Seeing as this trip had been 20+ years since my last trip up (and I was a kid then); I was a bit nervous about this outing! I initiated the trip idea last year when I proposed the trip to my buddy, Bob. He was talking about it to his family and it turned out his father in law loved going up there and was interested. He had canoes (which he had made) and loved taking trips up there with his buddy Andy. Word got around and another couple guys were interested, too. This 'maybe a trip up north would be a fun adventure' idea had become a full fledged trip with a party of interested people. Fun fact: my friend Bob absolutely hates the outdoors. Doesn't enjoy camping, doesn't enjoy bugs and overall enjoys just hanging out inside. I'm still not sure why he agreed to this; but him and I have taken some wild adventures before and always made the best of whatever situations arose.
There was not a lot of discussion on who was bringing what; what everyone should pack, etc. But that was fine - I was confident that with my overpacking ways I would have anything someone might have overlooked. Then I weighed my pack and realized I needed to slim down - ha! I had purchased a few of the essentials I didn't have from Boonie here on the forums - he was so kind and helped me out with tons of knowledge in addition to the gear. As it turns out the group leader had planned very well with plenty of food and they had all the essentials. Looking back, I could have gotten away with a lot less in my pack, but I'm still a 'better safe than sorry' kind of guy and I'd rather pack some of the extra (my pack weight was still ~42lbs). Future trips with this group I can lighten that load significantly.
We ended up going in at entry point 48; first portage was just shy of 1 mile worth of some pretty rough terrain. Due to some recent accidents racing BMX (knee issues), it was a real challenge! The canoes were hand made by my buddies father in law and they were gorgeous, but heavy. They were around 75 lbs. each - we had 3. Also had lots of camp gear to go back and get.
Originally we were supposed to hit a different site each night, but things changed a bit and folks were tired after the long portage, so we decided to camp 2 nights in campsite 1, portage to campsite 2 and stay 2 nights there. We stayed on Meeds Lake (campsite 617) for nights 1 and 2. Got some rain overnight with tons of thunder - it made for some incredible sleeping! But I didn't bring water shoes, so my old tennies were rather soaked - luckily I was able to get things dry easy enough so it wasn't too bad. But having some kind of 'water shoe' will be a must on the next trip! Old tennies + wool socks (recommendations found here) worked out well enough, though.
I had read about some bugs on previous trip reports, but luckily, the bugs weren't bad at all. I sprayed my hands/forearms with a little off when we began the trip and used a little skeeter lotion on them on just my hands on night 3. I never ended up using a bug net or anything else. I only used Permethrin on my hat & bug net (to avoid doing damage to aquatic life if I went in with clothes on); and yes, I slipped in once trying to keep my feet dry while getting into the canoe. We had a good laugh about it.
To pass some time on Meeds, we went to and walked the portage from Meeds to Swallow just to check it out. While walking along - one of the guys had been walking ahead and rounded a bend only to come sprinting back yelling "Bear on the trail! Bear on the trail! Go back!", so I started shouting to scare the bear away and my buddy starts walking towards the bend! I told him he was an idiot for having done that. But there, about 15 yards off the trail around the bend, was a female moose. When the first guy saw it - it was standing half on the trail. I put a tree between it and I (just in case it charged), but it looked at us and just kind of wandered off into the deep brush. The guy who noticed it first said he really only saw the 'hind end and dark fur' and figured it was a bear (he was not regularly an outdoorsman and had only been to the bwca once prior); we all had a good laugh about that. I'm just glad the moose was not aggressive. Beautiful animals, absolutely massive!
After packing up camp 1, we went Meeds Lake -> Caribou Lake -> Horseshoe Lake. We stayed at campsite 674 and it was quite nice. Pretty uneventful overall. We canoed around, checked out some other sites in the area; hit some (all) of the portages off of Horeshoe just to check them out. It rained the last day and a half on the lakes. Rained all evening, packed up in the rain, canoed out in the rain. Our out route was Horsehoe -> Caribou -> Lizz -> Poplar. We avoided that 1 mile portage like the plague!
All in all it was a fantastic trip. Made some new friends and saw some new things. I think they are already considering the trip for next year! My buddy who 'absolutely hates the outdoors' even said it was a very enjoyable time and he would do it again - which was mind blowing to me. The boundary waters are a magical place, without a doubt. Excited and already planning the next one!

~Poplar Lake, Meeds Lake, Caribou Lake, Horseshoe Lake, Lizz Lake