We met a solo paddler named Mona that was making the border trip all the way through to Lake Superior that we saw at each portage. She said she would put up a trip video on Youtube, but I haven't found it yet. I told her to reference it here, too. Most of the other groups seemed to be planning on staying on Knife. One group of 2 canoes going west had a duffer in each sitting sideways with their feet over the side dressed as Marcel Marceau, makeup and all. Not sure what was up with that, or if we wanted to know. We said hello and kept paddling. Then we had to go around a group of 9 in 4 canoes floating aimlessly next to the Bonnie portage. They didn't seem to be interacting with each other or us and looked pretty disgruntled. Getting off the main route was seeming like a good idea.

There were only a few other groups on the Knife portages, some of them single portaging, so they got through fast. We had about 200 lbs of gear, including the canoe, for two 65 year olds, so we were double portaging. We wanted to make it as far as possible and were hoping for the usual west wind to help us along. It was mostly from the west, but not strong enough to help much, but still better than a head wind. We made it through pretty fast and decided to aim for Kekakabic. I remember some difficult landings and put ins along the way, but none of the portages are too bad. Bonnie lake portage was a little hillier than I remembered, though. We made it to Kekakabic about 5:30 and were happy the 1st campsite to the west was open. We were pretty beat. Rain was threatening, but we just wanted to get camp set up, eat dinner and collapse, so we didn't set up the tarp. Dinner was homemade BBQ brisket soft tacos, instant rice and rehydrated dried Ranch Style Beans. It started sprinkling off and on while we were cooking and really raining when we were sitting down to eat, so we grabbed the food and ducked into the tent to eat. We really should have put up the tarp, but it was just one more thing to put up and take down for a short visit. I spent 10 minutes frantically looking for my hat only to finally realize I had put on my raincoat and it was under the coat with the string holding it on around my neck. I chalk that up to fatigue. I also counted 20 raised inflamed bites around my neck that lasted a few days. I didn't spray down because we had permethrin treated clothes and I didn't see mosquitos. I think it must have been a black fly. We got everything cleaned up and the bear bag and ursaks stowed and then finally crashed.

Route: Sucker to Birch, 7R, Birch to Carp, 51R, Carp to Seed and Knife 24R, 22R,34R,73R. Knife to Bonnie 42R, Bonnie to Spoon 32R, Spoon to Pickle 20R, Pickle to Kekakabic 85R 14.3 miles total: 10.6 miles paddling, 3.7 miles portaging due to double portaging  Best tent pad at back on the right

We got up late since we were tired and we could hear what sounded like a lot of wind outside the tent. We made pancakes with dried blueberries and Lil smokies. It started raining just as we were ready to start cooking the pancakes, so we stuffed most of the loose stuff in a bucket and stuck it under the tyvek tarp. It passed over so we finished cooking and were able to eat outside. We packed up and left camp about 12:30 for the trip to Sagus.

It was a pretty long paddle to the Strup portage with a stronger wind from the side today. The Kek to Strup portage is pretty well known for the steep trail on the Kek end. We decided to sort of triple portage this one, with both of us carrying an end of the canoe up to the top of the hill. Just as we got most of the way up and dropped the canoe to the side, a group of 9 scouts (boys and some dads) with 4 canoes started coming through. We went back down to load up and waited for the scouts to get through. They are carrying heavy loads and single portaging. We chatted with them for a bit. They were heading for the South Arm of Knife and had started out at Hatchet that day. A 9 person group of female scouts from the scout camp were coming in as we went back for the next load. They seemed excited to see each other. We took the rest of our gear up to the canoe in 2 carries, then I went from there with a big pack and Dan took the canoe and guide pack the rest of the way and we came back for the last 2 packs and started up behind the last of the girls, also single portaging.

All together we had 3 packs at about 45 lbs, a 43 lb kevlar canoe (Northwind 17ft) , one smaller 25 lb guide pack, 2 hand carry bags (with cameras, snacks, raincoats, binoculars etc.), 3 paddles and fishing poles. We carabiner and tie the life vests to the back of 2 of the packs. So I carry my personal bag and the fishing rods with one big pack. Then the paddles with the next pack. Dan carries the canoe with the guide pack and then the last big pack with his personal bag. We haven't decided if we want to join Overpacker's United of or Overpacker's Anonymous. We don't seem to be able to cut out much of what we take.

