Last night, we made it up to Sawbill Outfitter’s in time to secure our permit. Furthermore, we had spent the evening at the small Baker Lake campground, which provided us a substantial advantage for getting an early start this morning. [paragraph break]

As forecasted, it was shaping up to be a gorgeous day. Since this was our first trip with our new canoe, initially we had a minor quandary trying to figure out how to best load the packs & gear. Vickie quickly devised a viable solution with Aurora sitting facing Daddy. Almost straight away, she was riding at ease in the lap of luxury.[paragraph break]

As we approached our first portage, there were 2 sets of mergansers patrolling the pool where the rapids wash out into Baker Lake. This is a short, very easy portage. So, even though the water was high, we gave no thought to lining or walking the canoe up these rapids.[paragraph break] There were several ‘fallen soldiers’ from the ’99 storm along this trail. We stopped to pay homage to some of these impressive old sentinels of the forest. [paragraph break]

The end of the portage put us back on the water precariously close to the head of the rapids. We walked the canoe up river a ways to forestall any chance of getting sucked back down the whitewater chute. Even having taken this precaution, with the water levels being so high, we struggled against the current in a couple of spots further up river, but, eventually made it through to Peterson Lake.[paragraph break]

The 3 rod portage between Peterson & Kelly lakes wasn’t even necessary. In fact, if I hadn’t been through the area before, I might not have even known we paddled right over it.[paragraph break] Once out on the lake, there was a gregarious pair of loons greeting us. Aurora was fascinated with her new diving feathered friends, so we lingered awhile before moving on. Our tentative plan was to try & get the campsite near the Jack lake portage. Still, we traced the eastern shoreline to give the campsites there a cursory examination and determine availability if we needed to backtrack.[paragraph break]

All the southernmost sites on Kelly Lake were open. So we paddled on with reassured confidence knowing we could claim one of these campsites by retracing our route if needed. As we entered the narrows, unmistakable evidence of the ’99 windstorm was still perceptible along the high hillsides. As fate would have it, the site near the Jack Lake portage was occupied. Since we’d gotten such an early start and had made good progress thus far, a quick decision to continue pushing north was agreed upon.[paragraph break]

The 72 rod portage into Jack starts out as a rocky jumble. Eventually the frequency of annoying protruding rocks dwindles and the trail becomes a very nice walk in the woods, complete with a substantial length of boardwalk near the end.[paragraph break]

This would be the first real portage (the very short Baker ~ Peterson portage not withstanding) where we would let Aurora go somewhat on her own. She had her own backpack, which she was determined to carry. Vickie also attached some bells to her so we could always hear where she was if she ever got too far ahead. [paragraph break] She did stumble and trip once on the boardwalk, but, for the most part she did an exemplary job of negotiating the portage. And showed no inclination to wander off the trail or get too far ahead, or behind, whomever she started crossing the trail with. Our Little Miss Independent![paragraph break]

Just west, off of the Jack Lake landing is a semblance of a trail leading back to the Jack Lake Mine. Since it was still quite early in the day, we felt compelled to explore.[paragraph break]

It was probably about 50 yards back in the woods from the portage landing on Jack Lake. In fact, with the leaves not yet fully filled in, Jack Lake was just barely visible from the entrance to the mine.[paragraph break]

In her book, ‘Sawbill’, Mary Alice Hanson identifies the person who dug the mine as local silver prospector Bill Plouff. He was the youngest son of the Plouff family. (The small creek that crosses the Sawbill Trail was named after this family.) Having a cabin on Kelly Lake, he also served as a local guide to fishermen in this area during the 20’s & 30’s. Obviously he never hit pay dirt, and the mine was abandoned. There are, however, several rusty artifacts left behind in and around the mine[paragraph break]

This was also an incredibly cool spot to explore in the literal sense. There was still some snow and ice inside and near the entrance, so the cave interior served as a great place to take reprieve from the intensifying heat of the day. [paragraph break]

Back out on Jack Lake we ran across another canoe trying to negotiate (what appeared to be) a washed out beaver dam at the southern pinch point on the lake. We were able to paddle right over without any issues, and exchanged greetings with the Father/Son tandem who also kindly informed us that both sites on Jack were vacant.[paragraph break]

Once past the pinch point, the lake opened up to reveal multiple shoreline rock formations, as well as a few small islands and less densely forested areas. This was a beautiful contrast to the thickly forested shorelines of the preceding chain of lakes we’d just paddled through. [paragraph break]

