Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Annual Father/Daughters trip
by George

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 08/13/2012
Entry & Exit Point: Moose Lake (EP 25)
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 3
Trip Introduction:
An annual tradition (we started 4 years ago): I took my 8 and 9 year old daughters into the BWCA for some quality father daughter time.
Day 1 of 4
Monday August 13, 2012

Check out a 50 sec trailor of our trip:



The car, fully packed the night before, was ready at our 7am departure time. We were not. No worries, this is expected. It wasn't till about 9am that we left the comforts of Southwest Minneapolis. Our final destination was Ely (followed by Lake Ensign).

We made many stops along the way, but our first was the most important. McDonalds. Breakfast. Soft serve ice cream cones :) The kids and I are firm believers in keeping up traditions!


We arrived in Ely after about 5 hours of driving. We went straight to the Fall Lake Campground. This year the campground had a wonderful site available. Last year, they were fully booked, and we had to find a campground further out of town. We took this as a good omen. We went to our site and I unloaded the car. The girls headed straight down to the lake and began exploring.


After I set up the tent, we headed over to Piragus for some new shirts and hats (along with a dozen other last minute items I remembered on the way up).



After a few photos, we departed Piragus and took a quick ride to the Red Rock Store. My Souris River 18.5 canoe was being worked on by Bob. My buddy had somehow cracked the bottom of it a few weeks prior and it needed some reinforcements done. Bob had it back in new condition and it was all set for our upcoming trip (Bob does great repair work and I highly recommend his services).


After getting some last minute lures and fishing advice, we left the Red Rock store for downtown Ely. My girls were hungry and needed to eat. We decided, reluctantly, to have dinner at the Chocolate Moose (hoping for the best with the new owners). Wow, it was a great choice. The quality of food has drastically improved at the Moose since its new ownership. I highly recommend checking them out.


After dinner we headed back to camp. We enjoyed a fire. Smores. Stars. Finally, with a lot of anticipation, we went to bed.