The alarm clock rang it shrill whistle just as I had finally closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. A long sleepless night of laying in bed thinking about all of the stuff I was forgetting and all of the stuff I was taking that I did not need, coupled with pure excitement had left me with only a handful of hours rest. No problem though, adrenaline would carry me to Minnesota!

It was 3 am Saturday morning July 27th. The truck was all packed and all that needed to be done was to take the steaks from the freezer and transfer them to the small cooler full of ice packs. A quick shower and I woke the rest of the crew.

My intro to the BWCA was the year prior when just my son and I went. This year I had invited a few more. Unfortunately they both backed out. I received a phone call from my father a few days after my older brother backed out due to health reasons.

A little history on my father... Dad and I have spent hundreds of nights together in the wilderness be it up at deer camp in northern Michigan for a week straight, deep in the state forest of which we never left until we departed for home. Eeking out a week or more survival in a freezing cold pop up camper or horsebacking the mountains of Montana in search of the elusive Rocky Mountain Elk. A trip to Quebec for an amazing caribou hunt coupled with some of the most amazing lake trout fishing I have ever witnessed or stalking the plains and canyons of Wyoming after the Pronghorn Antelope or in the past decade one of our fly in fishing trips to Canada. We have done so much and always together.

Dad lives in Florida now and has been through some very serious heart complications of which one was a major heart attack that left him without a pulse for over ten minutes while en-route to the hospital. They were able to get his heart going again but he had lapsed into a coma and the doctors kept him in a coma and induced him into a state of hypothermia to hopefully combat the long duration of no heartbeat. After a few days of laying in a bed ice cold to the touch they started to bring him off the coma medicine and began warming his body up. The staff at the hospital told us to not hope for much. The chances were very slim that he would wake or for that matter be a cognitive individual if he did.

True to Bushman form and on Good Friday none the less he awoke from his coma, responded to commands and walked out of the hospital a week or so later. With some minor short term memory loss that lasted for several months he had miraculously came back for another shot at life.

Dad spent the next couple years combatting the effects of that heart attack and suffered from massive bouts of A-fib but the doctors kept working and he had several surgeries and at least for now has his heart back under control.

During those few years our adventures ceased and I yearned for the days of the backwoods and the feeling of animosity among the trees. It was these times that I discovered the BWCA and my step son Joe and I went on our first big adventure alone.

Back to that phone call.... "Hey Pops, how's it going?" "Good son and you?" "Great, just busy and all with work and getting ready to head for Minnesota in a few weeks." "Yeah, too bad about jr. backing out." "Yep, it sucks but it is what it is. His health comes first." "For sure. I was talking with Mom the other day about me taking his place. What do you think?"

So there you have it, our third voyageur was to be my Dad. After so many years in hiatus he was attempting a comeback. So after changing a bit of the route and making the trip more of a basecamp style trip we nailed it down.

All three of us were very excited. Perhaps me most of all.

I awoke dad and Joe and shortly after that we were loaded in the truck and headed for Minnesota. A long 14 hour drive up through the upper peninsula of Michigan and around the tip of lake Superior and we found ourselves in Ely, Minnesota. Right smack dab in the middle of the Blueberry Festival. The town was packed.

We checked in with VNO. Loaded up our Wenonah Seneca and other gear and headed to town for supper and a cold beer. We were sound asleep by 9pm in the VNO bunkhouse.

4am I arise and jump in the shower, it's hot and feels great. It will be the last one for some time. Dressed and ready to rock I wake up the guys and head next door for coffee. Back at the bunkhouse the guys are preparing for the day ahead and I greet them with steaming cups of coffee.

We make sure the room is tidy and nothing is left behind including the steaks in the freezer. The truck is already loaded. The steaks, encased in ziploc freezer bags I drop into the food barrel and off we go. There is hardly a soul awake in this wonderful little town and it seems as though we may have the jump on everyone else.

I rocket down the Echo Trail and before we know it we are unloading our gear at the portage head of Moose River North. It is just beginning to break daylight. I park the truck and head back to the portage. We almost need a flashlight!

On this trip we will be double portaging. We have restricted Dad to only carrying the small lunchbox sized tackle box and 2 paddles. While his heart is beating in rhythm it doesn't pump the blood near as good as it used to. His heart only works about 30% as good as a normal person so his physical activities are slow and deliberate. No problem for us and I welcome the chance to double portage so I can enjoy the portages without a canoe over my head. Dad keeps pace well enough that he is waiting at the canoe after Joe and I return from the second portage.

