1st Solo Trip

Last Friday I had the day off and was ready to do another trip into the BWCA. This time though there was no one else with a day off looking to do a trip, so I decided to embark on my first solo BWCA trip! So Thursday after work I got my permit and headed off into the Wilderness for the night and the following day.

I decided I would head to Long Island Lake as it was a big lake that I wanted to explore and accessible from the entry points near Tuscarora. The important thing to remember on a solo trip is that you need to carry everything, all your gear and the canoe on every single portage. Thus I made sure that I could fit all my stuff in one Duluth pack and then took a single person Kevlar canoe (a Jensen - only 34 lbs) as my boat. The result was that I had no trouble portaging everything all together.

My Route (Click to expand it): The total distance was 16 Miles, the Blue Marker is Tuscarora and the Red Marker was my Campsite

My Canoe, a Wenonah Jensen Kevlar

By the time I made it to Long Island Lake I found that my first choice campsite was already taken (not surprising on a Thursday night) but I was able to find a good alternative site. There I set up camp, made a campfire, and made freeze dried spaghetti for dinner. I found that being in camp by yourself is a very peaceful experience that allows you to relax, take in the beautiful wilderness around you, and listen to nature and your own thoughts. Still by the time I was in my tent and ready to go to sleep it is amazing how your imagination can convince you that every noise you here is a pack of wolves, a giant moose, or a bear in camp, when in reality it was really just a chipmunk running through camp.

My Campsite on Long Island Lake

View of the Sunset from my Campsite

Friday morning I got up, enjoyed the sunrise, had a campfire, and made hot apple delight for breakfast. After eating I relaxed for awhile, read my book, and then headed out for a morning fish. On Long Island Lake I had almost no success. A couple medium Northerns followed my lures but never really struck. After fishing I headed back to camp, had an early lunch, packed and cleaned up camp, and set off back towards Tuscarora. My plan though was to go lazily back fishing many of the lakes.

View of the Sunrise from my Campsite

Me by my canoe before leaving Camp

After Canoeing around the rest of Long Island Lake and then going through Karl Lake I got to Rib Lake where I had my fishing success for the day. The wind was such that I could float across the entire lake while fishing. The result was catching three Northern Pike! The Largest of which was around 32" and had a sizable belly.

My 32" Northern

Me with a smaller Nothern

After Rib Lake I meandered through several more lakes on my way back, taking time to check them out and occasionally tossed a line in the water. At Ham Lake I ran into a friend from another outfitter (who was also out on a Solo Trip) and hung out with her for a couple hours at a campsite that overlooked the lake. Finally we decided it was time for the final push down the cross river and out of the wilderness. When I arrived back in camp, I was just in time for our staff dinner (coincidence, I think not!) of steak fajitas, needless to say it really hit the spot!

Overall I really enjoyed my first solo trip. It was nice and peaceful canoeing around the wilderness by myself. Still I think in general I prefer having company on my trips and at my campfires at night. Nevertheless I am sure I will go on more solo trips before my time up here is done and I do look forward to them.

Harsh Realities of Nature

While the BWCA is renowned for being an amazing wilderness area that offers a beautiful and solace escape from the modern world, it cannot be forgotten that when one enters such a place certain risks do exist.

This fact has been put in stark perspective over the last couple days. Last weekend a young man from Wisconsin disappeared on a solo fishing trip and was found to have drowned in Swan Lake. Another sobering story has been the discovery of a forest fire near Gaskin Lake. While the fire is small and unlikely to spread given current conditions (very green trees and wet weather in the forecast), the fact that smoke can once again occasionally be smelled in the air on the Gunflint does give a foreboding feeling.

I guess the message is that while the BWCA is a great place people need to remain vigilante about safety at all times, as you never know what might happen and help not an easy phone call away.

Duluth News Tribune: On man's death in BWCA

Superior National Forest: On BWCA forest fire

Little Saganaga Trip

So it might not have escaped you that while I have been working in the BWCA for over three weeks now I had not actually been on an overnight trip into the wilderness yet. This was because I spent my first day off in Grand Marais to get some supplies and then banked my second day off in order to take a longer trip later this summer! The time for a trip finally arrived, so last Monday at 3:00 pm after work myself and a friend and co-worker, Andrew, headed off for a one night trip in the BWCA.

Neither Andrew or I had seen much of the area around Tuscarora so we decided the goal of our trips was to "Make Tracks" and see as much of the area in a short amount of time as was possible. I would have to say that we were completely successful in our goal as in 23 short hours (12 of which we were in camp) we covered 21 miles, 22 portages (totaling over 1,300 rods), and over 20 different lakes!

Our Route (Click to expand it)

After setting out Monday afternoon Andrew and I left Round Lake and headed to Tuscarora Lake, where we originally had planned to camp for the night. On our way we got to do the legendary Tuscarora Portage which depending on which map you consult is anywhere from 360-425 rods (anyway you look at it, that is long and over a mile!). To boot I carried an aluminum canoe over the entire portage! When we got on Tuscarora it was still early and we had favorable winds so we decided to keep going instead of making an early camp. The result was we were able to make it to Crooked Lake and find a suitable campsite by 6:15 pm. In camp we enjoyed the delights of expired dehydrated foods (which we get for free from Tuscarora Outfitters as they cannot sell it to clients), a campfire, a beautiful sunset, and starry night (complete with loon calls and beaver tail slaps).

Me at Tuscarora Lake (After the big Portage)

Camp Site at Crooked Lake

Tuesday morning we were up at sunrise (around 5:30 am or so) and had packed up camp and were canoeing again by 6:15 am. As there had been decent winds the day before we decided we wanted to get out early in order to get to Little Saganaga before any major winds camp up (Little Sag is a big lake, despite its name, and unfavorable winds would make canoeing it very difficult). When we arrived at Little Sag the wind was just getting going for the day, but lucky for us it was mostly at our back. As the wind increased we decided that we would take a chain of smaller lakes back to Tuscarora Outfitters in the afternoon as opposed to going into other big lakes such as Gabimichigambi and Peter Lake. The result of this decision was a lot of portages! Despite our aluminum canoe though we only had one big pack and a small backpack so there was no double portaging for us.

Sunrise at Crooked Lake

Portaging away from Little Saganaga to Virgin Lake (Senic Overlook of Little Sag)

While Tuscarora, Crooked, and Little Sag Lakes were all beautiful a lot of the lakes on our way back were not quite as scenic. The area was heavily hit by the Cavity Lake Fire in 2006 that burned a lot of the blown from 1999. Gillis Lake though was still in pristine condition. After crossing Gillis we stoped for a quick lunch around 11:30 am on Bat lake before completing the last leg of our journey back to Tuscarora Outfitters by 2:15 pm on Tuesday.

View of Gillis Lake from Portage to Bat Lake

Overall it was a great trip! We managed to see a big portion of the BWCA that is right in our backyard. Now when I take clients to different entry points around here I will be able to tell them a bit more about some of the lakes in the Area, if they are interested.

Lakes I would Recommend From this Trip: Missing Link, Tuscarora, Crooked, Mora, Little Saganaga, and Gillis Lake.

Lakes/Areas I would Not Recommend: The Northern Portion of my route, Virgin through Brant Lakes (Gillis Excluded). This is due to it being a burn zone which was less then scenic and the fact there are a lot portages connecting a bunch of very small lakes (I prefer larger lakes that you can canoe longer distances as opposed to constantly getting in and out of your canoe to portage every 200 yards).