I drive for about seven hours, or until we reach Iowa, 500 miles total. Then Heath takes over for a hundred miles and then Charlie finishes the trip to Owatonna and Cabelas we get there an hour early so we have to wait for it to open. An hour in Cableas and we leave not too much money out of pocket. Charlie continues to drive through St. Paul where we stopped and met Adam, the main man for www.bwca.com, and his son Ben… Fantastic man and boy! He gives the guys shirts and me a hat, (which I needed badly) and gives us directions to get through the detour across the Mississippi River. We get past St Paul and stop to quickly grab a bite to eat and I try to sleep as Charlie continues to drive North to Ely. Once we reach Cloquet I see that diesel fuel at Wal-Mart is $4.39 a gallon so we stop to top off the tanks, and then I take over and finish the drive to Ely. Passing through Cloquet I am called by my friend Satchmoa who was wishing he was with us! I had already been called earlier in the day by Yellowbird who was entering at #14 that day! So I had already spoken to two good friends and met another in one day, yet more was to come, as I was supposed to meet the Spartans 1 & 2 at the Chocolate Moose at 4:30.

We reach Ely at 3:00pm and run out to Red Rock where I purchase a portable depth finder from Joe and talk to him a minute about trading in my Sr Quetico 18.5 in duralite for a used Kevlar SR Q 17. He tells me to email him and we will talk about it later as we are in a hurry to get out to Jeanette Lake, where the two doctors are supposed to cook us a special dinner that night! When we get back to town it is 4:15 so we go ahead and go to the Chocolate Moose where I visit with Lynda and Neil for a few minutes while the guys shop in Piragis. After we visit for a few minutes I leave Neil and Lynda to their pie and coffee and we head to Voyager North to pick up a canoe, get license and bait. We then begin the long drive out the Echo Trail to Jeanette Lake State Park to set up camp for the night while the doctors prepare a spicy pork dish for dinner. Then it is early to bed for an early start the next morning. Everyone was full of anticipation as well as a great dinner.

A quick paddle across South and we are at the 120 into Steep… Or should I say the steep portage into Steep! However, it is not as bad as I thought it might be and we are into Steep and filtering water as we paddle slowly looking around. It is a pretty little lake with only one campsite! Out destination for the day is Eugene, the next lake so we do the 35 rod portage into Eugene and split up to find an open site which was not a problem because they were all open! We choose the site by the narrows, a nice site with two maybe three tent pads, and a good view from on top of the hill. It was also breezy which helped with the bugs. It is 1:00 and decide to rest a while before we head to Fat to try for Lakers for dinner! So everyone heads to a hammock or a spot to rest until about 3:00 when we decide to go fish Fat. The portage trail was not very used, but not bad. It had a lot of wolf scat on it as did every trail we were on around Eugene! We put the canoe into Fat which has to be the clearest lake I have ever seen in the BWCA!! We paddle trying to find deeper water across the lake, the depth finder finally shows 30 ft and starts dropping. I drop a Krocodile Spoons down about 25 feet and see my first laker marked on the screen. We paddle a few more feet when I get a bite!! My first laker, about 2.5 pounds! Of course I have forgotten a stringer so I use a piece of rope I have in the canoe to tie it out with. We fish another 20 minutes and Heath catches one about 2 pounds. We have enough for dinner so we stop fishing and head back to camp where we fillet the Lakers and put them in foil with onions, butter, and Garlic to cook over the campfire. On the stove I prepare stovetop stuffing to go with them! It was great! After dinner we clean up the dishes and ourselves and then just sit around and talk for a while. No one wanted to go fishing, it seemed our emphasis on fishing was diminishing somewhat, and our need for relaxing taking over… Bedtime was 9:00 pm again…

An interesting note, during our afternoon rest, a turtle came into our camp and started digging a hole for laying her eggs in the dirt on top of the hill. In the morning there was no sign she had ever been there… nature at its best!

Once on Oyster we find the first site with water access on both sides is taken by the Boy Scouts we have been following, so we head to the next site on the peninsula. It is taken but they are leaving, so we wait until they leave and take the spot! It is a very nice spot with plenty of tent pads and trees to hang hammocks. However, it is easy to see that the two young boys in the group before us had plenty of free time and a hatchet to do damage with. Every tree in camp almost had marks on them, and green limbs were cut down and piled back in the woods! We set up camp and have lunch, peanut butter and honey sandwiches on flatbread. And for some reason everyone gets sleepy and heads to a hammock or tent for the next two hours… except for Heath who rested a little, he was fishing from shore. The fishing however was not very good from camp. We decide to have an early dinner so we could fish if we wanted to. So I prepared Barilla 3 cheese tortelloni with bertolli pasta sauce in a pouch with grilled garlic parmesan pitas. It too was a hit with everyone! Heath and I took the canoe out after dinner and managed to catch few smallies on top water although there was tons of baitfish or fish fry in the water. I managed to catch a nice northern who did not bite me off for a change. When we get back to camp at 8:30 the other guys are in bed and asleep so we clean up and get ready for bed as well.

