Angie and I had been nearly completely packed for days. The piles in the garage had finally taken shape into 3 Duluth packs. We left Wisconsin around 11am and drove to Ely. We were happy to find that the trip was only about 7 hours instead of 8 ½.

We checked in with Jordan’s Outfitters and then went to check out the big town of Ely. We stopped by Piragis Outfitters. It was quite a treat to see a BW specific outdoor store. Rather than wading through large camping sections and only finding a few BW items, the entire store was full of BW items.

We had dinner at the Ely Steak House. After reading so many reports about it, we felt that it was a required part of the trip.

We got back to Jordans around 8:30. We saw the video, reviewed the itinerary, tied a Souris River Quetico on our van and got the final details set.

We fell asleep quickly in spite of the fact that we felt like kids on Christmas Eve.

We had a nice breakfast at Jordans and hit the road. We arrived at the launch, loaded the canoe, and hit Snowbank. There was a decent chop on Snowbank and Angie and I had never really paddled together. We quickly got the rhythm and made good progress across Snowbank. I found it ironic that we were doing the most dangerous part of the trip when we were most green.

The portage from Snowbank to Disappointment was Angie's first portage ever. It was quite an introduction. The portage is long, rocky, and seems to be completely uphill. We were base camping on Disappointment and double portaging. The double was sort of nice so we could catch our breath and actually see the portage without looking through a 17 foot hat.

We were paddling Disappointment around 9:30 am on the Thursday before Memorial Day. We were surprised to pass 2 or 3 groups coming out of Disappointment. I thought that was strange day to leave the BW. But either way, Disappoint was nearly empty. We leisurely passed by many of the camp sites. The island site closest to the launch looked pretty nice but it was the first one we found and we decided to keep looking. We checked out a few more sites. I was disappointed to see so much damage to the other sites. There were many trees cut off at waist level and several trees chopped with axes at eye level.

Eventually, we went to the site on the southwest shore towards the middle of the lake. The site was perfect. It was off the beaten track and the site was pretty rustic. I think we were the first ones to use the site this season.

There was a large tree down in the middle of the best tent pad. We had to trim branches on the tree to make a path to the back half of the tent site. We found a flat spot and set up the tent.

I fished the afternoon and caught a few smallmouth. I got a 15” smallie on a Basstrix swimbait. It was my first real time fishing the swimbaits. I was pretty impressed. We ate the smallie with Cache Lake bread for dinner.

We had a nice fire and enjoyed our first night away from the hustle and bustle. [paragraph break]

What a great morning. The weather was nice: clear, cool, sunny, and warming quickly. Breakfast was great. We had Jordan’s signature very thick sliced bacon and Cache Lake’s hash brown potatoes and bacon, egg scramble. Again we were impressed with Cache Lake’s foods.

We spent the day canoeing and fishing our section of Disappointment Lake. Angie enjoyed the day by fishing a bit, reading a bit, and taking pictures. She tried to get some loon shots but the loons never quite came close enough.

We trolled a bit, casted a bit and explored the lake. It was relaxing and pretty. The fishing was poor for most of the day.

I had recently read an article in the Wisconsin Outdoor Journal about post-spawn walleye. The article stated that walleye spawn on exposed flats with 1-2 feet of water. The wind provides the moving water needed by the walleye's eggs. Just north of our camp site, there was an exposed island that just broke the surface of the water. The article stated that the big walleye move onto the shallow wind-swept flats around dark.

Towards dusk, we trolled Rapala’s husky jerks around the island. We caught a nice 20” walleye right between the island and the camp site in about 8 feet of water. It was the first big walleye I’ve ever caught. I was surprised how sluggish the fish was. He was heavy but didn’t fight strong like a smallie or pike. The walleye was male that had not spawned yet. We ate the walleye for dinner…

We stayed on the island until it was nearly dark. We watched the sun set from the canoe. It wasn't an especially pretty sunset but the surroundings made up for it...