We head down the Moose River trying to gracefully maneuver the 20' Seneca around the tight, twisty bends of the Moose River without much success. Joe was in the bow and I the stern and we flat out sometimes just couldn't make it turn fast enough without losing speed or back paddling.

Somewhere along the river I think it was shortly after the second portage I reached into my pocket to get out my phone for picture and as I drew it out I heard a plunk in the water. It was my billfold. I forgot I had it in my pocket for driving and now it was at the bottom of the Moose River. There was no hope for recovery. The water was more than paddle deep at that point and blacker than the darkest of nights. Oh well.

We had all agreed that if needed we would stop on Agnes if we had bad weather or if it was too much for Dad but we hit Agnes pretty early and everyone was feeling great and it was only one more portage into Boulder Bay so we paddled on.

We took the 118 rod portage int the Eastern side of the Boulder River. The Boulder River side of that portage was quite marshy and while soft we managed to load and board without too much trouble. I can only imagine what that side is like when it has rained a lot or in the spring.

We paddled down the Boulder River and into Boulder Bay. We passed the the first two sites on the Island in Boulder Bay as our goal was Tiger Bay. We made it up to Tiger Bay and all the sites were taken. I was anticipating this as it is very popular. We began to backtrack and pretty much all the sites in that vicinity were occupied except the island site # 173. We didn't really like it at first and spent some time paddling around looking elsewhere but the distance to other campsites was lengthy and the shadows were growing long. It wasn't worth the risk so we climbed the hill up to what would be a really cool site for a few days. We set up camp and rested the remainder of the day away. The steaks hit the grill that evening and we sipped Sangria from tiny tin cups.

As the sun began to set our yawns grew more and more frequent. It had been a very long two days and I was spent and I'm positive dad and Joe were too.

The skeeters drove us into the tents before it was completely dark and well frankly I don't remember how the night went and that is a good thing.

4am I arise and jump in the shower, it's hot and feels great. It will be the last one for some time. Dressed and ready to rock I wake up the guys and head next door for coffee. Back at the bunkhouse the guys are preparing for the day ahead and I greet them with steaming cups of coffee.

We make sure the room is tidy and nothing is left behind including the steaks in the freezer. The truck is already loaded. The steaks, encased in ziploc freezer bags I drop into the food barrel and off we go. There is hardly a soul awake in this wonderful little town and it seems as though we may have the jump on everyone else.

I rocket down the Echo Trail and before we know it we are unloading our gear at the portage head of Moose River North. It is just beginning to break daylight. I park the truck and head back to the portage. We almost need a flashlight!

On this trip we will be double portaging. We have restricted Dad to only carrying the small lunchbox sized tackle box and 2 paddles. While his heart is beating in rhythm it doesn't pump the blood near as good as it used to. His heart only works about 30% as good as a normal person so his physical activities are slow and deliberate. No problem for us and I welcome the chance to double portage so I can enjoy the portages without a canoe over my head. Dad keeps pace well enough that he is waiting at the canoe after Joe and I return from the second portage.

We head down the Moose River trying to gracefully maneuver the 20' Seneca around the tight, twisty bends of the Moose River without much success. Joe was in the bow and I the stern and we flat out sometimes just couldn't make it turn fast enough without losing speed or back paddling.

Somewhere along the river I think it was shortly after the second portage I reached into my pocket to get out my phone for picture and as I drew it out I heard a plunk in the water. It was my billfold. I forgot I had it in my pocket for driving and now it was at the bottom of the Moose River. There was no hope for recovery. The water was more than paddle deep at that point and blacker than the darkest of nights. Oh well.

We had all agreed that if needed we would stop on Agnes if we had bad weather or if it was too much for Dad but we hit Agnes pretty early and everyone was feeling great and it was only one more portage into Boulder Bay so we paddled on.

We took the 118 rod portage int the Eastern side of the Boulder River. The Boulder River side of that portage was quite marshy and while soft we managed to load and board without too much trouble. I can only imagine what that side is like when it has rained a lot or in the spring.

We paddled down the Boulder River and into Boulder Bay. We passed the the first two sites on the Island in Boulder Bay as our goal was Tiger Bay. We made it up to Tiger Bay and all the sites were taken. I was anticipating this as it is very popular. We began to backtrack and pretty much all the sites in that vicinity were occupied except the island site # 173. We didn't really like it at first and spent some time paddling around looking elsewhere but the distance to other campsites was lengthy and the shadows were growing long. It wasn't worth the risk so we climbed the hill up to what would be a really cool site for a few days. We set up camp and rested the remainder of the day away. The steaks hit the grill that evening and we sipped Sangria from tiny tin cups.