On the map, the peninsula site looked inviting. Although, once there, Vickie didn’t like the looks of the southern landing, so we paddled around to the northern side with hopes of a more accommodating access. Those hopes were soon dashed, so we returned to the south side & climbed out for a closer inspection. A stone staircase led the way up to an elevated large grassy site providing somewhat obstructed vistas to the north & south (where there were a few small islands). The fire grate was situated facing west, which didn’t afford a view of the lake. But, overall, we felt it was an above average site and, more importantly, we knew we wouldn’t do any better unless we committed to traveling all the way to South Temperance Lake.[paragraph break]

As we began setting up camp, it was our good fortune to find a fuzzy little caterpillar crawling through the grassy jungle floor of camp. This provided just enough of a diversion to keep Aurora occupied while I got busy setting up the tarp & hammocks, and Vickie went about getting the tent setup and situated. [paragraph break] Once camp was up, it was still too early for supper. So, while I snuck away to the hammock, Vickie took Aurora out to explore the perimeter of the campsite. Prior to departing, Aurora had found a perfect walking stick down by the landing to aide her in this endeavor. Of course, donning her backpack was an essential requirement for embarking on such an adventure as well. [paragraph break]

There was a pleasant cooling breeze recurrently easing its way through camp as I lay in the hammock - half conscious, lost in relaxing, hopeful thoughts on how the remainder of the trip might go. Sometime later, I was fully aroused when Vickie informed me that Aurora had something she needed to show me. In their exploration of the lakeshore areas just outside of camp, they had stumbled across an old moose skull which Aurora was now proudly displaying. Quite naturally photographs were taken……. MANY photographs! As this would become a daily, and nightly, ritual for the remainder of the trip. Pushing the capacity limits on our memory cards to new all-time highs[paragraph break]

It was now nearing supper time. So I crawled out of the hammock and got a fire started. While waiting for a nice bed of coals to materialize, I processed some more firewood. Under the shady sanctuary of the CCS tarp, Aurora contentedly entertained herself while Vickie prepared the potatoes to delectably complement our rib eye steaks.[paragraph break]

After supper, with satisfyingly full bellies, we lounged under the tarp totally absorbing the languid pleasures that only canoe country can provide. I might also add that this was done in a bug free environment. Things had gone well, and it had been a very good day. So, hitting the sacks with redoubled optimism, we fell fast asleep looking forward to more of the same tomorrow.

Baker Lake, Peterson Lake, Kelly Lake, Jack Lake

At the first portage on the river we stop and take pictures of the small waterfall along the trail. About a half mile after we start again I see something dark along the river edges about ¼ of a mile ahead of us. As we get closer we see a young bull moose feeding among the water grasses on the edge of the river. Suddenly he lifts his head and looks down river away from us. We are down wind so we know he has not smelled us however, he turns sees us, looks back down the river and runs into the woods. As we come around the bend we see our first people of trip. They are heading out! A group of 4 canoes with one being a square stern Grumman with what looks like a 2x4 portage yoke system that must have added several pounds to the total weight and I am thankful I am not having to carry that across any portages. We soon enter Upper Pauness and paddle to the 40 rod portage which we had decided to do on the way in and the 8 rod on the way out. The portage is in good shape and we pass another canoe headed out. We start paddling and immediately see the head of the Devil’s Cascade portage and paddle toward it.

Once there after taking my first load across, I see a familiar face on the trip back and it is not one of our group! It is Yellowbird… my friend Bill who I had met before at Bottle Portage during the foot trip in 06’, and talk to often on the boards here and at QJ. He and his family entered # 14 the day before we did, and were camped at the campsite above Devil’s Cascade. The bugs had been giving his two daughters a fit! They are a wonderful family and I visited with them a few minutes and then say goodbye as I head back to my group to make sure all is across the portage. We paddle into Little Indian Souix again after doing our last portage of the day… Now to find a campsite on Little Loon! As we paddle we head into a brisk head wind blowing up LIS. Once we hit the main part of Loon we find a steady headwind of about 15 mph, not too bad just a little tiring in open water. The Souris River Canoes have no problems, although I can tell everyone is becoming a little tired. We pass through East Loon Bay and check out the campsite on the right before you enter Little Loon, but I want either the first site on the left, or the site at the end of Little Loon. The site on the left is open so I decide we have traveled far enough for the first day. (10.6 miles, time is 11:00 am, about 5 hours of traveling)