We relaxed around the camp fire and I enjoyed a nice cigar and a flask of port. [paragraph break]

You have heard of the immigrate book called “Bring Warm Clothes”, well I could just as well have written a camping book entitled, “Bring Cold Clothes”. It would have written about winter camping in Ely on March 14th and 15th 2009 – why? Because it was not only warm, but by the time the trip was over, and we had driven back home to Northfield, Minnesota, it was about 60 degrees!!!

We did have a fun adventure on that trip, so I thought I would pass on the story to those who may want to duplicate a quick weekend trip in the beautiful BWCA. The “us” in this story is my friend Harlow Splichal (who actually saved my life on this same lake a couple of years ago when I fell through the ice), his 11 year old daughter Emily, and his granddaughter Wendy – also 11 – don’t ask me how that happened – it is way too complicated!!! ?

We left at 7 am from my house in Northfield for a short trip to the BWCA to break Harlow’s family into winter camping. Harlow and I have been doing this many years, but not the girls. Over the years we have developed quite a list of winter camping gear. If anyone wants a copy, just e-mail me at alansonja@charter.net, and I will send it you.

We started the trip with an immediate stop at the local Super America (SA) for their super Shockwave Coffee – a new double caffeine blend they just started serving. Also it was the start of a LONG series of potty stops for Emily – how can that girl have so much output with so little input – it defies the laws of physics!! We grabbed breakfast and did a fast drive through Cloquet, Virginia, and then onto 169 into Ely. 

About 30 miles out of Ely we saw a car come SREAMING toward us and on by.  Harlow soon started shouting HOLY SMOKE!!! As we turned around to see what happened, we observed the rocket ship car SLAM into the back of a pop up trailer a guy was pulling. The pop up literally POPPED up, fully inflated and shot into the air. We called 911 immediately. We didn’t find out the fate of the folks, but pray all was okay. 

Oh, by the way, Emily finished her Ghost Horse book on the way. She also was constantly beating up on poor little Wendy – Emily – shame on you! And also, it was 46 degrees in Ely when we arrived!!! What’s up with that?

We arrive in Ely and stopped at Zups for food (more later with an interesting story about the Zup family), and on to the bait store where we learned about a local Finnish delicacy – fish head stew. The bait dealer told us about the Turbot (eel pout) that he catches and most people throw away. He gives them to his grandmother who makes local delicacy bait and essentials. Take a look at the recipe:

Kalamoijaka: Finnish Fish Chowder -- pound Northern Pike, Pickerel, Turbot, Eel Pout or similar fish cut into 2-inch pieces 6 cups peeled, cubed potatoes 1 medium onion, diced 2 or 3 stalks of celery, diced 4 carrots, diced 3 12-ounce cans (4 for a richer chowder) evaporated milk 1 stick butter Salt and pepper to taste Fish head with eyes

Cook fish in pressure cooker for 20 minutes to soften bones (or bring fish to boiling in a pot of water and simmer until fish flakes easily). Drain fish and reserve liquid. Remove and discard bones from fish and set aside. Add vegetables to reserved liquid and cook until tender. Add fish, evaporated milk, butter, salt and pepper. Simmer slowly for 20 minutes. DO NOT BOIL. Serve in bowl with a pat of butter on top. SAVOR! The fish head improves flavor, but non-Finns may not enjoy a soup that stares back!

We first went to Farm Lake, but couldn’t find a good camping and/or fishing spot readily available. There was no clear markings, and we could get directions even from the local bar crew – a lot of snowmobiling and drinking going on it appeared.

We next decided to go to Fall Lake off the Fernberg Trail. We turned at the sign taking us to the Superior National Park camping grounds, Stub Lake Trail Road. They have a great parking lot, outbuildings, available toilets, and it looks like a super camping spot for my pop up next year!

