portage. We got an early start but by the time we arrived at Ogish and paddled from campsite to campsite in and around confusing islands, there simply wasn’t a spot to stay so we proceeded to the next lake....Jenny Lake!

We ended up at a fantastic campsite on Jenny Lake. It was secluded in a deadend portion of the lake...which means there was not a portage near us so paddlers would not be going by on their way to another lake.

We did arrive in daylight (plenty of) and as usual got the site setup in no time at all. Brian fixed a great dinner and sleeping wasn’t a problem as we were all very, very tired after what ended up being 8 hours on the water and portaging. I think that was a record and not one we need to try to top.

We paddled into the BWCA on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday mornings we did our usual reading and napping and reading and snacking and reading. By mid-afternoons we were ready to do some adventuring.

Thursday we went to Eddy Falls. These are water falls from Eddy Lake to South Arm Knife Lake. Since we had passed the Lawrentian Divide, the waterfall flows to the north. And one advantage of COVID-19 is that most youth group camps up the Gunflint Trail are not in operation this year so there was no one at the falls. Jenny said there sometimes is a line of groups!

While you can’t jump into big pools of water here you can sit and enjoy the water running over you. It was incredible. We were able to spend 20-30 minutes by ourselves playing around before a boy scout group showed up.

Rock dam

Friday we paddled and portaged through Kekekabic Ponds looking for moose. We didn’t see any. We did come across the most interesting beaver dam we have very seen. It was a rock dam…entirely of rocks! We think they built it to catch fish. It was amazing.

We broke camp early Saturday morning. Though we had several portages none of them were all that long so we mad good progress getting back to Seagull even with some rain. Then there was Seagull. We had had some rain and heard thunder in the distance on the paddle but nothing bad enough that we had to stop for comfort or safety. Then the wind picked up on Seagull and we had two sections that were crazy difficult to paddle.

Taking a break after a portage

Small whitecaps started up in the first section. Whitecaps while in a canoe are not a good thing. Julie and I were in the front of our canoes and Jenny and Brian were steering. Not much was said as we battled through this. We reached calm water and rested a bit.

Before reaching"the outfitter, we hit another wind. This time coming right in our faces. It took what seemed like forever to get to the outfitter’s dock. We had paddled for two hours just on Seagull Lake.

Getting back to the cabin to spend a comfortable night was a brilliant idea. We ate and slept great and made it home on Sunday suntanned and a little sore but with great stories.

You will have to ask about Darryl and the bear, the eagle pair, mink?, Jenny the ghost, “I’m good,” and other stories I’m not remembering.

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