We got to the Wisini portage as the last of the scouts were clearing the portage. A smaller girl was trying to pick up the canoe out of the water by herself. They seemed in good spirits and were talking to each other in Swedish accents. She had some trouble, but managed to get it overhead, I know it was heavy, it was a 3 person canoe with quite a bit of water in it, unfortunately most of the water ended up drenching her when she turned it up. She stuck with it though. Respect. They were heading to Fraser for the night a fact that the map reader wasn't sure of at first. We got through the next 4 portages, with a stop for sandwiches on Wisini. The campsite on Wisini that seems to be one everyone wants was open, but it is too verticle to be appealing the way our legs were feeling, and not far enough along. Wisini seems scary deep, with drop offs close to shore. We decided to take the longer portage to Sagus instead of the 2 shorter ones since we were tired of loading and unloading. We got to Sagus at 7:30. and checked out one of the better rated sites, but it was not promising. It (site 1912) was dark and closed in with no breeze likely. There is lots of room and it is pretty level with pine needles covering the ground, but no view and the logs look water logged and are collapsing from rot. We went around the island and checked out site 1910. Campsite 1910 landing

It is hard to see from the lake. There is a steep trail up to the site and it is pretty level at the top and has a better view and decent sitting logs and kitchen. Much better fortunately since we weren't going much further.

We got busy getting water and rehydrating the marinara sauce, dried ground beef, and mushrooms, then setting up camp. We made salad and cooked spaghetti, cleaned up, put up bear bags and got in the tent at 1:15 am.

Kekakabic to Strup 85R, Strup to Wisini 10R, Wisini to Ahmakose 98R, Ahmakose to Gerund 27R, Gerund to Fraser 18R, Fraser to Sagus 57R 5 miles paddling, 2.8 miles portaging, 7.8 miles total.

We had Egg Taquitos with sausage and cheese for breakfast. We used dehydrated ground beef and added sausage seasoning. It worked out pretty well. We spent the rest of the morning setting up the camp and getting water for the sunshower for hand washing and dishes, and filtering drinking water. The new gravity filter is fast, but only holds 3 liters at a time, so it takes several refills to get much water filtered. Kind of a pain. We made BLT's for lunch and headed out to go fishing. I caught a walleye around the end of the island, but we weren't getting much action after that and Dan kept catching rocks on the bottom, so we moved to the end of the lake near the Roe portage. I caught and released a small northern we probably should have kept, but we seemed to be getting several bites. We decided to fry up the walleye and make fish cakes with a tuna packet for dinner. We got back to camp about 5 and rehydrated green beans, filleted the fish and fried it with the fish cakes and made instant mashed potatoes. Our dinners are way too complicated sometimes. It was a warm evening, which we figured out when we tried to go to sleep. The tent was uncomfortably hot, but rain was predicted, so we kept the rain fly on.

We got up the next morning and had cereal so we could go out fishing earlier. Dan caught and released a small Walleye down near the 25 rod portage to Shepo. I walked the portage to see if it would be better to go out the 2 portages. It was rocky, rooty, boggy and hot. That end of Shepo was shallow and rocky and full of lily pads. We decided to take the longer higher portage we came in on the next day.

We went back to camp and had PB&J sandwiches, did camp chores, took showers with the Sun shower and did laundry. It was hot, but a little late. Most of the laundry didn't get dry, so we hung it up in the tent. We put paracord along the top of the tent at home, so there was room, but it still wasn't dry in the morning, so we had to pack some of it up damp. We got to bed at midnight. It was even hotter this night, which made it even harder to sleep. Not sleeping was getting to be a trend. We could hear lots of birds at this site. Also, lots of biting flies in the afternoons, but there were several butterflies, and several bunny sightings. We liked the site a lot. the main downsides were the steep hike to the lake and the latrine. We didn't see any other people for the 2 days there. Flowers on latrine trail

Prelude I had just started working at an internship at St. Luke's Hospital of Duluth. There were two of us interns in the same role. After working alongside the other intern for about 4 weeks, he invited me along on a BWCA trip he was planning. They had 3 committed and we're looking for a fourth. I'm in - i've always wanted to go and was just never in a position to do so and was uneasy about trying to figure it all out on my own. This would be the second trip for the fella that invited me - his first trip being the prior year. Third trip for another participant and maybe 5th trip for the final participant, but he had not been in some years, most of his trips were when he was younger...I believe they may have been with the scouts. The plan was to enter at Brule and loop through Cherokee, Long Island and Winchel, then coming back down to Brule. Plan was 3 nights - 4 days. First night on Cherokee, Second on Long Island and third on Winchell. Our gear was a mess - we had two borrowed aluminum canoes, one giant 6 person tent, some borrowed sleeping bags, I bought a used kondo's envelope style pack online, a wenzel sleeping pad. We also brought a guitar, one water pump, and a bunch of other gear that really didn't need to be on the trip. 5 people and we had 4 packs per canoe, with the largest being a duluth pack 4 or 5...the thing was a monster. The canoes were two person, so someone had to ride duff. Yes - we ended up with 5, as when they were looking for a fourth more than one person made it their goal to find the 4th and two were successful.