We parked free in the parking lot, and loaded up the sleds. We used large plastic, cheap sleds that work fine for this type of trip. We drill holes in the sides to insert the bungee cord hooks to keep everything in place. We also bring up a large belt to which we hook the pull rope from the sleds. It keeps your hands free when pulling the sled. Much more comfortable – believe me. Just as we were getting onto the lake, there were at least 5 dog sled teams coming out from an overnight Yurt camping expedition. They take people back to large, heated canvas tents into the BWCA. They set folks up fishing and skiing, and cook meals and so forth. You can look into this at http://www.whitewilderness.com/.

I also took my pop up ice house that doubles as a large sled as well – I end up being the sled dog pulling a full load into the wilderness – MAN I WAS POOPED – I must be getting older now? I did have a little angel come back to help share my load half way – thanks Wendy – HEY – where was Emily???

We set up camp on the ice, just before the camp site on the NE end of One Mile Island on Fall Lake. We officially were in the BWCA – the markers across the Lake announced the boarder for the wilderness. Many snowmobilers were there, all parking their sleds at the boarder, and then going in on foot for ice fishing. There were a lot of people fishing the first day we were there.  We did the “take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints” philosophy even on the ice – and stressed that with the girls.

We built our fire on a bed of wet birch – acting as a base for the fire for 2 days. This worked very well. It kept the fire from being put out, and minimized the melting into the ice.

We soon learned that you MUST make sure that the camp is at least 8 foot off the dog sled trail. This is just unwritten courtesy. You MUST keep away from the dogs as they mush through or they come over to you; pull the sleds off their course, and pee all over everything.

We spent the day setting up camp, the ice house, drilling holes, snow shoeing, X-Country skiing, fishing, sledding and cooking. It was a glorious day, and the night was even better with a beautiful clear night, star shining like you do not see in southern Minnesota, crackling fire, and smores until we were stuffed.

Met some interesting characters stopped by to chat that first day – here are their stories:

1. A field engineer that worked for the forest service – lived in Ely. Helps cleans about 3500 miles of roads in this area. He does what is called “steaming culverts” – I didn’t know about that before. It is when they shoot hot steam into frozen culverts to clear out spring ice so water will run and not wash out the roads in the spring. He told us about Crooked Lake being so fantastic for Walleye fishing – a trip we will certainly take in the future. It appears that fishing on Fall Lake (he lives there practically) was terrible this year for walleye. Usually he gets 100 walleyes a winter, this year only 1, but a lot of perch and crappy. 2. Pete from Tower and a buddy. Interesting guys. Pete said he trapped every lake in the previously called Superior Roadless Area (SRA) with his Dad from the time he was 6 years old. One year while trapping, Pete and his dad saved some of the the Zups from a winter storm. Often since then, they have still furnished Pete with some homemade venison sausage. The Zups own multiple grocery stores in this area, as well as one of them is a famous artist that make spearfishing decoys for many years. Pete also also knew Jackpine Bob Cary (http://www.jackpinebobcary.com/). Not sure of the whole story, but it sounded very interesting. 

We had put up our 4-Man Eureka Timberline tent. I love that tent and have used this variety for many years now -winter and summer a good choice. There were a few upgrades that I tried to send the company – never got a reply back from them? Sleeping was a dream knowing that we were on 3 foot of ice cover on the lake. My intention was to find the proverbial pine tree base with snow cover, scoop out a place to sleep, line it with poly, and sleep for the night. I was so looking forward to that, but there just wasn’t enough snow cover for that experiment that evening.  Do note that not once did I hear the proverbial ice cracking that I have for many years, making you think you were falling through the ice. The absence of the noise made for a great night sleep.

After a good night sleep - warm in our bags, we all got up early for my famous scrambled eggs/Velveeta Cheese/Spam breakfast. We crawled out for hot cocoa, hot coffee and the eggs. Shortly we saw more dog sled teams coming by camp taking folks out to base camp for the week. 

