We left Rochester in the early afternoon and made it to Ely in just over five hours. Stopped at Spirit of the Wilderness to pick up our permit, one canoe and some other miscellaneous gear. It turns out that one of the group members went to high school in Rochester with Steven Nelson (owner of Spirit) back in the late 60's, though they didn't know one another then. Eventually we made it to Sir G's for dinner where we met a friend of mine from Ely who had just gotten out from a four or five day trip and he gave us a report of the weather and fishing. They apparently never took their rain gear off the whole time they were in and started growing gills. I was hoping the five day forecast that didn't include any rain would hold true. We then headed out to Timber Trail Lodge's bunkhouse for the night. It's a VERY nice facility.