As the sun began to set our yawns grew more and more frequent. It had been a very long two days and I was spent and I'm positive dad and Joe were too.

The skeeters drove us into the tents before it was completely dark and well frankly I don't remember how the night went and that is a good thing.

Morning dawned clear and quiet once again and with the promise of a bluebird day we were up and at em fairly early. Today's plan was to head up to see the pictographs and while travelling do some fishing.

After a breakfast of toasted raisin bagels with peanut butter we headed out. The first thing we tried was trolling around our little island. As we rounded the island a full 360 degrees and headed north from the landing Dad landed a very nice walleye. All of 26". Great start to the fishing.

We paddled up the western shoreline and into Never Fail Bay stopping whenever we felt like it to explore something or stretch our legs. We caught lots of walleye and smallies along this route. Never Fail Bay is really nice. If I was to go back to this area I would try for the site in the bay.

We stopped at the north eastern tip of the bay across from the portage to Kelsey lake and went for a swim. (see video) The entire time on the water there was just enough breeze to keep you refreshed but not enough to make the water choppy. It was a perfect paddle day if I have ever seen one.

We cut across LLC over to Canada and checked out the pictos. The moose is by far the best one. Still so clear.

We had burned most of the hours out of the day and we had a stringer full of fish so we paddled back to our island. I did try a deep diving crankbait out in the deep part of LLC. Was crossing my fingers for a Lake Trout but it did not happen.

We arrived back at camp and rested for a bit. Later the fish were filetted and we had an exceptional dinner of fish tacos with Spanish rice.

Once again the little flying devils drove us into our tents right at dark. Once again we didn't mind because the days events had us as tuckered as toddlers after visiting Chucky Cheese!

Wednesday morning we packed up camp and headed back south towards Lake Agnes. On the trip there we took the short portage out of the Boulder River which was pretty neat.

We met a few folks on the way and hopscotched the 2 portages with them. It didn't take long at all to reach Lake Agnes and we stopped and checked the first site my map showed on the north eastern shore. You could tell it was a site but we saw no fire grate or anything so we headed west across the lake and grabbed site #1796.

This was a great site and we enjoyed the remainder of the day napping in hammocks and a swim off the little sandy beach landing. Dad and I went out for an evening fish. We trolled around and across the lake a few times but the only thing I caught was a 14" Crappie. My personal best Crappie. He nailed a medium depth crankbait. I was super surprised as the lure wouldn't even fit in his mouth!

I decided to call the trip short by one day as the trip was taking a toll on Dad. He had forgot to bring sunblock (Joe and I don't use it) and he was pretty burnt. I knew he was tired and I didn't want to push it any further. The trip so far had been a complete success and there was no shame in calling in early.

We enjoyed a nice evening, had a fun question and answer (see video) and rested well.

As always on the last day of a trip there is a sense of excitement and sadness. We experienced both in different degrees.

Camp was packed in no time and soon enough we were on the water. There was no hurry to get back as we had a room booked in the VNO bunkhouse.

We took our time and re-traced our route through Agnes and into Nina Moose.

We weren't paying attention and we saw a canoe on the south eastern end of Nina Moose and naturally assumed it was coming out of the river so we headed that way and ended up trying to head up the Portage River. It didn't take us long to realize that this was not the same river we came in on. LOL

The canoe we saw was leaving the campsite next to the river.

After a quick turnaround we were soon headed south on the Moose River and after what seemed like forever we found the parking lot. The Moose river can be a bit of a slog but it had it's moments like the moment we rounded a turn and the sun had just peeked the trees and there were a million spider webs lit up on the grasses. It was spectacular. I had never seen anything like that.

We packed up the truck and before long we were enjoying a cold beer compliments of VNO when we checked back in.

An awesome hot shower and soon enough we were in the Ely Steakhouse for dinner and an ice cold pitcher of beer.

An early bed time back at the VNO bunkhouse and we all slept like babies.

Up early again I roused the guys and we were on the road as the sun was breaking the horizon. Settled in the truck with hot coffee we started our journey back to Michigan. A long 14 hour drive and we pulled into my driveway around 8 pm if I remember correctly.

We had an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back again.

Check out my video on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ5vbWSRwuc&t=8s