We broke camp and headed back to the car and to Ely. On the way home I took many pictures of everyone by the Ely Greenstone cut through on highway 169 (found in many geology text books). We took a few souvenirs from that cut through – and am looking at those sample as I write this. I also took some of those rocks and tumbled them in my rock tumbler, making some pretty necklaces for Emily and Wendy. Keep in mind that this Ely Greenstone is considered to be the oldest exposed rock in the world (3.8 billion years old) and people from around the world travel here to study these outcropping. A real bit of history was viewed that day for the entire group. (http://www.tc.umn.edu/~smith213/new_page_9.htm). 

As we drove home we passed by the Moose Lake Agate Center in Moose Lake, Minnesota. On my next trip I want to stop by there to see what they have to offer.

In summary, I have to ask you readers, where can you have that kind of fun for $121.79 total trip cost for 4 people for the weekend!! No where, plus you have started the next generation in the love of the Boundary Waters! What a mission in life!

I thought I would include some good winter recipes that we have found over the years. These are mostly aluminum foil recipes. You need to wrap these meals with at LEAST 3 layers of heavy duty foil, or else you will get burn through, hot spots, weakened foil, and a ruined meal. All are placed in the fire coals. The fire can be blazing – don’t have to “wait for the fire to die down leaving only coals” – that is stupid. Roaring fire with coals below is just fine, then push these packets deep below the flames into the coals. Pre-make these meals at home, and freeze them.

1. Pineapple strips from a fresh cut pineapple. ½ strips. ¼ cup brown sugar. Wrapped in tin foil.  2. Pre-cooked rice at home. Pour coconut milk over it, and wrap in foil wraps. Make a perfect meal – no muss trying to cook hard rice out in the winter. 3. Chicken breast. This worked great. Chicken breast, pour olive oil over them. Season salt. Mushrooms. Spinach leaves all around. The fire back turn the spinach black or charred – too back. Throw that crap away. The breast will be cooked perfectly. 4. Hobo dinner. Olive oil, 1.2 lb burgers, thin sliced potatoes and carrots and onions and mushrooms. Season salt. 5. Dozen eggs, ½ lb Velveeta chopped, ½ can of spam chopped, season salt, mixed and frozen in plastic bags, then wrapped in foil when frozen ready to put in the fire – or throw in a pan to cook. Remember that ANY cooking utensils you thoroughly wrap foil all over the outside with multiple wraps of foil. This keeps the pans from turning black with soot. 6. Pita pockets, pepperoni slices, grated cheese, olive oil in and out, and place in foil wraps as well.

I hope you all have as wonderful of a trip as we had, and may you have great companions like I have with Harlow, Wendy and yes – even Emily – we really do love you Emily ?

We got back to camp, relaxed around the fire. We had mixed feelings: we were enjoying our last day but were somewhat sad knowing that it was our last night… [paragraph break]

What a difference a day makes. It rained hard during the night. There was a strong north wind and the temperature was about 30 degrees cooler.

We packed, had a quick breakfast, and hit the water. The north wind was making pretty big waves on Disappointment. But the wind was nearly perfectly behind us. We made good time.

The portage from Disappointment to Snowbank was uneventful. We ran into a group that was doing trail maintenance. They seemed to have worked hard but had a good trip.

Snowbank was interesting. The wind from the north was kicking up whitecaps and pretty big waves. We tried to stay near shore and worked our way around the islands on the southern edge of Snowbank. We made it out and were happy to have had a Souris River canoe. We saw other folks with aluminum canoes. They seemed to only a few inches of free board on their canoes. I hope they made it out of Snowbank…

We loaded the van, had a shower at Jordan’s and hit the road.

One word of caution: make sure you have a full tank of gas when you leave Ely. We drove the Highway 1 road to Duluth. We just about ran out of gas. I even needed to add about a quart of coleman fuel to the tank. We didn’t figure that we wouldn’t see a gas station for 60 miles...