Day 1 of 6
Saturday, October 22, 2022 low temp 34, high temp 62 dry and breezy with wind out of the east/SE
We only had three full days to paddle so we positioned ourselves nicely by spending Friday night at the VNO Bunkhouse. Then Saturday morning set out for EP 33 Little Gabbro Lake. The temp was above freezing and forecast was for a beautiful day! We saw a few grouse hunters on the way and a few vehicles in the parking lot.
We loaded up and made our way down the first long, but well-trodden trail to Little Gabbro. Bret with packs fore and aft, myself with a pack and the boat. Odie with a PFD (pooch floatation device) and tow rope errr, I mean leash. We paddled up the chute into Gabbro and along its length to a short portage into Bald Eagle. On Bald Eagle we saw our first and last humans of the trip. We made our way up to Turtle Lake and then on to Clearwater. We planned to camp on Clearwater and then find our way up to Rock Island and Lake Two the next day. We must have missed a couple campsites and the first one we found on the north shore was not appetizing. The map I was carrying predated the Pagami Creek Fire but showed one campsite on the northeastern part of the lake which was clearly within the burn area. But in that direction, there was a small grove of trees on a point evident from quite a distance. When we got there it was apparent the immediate campsite had survived and it was perfect for our small group (two small tents albeit close to the fire grate). Alternatively, could probably accept 1-2 hammocks with some creativity. It lacked a good bear hang and seating. But firewood was abundant;) Also a beautiful view from the throne. After setting up camp we ventured down to find what remained of the portage to Judd Lake (and eventually Rock Island Lake). The portage is shown on some maps but not others. I believe this is part of the Weasel Lake PMA and as such doesn’t get maintained. And the fire did it no favors. But the first 30ish rods looked manageable so we decided to make an attempt of it in the morning. Plan B was to go back to Bald Eagle by way of Camdre, Pietro and Gull Lakes.
Odie was proving to be a great trip partner. He did well in the boat, on portages and provided comic relief zooming about the campsite and rearranging our firewood. We felt a sense of accomplishment when he was finally worn out and laid down to eat.
We ended the day with a perfect little campfire and a hand of cinnamon whiskey. 
Day 1 of 6
Wednesday, July 11, 2007 The car was packed the night before. My 21 year old daughter Jamie and I were up early and on the road by 5:30AM. We stopped for coffee and chatted for a couple of hours while we drove. We had planned this trip 10 months earlier and were both pretty excited that it had finally arrived. She told me she hadn’t slept well the previous night because of the excitement. 2 hours into our drive she climbed into the back seat and went to sleep. She woke up a little before we got to Eau Claire. The last part of our drive was through pockets of rain, some of it a bit heavy. We arrived in Ely about 3 PM and went straight to VNO, where we checked in, went over our gear, trip planning, fishing areas, bait, etc. Looking out the window, I noticed a torrential downpour. Sure hoping things clear up for the next day! We got the key to the bunkhouse and went up and packed our personal gear into the pack that VNO furnished. Crap! I think I brought too much stuff. The pack must have weighed 70 pounds. Oh well, guess I’ll be getting a little extra exercise this trip. We set out for supper, which was very nice. Jamie ordered a filet and I had a strip steak. The filet was outstanding, but the strip steak was fair at best. We had a couple of beers too, which was nice after the 9 ½ hour drive. We walked through town a bit and bought a deck of cards and a fifth of rum for the trip. We stopped at the coffee shop and then browsed through a few of the shops in town. We headed back to our bunkhouse and turned in for the night after watching a bit of TV and checking out the weather forecast.
Day 3 of 6
Thursday, July 12, 2007 Met with John from VNO at 6:30AM. He was packing the van for our drive to the Moose Lake entry point. Our tow to Birch Lake was set up for 7:30AM. It was a grey, dismal looking day. It was fairly cool and looked like rain. We reached Moose Lake in a short time and transferred our gear into the tow boat. In 15 minutes, we were at the short portage and in 20 minutes we were paddling Birch Lake, headed towards our first destination: Knife Lake. We had placed our raingear at the top of our packs, which was good because it looked like we were going to need it. Within a half hour it started drizzling. We were to spend the rest of that day’s journey alternating between overcast skies, light rain, sunshine (not a lot, though), and heavy rain. I had my raingear on and off at least three times, maybe more. The forty rod portage to Carp was muddy, but otherwise uneventful. I kept a special eye on Jamie, since this was her first trip and she had never carried a pack that large or heavy before. We double portaged and she did just fine. Three 15 rod “nuisance” portages were coming up. On the third of these, we were walking our canoe through some shallow water, just before the portage when I got the brilliant idea to remove my rain pants. The first pant leg got caught on my shoe as I was pulling it off and I fell full force onto my knee. Luckily, the bottom was small gravel rather than larger rocks. I spent a little time picking stones out of my knee, washed it out and we proceeded on our way. It was bleeding pretty good, so we broke out the first aid kit and bandaged it. We made the 75 rod portage into Knife Lake, where we intended to stay at least 2 days, unless the fishing was too good to leave. We wanted to make the South Arm that day. It was very windy and progress was slow. It began to rain and we put the raingear back on. After a couple hours of paddling it started to rain harder. We paddled the last 45 minutes or so in a downpour. None the less, it was enjoyable. I could tell that Jamie was getting tired, so we picked a campsite just short of Thunder Point. By the time we carried our packs up to the site, the rain was lessening. It was about 2PM. We set up camp and took an afternoon nap to get out of the rain for a while. After dinner (fresh steaks) we went out and fished for a bit. We stayed near camp due to the weather and fished a bay behind our site. Jamie caught one smallmouth trolling a leech on a spinner rig. We saw an enormous northern in shallow water, near some downed trees. Jamie asked me if it was a fish and I told her it was a log (which I believed). Then the log saw our canoe and turned and swam away. Must have been 40 inches at least. Later we were casting jigs with twister tails and Jamie’s got bitten off. I think it could have been that same pike, since we were in that area. We saw lots of squirrels, a couple of pine marten, two otters and a very large rabbit. We went to sleep about 9PM. It was pretty cold overnight and later I heard it got down to 38 degrees. I’m glad we brought the fleece jackets.