Day 1+ I've added the plus as I'll start the story the night prior to our actual entry date. Two of us lived in Duluth and the others were coming up from the cities. Plan was to get together the night prior and pack all the gear, then retire and drive up in the morning. After much gear shuffling, a few whiskeys, beers and perhaps a pull or two off the oney as well (we were in college after all). We finally found ourselves to be comfortable with what and how we had everything packed. 

We then made the decision, maybe not our best decision, to skip sleep and depart for the entry point. I believe it was past midnight, but not quite 1AM. I grabbed a roadie and off we went. Myself and the other intern in his giant White Caprice with one canoe strapped on top and the others in a rusty old oldsmobile with the other canoe. The drive was largely uneventful, until we hit the gravels...at which point the driving was akin to the old video game of Sega Rally Championships. I called out the turns and we drifted and powered through them. We piled into the Brule parking lot somewhere between 3 and 4. Gear was unloaded, we smoked a bit more and briefly stared at the stars and and moon. Anticipation was high and we shoved off into brule lake in the dark of the night. No discussion about anything. As we paddled strongly towards the first island, I called back to the stern paddler, which was my work intern buddy, "Lets head for the north shore and then follow it along to the other side of the lake". The other three were in the other canoe. As we got to the north shore of Brule lake and turned left, we realized the other canoe was no where in sight. We called out a couple times - no response. My buddy who knew the others prior to the trip, States, "they must have taken another route", and with that we dug in, got in the zone and shot across Brule Lake.

We stopped at the entry into the bay towards the Cam Lake Portage...not knowing where they were or if they were even headed this way or the towards the temperance lakes. We silently stared into the darkness of the night - nothing. A call out garnered no response. We hit the oney, concluded that there was a discussion that we were gong through cam and gasket and then subsequently concluded, perhaps they're already at the portage waiting for us. Ya - I bet they're faster with three people. I remember thinking that. We turned and paddled to the Cam Lake Portage. We arrived - still dark and to no one's surprise reading this - they weren't there. As we stood on the shores of the portage landing, contemplating the next steps, the started to rise.

The sun now fully up and our bellies full from some snacks, we pumped some water and refilled the nalgenes. As we debated heading back out, we saw a canoe round the corner into the bay...ah ha! There they are. With much delight we were all about to be re-united. Two individuals paddling and the third wedged in between a thwart and a duluth pack, with his knees in his throat. The bow paddler first, grabbed a pack or two and handed it to us on shore. Next was the fella riding duff or as we referred to it at the time "riding bitch", he got one foot on shore and promptly fell over "I cant' feel my legs, I can't feel my legs" came out of his mouth. I can't imagine, sitting in the bottom of an aluminum canoe without moving for a couple hours in early may - had to be cold. The stern paddler of that canoe then proclaims, jsut get up and grab a pack - you'll be fine. As life slowly came back to his legs we made our way across that first portage.

We single portaged - 8 really heavy packs and two aluminum canoes. If you had a canoe, you carried the canoe and one duluth pack. Those without the canoe carried two duluth packs, one on the front and one on the back. Those without canoes were also responsible for the guitar, paddles, life jackets and fishing poles. The first portage I took two packs and whatever I could carry. The second portage it was my turn for the canoe. This was my first time portaging the canoe...about 20 rods in with the pack and canoe, I remember thinking, I can't do this. This sucks - it's fricking heavy. I then remembered, there were two other dudes that just did it on the first portage and I'm not going to be that guy. So you embrace the suck, man up and just power through it. Each subsequent portage got a little easier.

We arrived on Cherokee and paddled across the lake to the site on the west shore, northern part of the lake. We unloaded and everyone basically just collapsed. We ate some lunch and lay on the shore in the sun exhausted. At that point someone suggested, hey it's still pretty early in the day, should we keep going? With that we found ourselves back in the canoes and paddling towards the Gordon Portage. I think surprisingly we all felt pretty strong after the break. We watched a moose swim across Gordon Lake, found a bunch of suckers where the water runs into Long Island. We ended up a nice site on Long Island. The stern paddler of the other canoe was a wiry little fella and had the most BW experience of any of us. He appointed himself "Trip Leader" and quickly started assigning tasks, some of us were to set up the tent and sleeping bags, another pumped water and others were cutting firewood.