An interesting note, on this trip I wore my wedding ring which I usually do not do for fear of losing it. I guess I had lost enough weight on this trip that when I was rinsing my hands off near shore the ring slipped off and fell into the water. Luckily I was able to see it resting between two rocks about a foot deep and was able to get it back!

Once on Oyster we find the first site with water access on both sides is taken by the Boy Scouts we have been following, so we head to the next site on the peninsula. It is taken but they are leaving, so we wait until they leave and take the spot! It is a very nice spot with plenty of tent pads and trees to hang hammocks. However, it is easy to see that the two young boys in the group before us had plenty of free time and a hatchet to do damage with. Every tree in camp almost had marks on them, and green limbs were cut down and piled back in the woods! We set up camp and have lunch, peanut butter and honey sandwiches on flatbread. And for some reason everyone gets sleepy and heads to a hammock or tent for the next two hours… except for Heath who rested a little, he was fishing from shore. The fishing however was not very good from camp. We decide to have an early dinner so we could fish if we wanted to. So I prepared Barilla 3 cheese tortelloni with bertolli pasta sauce in a pouch with grilled garlic parmesan pitas. It too was a hit with everyone! Heath and I took the canoe out after dinner and managed to catch few smallies on top water although there was tons of baitfish or fish fry in the water. I managed to catch a nice northern who did not bite me off for a change. When we get back to camp at 8:30 the other guys are in bed and asleep so we clean up and get ready for bed as well.

We start paddling on Lower Pauness to the 8 rod portage at 6:15. We do the short 8 rod up and over portage into Upper Pauness and then enter the Little Indian Souix River which we notice is running stronger that when we entered a week before. We paddle to the 60 rod portage where we notice the bugs were bad due to the rain. The waterfall we had seen the week before was running stronger than when we first saw it. It was after we left the 60 rod portage that we saw our first people of the day on the water. As we paddled from that portage we thought about the week we had had. We talked about how it had started hard, ended easy as everyone got used to the travel. We discussed how we might do something different or how some things could have been better. Overall there was a tone of sadness to the discussion that the trip was over and now it was going back to the world of work, cell phones and people. Although a hot shower and a good hot meal that I had not cooked had its appeal! By 8:30 we are at the entrance portage, I carry my normal load to the top, and start getting the truck ready by emptying out the front and putting the Yakima racks back on. Total distance traveled on this trip was 44.10 miles with approximately 36 of it being paddling and almost 8 miles of portages multiplied by 3 for double portaging makes out to be almost 24 miles of portaging. A good trip!!

By 9:00 we are headed to Voyager North, by10:45 we are showered and have shopped and headed to DQ for a meal. We do a little more shopping for trinkets for our wives and kids, mainly t-shirts before we head south to Arkansas.

We stop at Owatonna at the steak house for a good meal and then finish the drive. We drop off Heath to his wife and kids at 5:30 Sunday morning and I get home at 6:15 to a cup of good Coffee and my lovely wife. Dave and Charlie pack up their gear and drive off for the last hour of their drive home.

It is good to be home! I am rested and now ready to face that which is coming! I am filled with the peace that comes from being in the wilderness… the BWCA!

Good Things…

1. This is a great loop to do! 2. All of the gear worked well! 3. Only brought back 2 pounds of food so planning was good. 4. It was good to have an extra stove to help out a friend in need. 5. Saw lots of animal signs. 6. Scenery was fantastic. 7. Thermacell worked well when needed. 8.  Great Food on the trip.

Bad Things: 1. Lots of dead pine trees. 2. Lots of dead beetles in the water. 3. Signs of chopping at campsites. 4.  It having to end so soon!

Final Thoughts… This trip as mentioned before was needed by everyone that went, and at the end of it each of us had gotten what we needed out of it… some peace, some space, and some just away from it all!

I have since had my treatment for Prostate Cancer. It was Brachytherapy which involves the implantation of radioactive seeds into my prostate. There were 160 seeds placed in a procedure done on July 1, two days after my return from the BWCA. That is one reason this trip report has taken so long. I have not been able to sit at the computer for any long period of time and type or import pictures. I am recovering well! The main downside to my procedure is that I cannot sleep within a foot of my wife for the next 10 months until the radiation is gone. I cannot hold babies, or be near pregnant women. My dog cannot sit in my lap! But all it all I am grateful that my wife had me go tot the doctor and get checked, and that we found it early and I was able to do this type of treatment! I am blessed with a great wife, great kids, great friends, and most importantly… A Great God that answers prayers and watches over me!

PS: there are more pictures of our trip and more to be added later in my photo albums on this site!