We set up the tents, and hang the tarp as it looks like rain at any time. Then it is get a hook in the water! First fish is a chunky walleye about 15 inches long, great eating size, but I turn it loose. Tonight we are having flatbread pizza! (if I had known we would not catch any more walleye on the trip we would have had walleye that night) All in all there are several fish walleyes, northern, and smallmouth caught from camp! Smallies from 2.5 – 4 lbs, walleyes from 14-16 inches, and northern all small. As we fish from camp waiting for the wind to lay and sitting under the tarp during rain storms my friend Bill and his family paddling by headed to Slim to camp that night. Later after dinner when the wind dies, and there is no more rain coming we take the canoe and catch a bunch of nice smallies on topwater, and one 36 inch northern on a black jitterbug! A funny note, Dave set up his Hennessy Hammock and went to sleep when we landed. He woke up after about 2 hours and fished with a spoon from camp about 5 minutes and caught a smallmouth that weighed better than 4 lbs. He then went back to sleep again! This is a nice campsite with two good tent pads, and a huge rock landing area, and excellent fishing right from camp! We head to bed at 9:00 since we are moving again in the morning.

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!

Some light rain fell very early this morning for about an hour or so, but thankfully it finished up before sunrise. Things were wet once we got up, but it appeared the clouds were slowly beginning to break up. So much so, that as we finished breakfast & checked the weather radio, we were confident enough to head out for another paddle today.[paragraph break]

Since we planned on heading out tomorrow, we decided to take it a bit easier today and just explore Jack Lake. [paragraph break]

First we stopped in to check out the other campsite on the lake. All of the maps we had along show it to be at the NE point just as the lake narrows. This was wrong. The correct location was in the middle of the small bay just south of those narrows on the eastern shore. The landing was somewhat rocky with a fire grate that was close to the lake but, didn’t really provide much of a view. There was a large flat area that would accommodate 2-3 tents and the nearby woods were open enough to allow for exploration. Being so close to the water in a low lying boggy area like this, were obvious indicators that this site clearly possessed all the necessary criteria for serious bug problems once things warmed up a bit.[paragraph break]

That said, there were still some interesting things to be seen, including a curious pumpkin like fungus that caught Vickie’s eye.[paragraph break]

Next we paddled further north towards the Weird lake portage. As we entered the section where the lake opened up just before the portage, Vickie caught a glimpse of something large in the distance. This time Aurora kept her cool, as we stealthily closed the gap between us and the Bull Moose browsing on swamp weeds. Its velvet antlers hadn’t fully formed yet, and, fortuitously, he didn’t rush off as we approached. Aurora sat quietly fascinated, while her Daddy couldn’t believe our good fortune & was very thankful for this rare second chance.[paragraph break]

Ultimately the bull ambled off and we proceeded on to the portage.

Once again this portage was home to a plethora of little blue winged moths (not sure???) that Aurora found alluring. When she tired of chasing these, she joined Vickie in her search for neat rocks. Eventually Aurora took the rock searching up a notch & began pitching them into to the river, watching them flutter in the current until they finally came to rest on the bottom. Meanwhile, I kept an eye on Aurora while absorbing the wonderful wilderness atmosphere this portage affords. [paragraph break]

Shortly after loading up and heading back south, Aurora began to sway a bit. She was “so tired” and needed to take a nap. So, we pulled off and set her on my seat cushion on the floor of the canoe while propping her up against our day pack. Vickie threw a coat over her & she was down for the count almost instantly.[paragraph break]

I don’t consider myself a great fisherman. Still, I usually like to drag the poles along as I do derive some pleasure in the sport. With Aurora napping, this would be the first opportunity we’d had to wet a line. There was no set course - I just let the canoe drift (occasionally ruddering) as we floated southward towards the Kelly lake portage. We didn’t catch a thing! Yet, I still look back at these short moments with extreme fondness. There wasn’t really any conversation we just reveled in our surroundings. The trees, the rocks, the clouds, the breeze & various other sounds. Nothing of particular note occurred or was spoken, yet it was magical. It reminded me of another quote from Thoreau, “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.” At this moment, I think we knew. [paragraph break]

At the Kelly Lake portage landing Aurora was still napping. Vickie said she stay back until Aurora woke up. So I tied off the canoe & went back to check out the Jack Lake Mine again. Upon my return Aurora was up, so I shared a snack then took her while Vickie headed off to do some exploring of her own along the rapids of the river. Sometime later, we eventually converged back at the canoe and headed back to camp. [paragraph break]