We retired fairly early that first night.

We crossed the portage to Cattyman and paddled across. There were some pretty flowers along the portages to Ensign. First we noticed a couple of guys walking canoes through the water coming out from near the falls area. They had accidentally put in at the point where the trail turns and looks like the end of the portage. It's possible, but not easy, they said they didn't recommend it. Cattyman from portage to Gibson

There was a group of kids and a couple of adults eating lunch at the actual portage to work around. We chatted a bit, they were scouting type group from Fargo. They had carried the canoes across to see the falls from Ensign, not realizing that the falls could be seen mid portage. One of the kids was letting them know pretty endlessly he was not happy about it. When we got the second load over and were about to put in, another group was waiting for us to clear the portage. They were the same scout group as the other kids, but were staying at another campsite.They asked if we had seen them. They planned to leave their canoes at that end and walk over to see the falls. Cattyman Falls, I thought I got a better picture, apparently not. We loaded up and started off for the Gibson to Ashigan portage. On the portage to Ashigan, 1 of the groups started going back through while we were coming back for the 2nd carry. They pushed off first and started for the Ashigan to Ensign portage. We decided to pull out our PB&J sandwiches to eat in the canoe and wait for them to clear the portage. When we got back for the 2nd load there, the 2nd group started on that portage. We caught up with the last kid who was dragging all the paddles across the rocks behind him.

When we got to Ensign, both groups were there with all their gear spread out over the end of the portage and fishing. They were definitely over the limit for the number of people, at least 12. We were irritated, but we aren't the enforcement officers, so we went in at the far open side without saying anything. Fortunately it is shallow and wide there, so we could get in without too much trouble. It wasn't the best group dynamic we have seen.

We set off and floated a ways out to the middle of the lake while we got the Garmin set up to navigate by and started the long 4 mile or so paddle down Ensign. We were paddling into about a 10mph wind so we ducked behind the islands for a little break a couple of times, but we made it through pretty fast. We thought we would probably end up on Sucker since it was after 4, but decided to check if the Splash site was open, I wasn't holding out much hope since it was so late. It's hard to see until you get to the other end of the lake, but as we turned the corner there we could see it was unoccupied. I walked up to check it out and was initially not too impressed. It was somewhat trashed with firewood scattered around, the sun was slanting in and baking the kitchen area and the logs are not in great shape and the tent pad was not too level. I got Dan to come up to check it out and we decided it would do for the night. We found a trail over to a large open area later that has a lot of room for more tents that were better, but we'd already set up the tent. We liked the site a lot better after we got it cleaned up a little, and got the gear organized to cook dinner.

We were going to have grilled cheese sandwiches and make chicken vegetable soup like we had last time, but we realized the day before that real cheddar cheese gets moldy in 80 degree weather, so we switched to egg and bacon sandwiches. We pack a few extra packets of Ova Ezy eggs just in case. The soup is always appreciated on long travel days when we are feeling dehydrated. We could hear boats going by out on Sucker until dusk , but it would probably have been worse on the campsites out there.

We thought about putting the fishing poles together and going out fishing in the evening since we had scared off some nice sized fish on the way in, but decided to enjoy some down time instead. There were a lot of fish breaking the top of the water a little ways out near sundown. It would have been nice to see what was there, but it was a pretty intense trip, and relaxing was nice too. We got camp cleaned up and packed up for an early exit the next morning.

Jordan to Cattyman 44 Rods, Cattyman to Gibson 27R, Gibson to Ashigan 111R, Ashigan to Ensign 54 R, Ensign to Splash 5R 6.7 miles Paddling, 2.3 portaging Total: 9 miles

The trip went well enough. We achieved the goal of solitude, not seeing anyone while in any of the campsites. We also were able to stay at all the sites we had picked as our first choice, which was unusual. It seemed like the 3rd week of June was not too busy. The weather was a little warm, but rain didn't affect us much. It was probably a little harder trip than we would have liked, but I like going to a few different campsites and getting off the busier lakes, and Sagus and Jordan were neat little lakes that were worth the work to get there.

Splash to Sucker 23R .5 mile paddle to portage, .2 mile portaging