Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Basecamp in Malberg area
by cyclones30

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/02/2018
Entry & Exit Point: Kawishiwi Lake (EP 37)
Number of Days: 8
Group Size: 2
Trip Introduction:
My wife and I had been asking a bunch of friends and family on who could come on this trip since Winter. It turns out no one else could, so it was our first BW trip as just the two of us. We'd never been to this area of the park and we love scouting the trip ahead so bought plenty of new maps and used our huge wall map in our kitchen.
Day 1 of 8
Saturday, June 02, 2018

We drove up from Iowa, and it poured from the Twin Cities all the way to Tofte. Seeing this would be the case, we stopped in Duluth and pulled under a parking garage to repack our gear without getting everything wet. (it was 38 degrees as the SE wind was coming off the lake) We got a few last groceries at the store and headed up the north shore in the driving rain. Got our Northwind 17 from Sawtooth and supper from the Coho Cafe across the road. (we recommend both of those now) Since it was still pouring on our drive up the Sawbill trail, our plan changed. We had a campsite reserved at Sawbill for the night and were going to drive to the EP Sunday morning. We instead drove to the EP, all the campsites were filled with what looked like darn-near permanent campers so we slept in the truck in the EP lot. (not great)