While exploring earlier today, Aurora had found some nice pieces of birch bark. So, as an after supper activity, Vickie thought it would be a creative - fun idea for her to color on them. [paragraph break] We stayed up a bit later this evening, as if trying to absorb as much of this magical wonderland as our senses would allow before we had to leave tomorrow. There was a disturbing congregation of mosquitos forming in the vestibule of our tent. Our permethrin clothing kept them at bay, but clearly they were massing for a full out attack in the next couple of days. Thankfully we’d be gone. Once in the tent, Aurora spent some more time coloring a Hello Kitty birthday card for her cousin Karly, (She would be attending her birthday party the following weekend) before finally succumbing to her heavy eyelids.

Jack Lake, Weird Lake, Kelly Lake

Things were still a bit damp as we prepared our breakfast, but the bright sunshine of the morning quickly evaporated any residual condensation before we started packing up.[paragraph break]

As I look back and try to accurately recall this morning, I can’t say for certain exactly what Aurora was doing while we tore down camp. But, I can say that in no way was she a bothersome burden while we were doing so. And, to comment on the trip as a whole, she really did an almost unbelievable job of knowing (and respecting) the boundaries we’d set for her regarding the perimeter of camp & the fire grate. Furthermore, she usually kept herself contentedly occupied at times when we needed her to. We actually joked that we wished she’d behave this good at home. The wonders of wilderness![paragraph break]

After one last check of camp we shoved off and paddled for Baker Lake. Also, I didn’t even consider it at the time, but we were able to leave Aurora’s moose skull behind for others to enjoy without her realizing it.[paragraph break]

From Aurora’s perspective, I think this trip was about the right amount of days. As we double portaged back into Kelly Lake, she didn’t have her usual gusto, and Daddy wound up carrying her on the last leg. We would only have one more short portage today so it was not an issue.[paragraph break]

We paddled down the eastern flank of the Kelly Lake. As we approached the camp site on the prominent eastern peninsula I noticed some movement just across the lake. Against all odds, this would be our third moose sighting of the trip! By this time Aurora was an old pro who was whispering and shushing Vickie & I. As we neared their location it was obvious that there were 3 moose. It appeared to be a cow with 2 yearling calves that she hadn’t run off yet. They didn’t seem too concerned with our intrusion and lingered on the lakeshore. By this time seeing moose was old school for Aurora, and after getting a good look, her interest waned rather quickly.[paragraph break]

We paddled away in stunned awe at our incredible good fortune.

The rest of the journey back to the EP was an idyllic- relaxing paddle. Although, to play it safe, we did stop short & walked the canoe up to the landing for our last portage. Once at the Baker Lake landing, after we were loaded up and changed into dry clothes/socks, we made tracks to Schroeder Baking Company. There, as promised, Aurora was treated to pizza & ice cream before returning to the long plaintive road home.

Jack Lake, Kelly Lake, Peterson Lake, Baker Lake

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS: I can't recall the last time we had a Memorial Day weekend where the weather was so close to perfect right throughout. It was mid 70's the whole time with manageable winds and only an hour or so of rain,and that before the sun came up.

Overall we were ecstatic over how well our new gear performed. Especially the Souris River canoe. It was a little sluggish but, proved to be very stable. A trade off we'll make all day long! At first I kind of wondered about the protruding ribs on the floor but, being wet footers like we are, the ribs did a great job of keeping the excess water in smaller areas instead of allowing it to run the length of the canoe getting everything wet. This proved especially convenient when we'd lay Aurora on the floor for a nap,as her area would stay completely dry. I'd like to thank the bwca.com community for the suggestions & advice given in our search for a family canoe. I'm sure there were many others, but, I seem to recall ducks as being especially helpful. Thanks again to all!

The wildlife viewing was beyond description. Three separate sightings and five moose total will likely be very difficult to top for some time to come. But, beyond that, seeing the diving eagle & the friendly campsite animals was a very special treat for Aurora. Even the dead animals (moose skull) kept things interesting too.

As I mentioned in the report, Aurora did a great job in most all aspects of canoe camping. It was a real treat to see her take such pride & pleasure in doing the necessary tasks the come with the territory. (Canoeing, portaging, sleeping in a tent etc.) And, doing them safely! As parents we couldn't have been prouder, and we are looking forward to more adventures with our young voyager.