Rookie Mistake

The hilarity continued at our motel when we went to check out. To pay for our night, the front desk employee (who apparently has a room behind the desk) had to be woken up. He also didn’t know the price and had to step out from behind the desk to look at the sign advertising prices to know how much to charge us. Again, a good sign that adventure would be had!

After spending some time getting our packs ready, we drove the short half hour to River Point Resort where Steve got us our permits and prepared our canoes. We especially appreciated the coffee at the front desk since we hadn’t had any yet. In no time, the outfitter was driving us to our entry point just a few minutes away—South Kawishiwi River. Since River Point is on the Kawishiwi, we would just paddle back to the outfitter when it was time to leave.

A rod was certainly longer than I remembered from 8 years ago. About two thirds into the 147-rod portage, I was shocked we weren’t at the end of the trail yet. It was a little muddy and quite downhill, but all-in-all a good introduction to portaging for the rest of the group. We had determined we would single portage on this trip, Tim and I carrying the canoes while Jess and Heidi would each carry a food bag (in addition to our own packs, of course).

We met another group at the Kawishiwi side of the portage just leaving. A gentleman gave us a tip on a good campsite, and like that we were paddling. So beautiful. The other three could now see why I wanted to take them here.

As we paddled through the calm waters, we marveled at the beauty of nature and reveled in the amazing weather that morning.

We stopped for a needed lunch break at the north end of the bay. We hadn’t had breakfast, so a pot of coffee and some sandwiches were in order. Heidi decided to try her hand at fishing. Unfortunately, before long she hit a snag and Tim came to the rescue to unsnag the lure from lake bottom.

We continued on, enjoying the perfect weather and minimal portaging the Kawishiwi offers. Now I had suggested we shoot for Bald Eagle Lake as the far side of our loop. On the map I saw that the river narrowed and it looked like we could avoid the 122-rod portage into Little Gabbro. Well, as soon as we paddled up to the narrow, we realized that the 'narrow part of the river' was actually a nice long set of rapids, and we were at the bottom. Bushwhacking was briefly considered, as well as backtracking to the correct portage, but since it was already late in the day we settled on just changing our plans.

We paddled a small ways north to the first set of campsites and found the eastern one a suitable home for our first night—complete with welcome wood!

After our dinner of baked potatoes, hot dogs, and corn on the cob, we planned out our remaining route, had some boxed wine, and chatted the night away around the campfire.

First day route: