My trip partner, Jarod, and I got a nice early start to Grand Marais for some breakfast. Jarod and I have paddled together on and off for 20 years. We hadn't been into the Boundary Waters together for the last year and a half, so we were excited to get back out there, exploring somewhere neither of us had ever been. Our first stop of the day was at South of the Border Cafe for a good and hearty breakfast. Then we headed West on our 45 minute drive to the lake. We were excited to have the canoe loaded in the water right around 7:00am. I am a big fan of these early start days, because it truly is like getting an extra day on the water. We had planned on staying some where near Cone Bay, to accommodate our plans for day tripping. We had also been watching the weather and knew we were in for a fair bit of wind out of the south most of the time. As we made our way through the maze of islands towards Cone Bay, we thought we would check out campsite #954 on the big island, just south of Cone Bay. We passed a few canoes heading out nice and early this morning and had thought that one of the groups had just left the island. We pulled up on the island and immediately knew this was going to be our home. Beautiful, open and spacious site that faced the north and would keep us out of all those southern winds. We set up the tent, hung the food pack, and set the rest of camp. Before we knew it, we were working on putting our rods and reels together. We headed out to start exploring this vast lake. The wind was increasing already, so we decided to head into Cone Bay, to find a little shelter. It took a little while, but soon I got jolted on a white spinnerbait and landed the first fish of the trip, a nice little smallmouth. As we headed down the north shore of Cone Bay, I looked up and saw a black bear right on the shoreline! I excitedly yelled the location to Jarod, and of course it disappeared into the brush before he could see it. We lingered for a while, hoping to catch another glimpse, but it didn't happen. We had a light lunch, so our bellies started getting hungry for dinner. We made our way back to camp into a stiff south wind. There wasn't a lot of wind, but it made the paddle a little tough. We got back to camp and started preparing dinner. [paragraph break] [paragraph break] Our tradition, like many others, is to bring in steaks for the first night. This helps us not get too sick of fish, and is always a treat after a first day filled with paddling, portaging, and setting camp. The steaks and instant mashed potatoes were divine![paragraph break] [paragraph break] After dinner and cleanup, we broke out the poles to do some slip bobber fishing from shore. We wrangled up a little bit of live bait on our way north. Our plan was to just save the bait for our time around camp, which ended up working just fine. Jarod was fishless for the day yet, but that changed pretty quick. He caught a little smallmouth before dark, which was exciting, knowing that we would be able to catch some fish from our camp site.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] We fished for a while longer, all the while, enjoying the beautiful sunset. We had quite the nice sitting area next to the water for our evening. We would use this area every night while either fishing or just watching the sunsets.[paragraph break]

My trip partner, Jarod, and I got a nice early start to Grand Marais for some breakfast. Jarod and I have paddled together on and off for 20 years. We hadn't been into the Boundary Waters together for the last year and a half, so we were excited to get back out there, exploring somewhere neither of us had ever been. Our first stop of the day was at South of the Border Cafe for a good and hearty breakfast. Then we headed West on our 45 minute drive to the lake. We were excited to have the canoe loaded in the water right around 7:00am. I am a big fan of these early start days, because it truly is like getting an extra day on the water. We had planned on staying some where near Cone Bay, to accommodate our plans for day tripping. We had also been watching the weather and knew we were in for a fair bit of wind out of the south most of the time. As we made our way through the maze of islands towards Cone Bay, we thought we would check out campsite #954 on the big island, just south of Cone Bay. We passed a few canoes heading out nice and early this morning and had thought that one of the groups had just left the island. We pulled up on the island and immediately knew this was going to be our home. Beautiful, open and spacious site that faced the north and would keep us out of all those southern winds. We set up the tent, hung the food pack, and set the rest of camp. Before we knew it, we were working on putting our rods and reels together. We headed out to start exploring this vast lake. The wind was increasing already, so we decided to head into Cone Bay, to find a little shelter. It took a little while, but soon I got jolted on a white spinnerbait and landed the first fish of the trip, a nice little smallmouth. As we headed down the north shore of Cone Bay, I looked up and saw a black bear right on the shoreline! I excitedly yelled the location to Jarod, and of course it disappeared into the brush before he could see it. We lingered for a while, hoping to catch another glimpse, but it didn't happen. We had a light lunch, so our bellies started getting hungry for dinner. We made our way back to camp into a stiff south wind. There wasn't a lot of wind, but it made the paddle a little tough. We got back to camp and started preparing dinner. [paragraph break] [paragraph break] Our tradition, like many others, is to bring in steaks for the first night. This helps us not get too sick of fish, and is always a treat after a first day filled with paddling, portaging, and setting camp. The steaks and instant mashed potatoes were divine![paragraph break] [paragraph break] After dinner and cleanup, we broke out the poles to do some slip bobber fishing from shore. We wrangled up a little bit of live bait on our way north. Our plan was to just save the bait for our time around camp, which ended up working just fine. Jarod was fishless for the day yet, but that changed pretty quick. He caught a little smallmouth before dark, which was exciting, knowing that we would be able to catch some fish from our camp site.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] We fished for a while longer, all the while, enjoying the beautiful sunset. We had quite the nice sitting area next to the water for our evening. We would use this area every night while either fishing or just watching the sunsets.[paragraph break]

After just getting hammered with a rain storm over night, we decided we would be sticking pretty close to camp today. We lingered in the tent a long time that morning, as we had received a substantial amount of rain over night. When we finally got up, all of the little paths and trails around camp were full of water. Some of them were nearly two inches deep. We had a little breakfast and then decided to just take the canoe out and work the waters around the island. After a couple hours of no fish, we went to shore to have some lunch. Another new item on the menu this trip was some foil pack chicken. We made up some butter noodles and I sauteed the chicken with some seasoning in the fry pan. Then we mixed it all up and made some good northwoods hotdish.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] This combination of chicken and noodles was delicious. It was also a welcome meal, since we had no fish hanging on the stringer. After lunch we trekked around the island. The wind was blowing pretty good and it was still misting from time-to-time. I am glad we had been so adventurous the previous days, as being far from camp would not have been fun today. We rigged up our slip bobbers and used up the last of our nightcrawlers and leeches. We scratched up just enough fish for dinner, with a few small smallmouth bass.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] After dinner we started packing up camp. We knew we wanted to hit the water early the next morning to avoid that southern wind. We ended up having plenty of time after packing to enjoy the sunset and some hot chocolate.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] As the sun set, we noticed a lot of lightning on the horizon. It appeared we were in for another batch of rain over night. The rain was very minimal, but the lightning and thunder was some of the most intense I have ever experienced in the BWCA. There were times where the thunder was so loud and strong it shook the ground we were sleeping on! At least it didn't rain very much during the night.

After just getting hammered with a rain storm over night, we decided we would be sticking pretty close to camp today. We lingered in the tent a long time that morning, as we had received a substantial amount of rain over night. When we finally got up, all of the little paths and trails around camp were full of water. Some of them were nearly two inches deep. We had a little breakfast and then decided to just take the canoe out and work the waters around the island. After a couple hours of no fish, we went to shore to have some lunch. Another new item on the menu this trip was some foil pack chicken. We made up some butter noodles and I sauteed the chicken with some seasoning in the fry pan. Then we mixed it all up and made some good northwoods hotdish.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] This combination of chicken and noodles was delicious. It was also a welcome meal, since we had no fish hanging on the stringer. After lunch we trekked around the island. The wind was blowing pretty good and it was still misting from time-to-time. I am glad we had been so adventurous the previous days, as being far from camp would not have been fun today. We rigged up our slip bobbers and used up the last of our nightcrawlers and leeches. We scratched up just enough fish for dinner, with a few small smallmouth bass.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] After dinner we started packing up camp. We knew we wanted to hit the water early the next morning to avoid that southern wind. We ended up having plenty of time after packing to enjoy the sunset and some hot chocolate.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] As the sun set, we noticed a lot of lightning on the horizon. It appeared we were in for another batch of rain over night. The rain was very minimal, but the lightning and thunder was some of the most intense I have ever experienced in the BWCA. There were times where the thunder was so loud and strong it shook the ground we were sleeping on! At least it didn't rain very much during the night.

We rose from the tent at sunrise and got to work. Jarod packed up the tent as I started moving the rest of our gear to the canoe. There was no wind yet, but we knew how quickly that could change. We were soon in the canoe, paddling south towards the entry point. It is funny that even though we stayed up in the north central part of the lake, we were easily able to keep our bearings on the way back to the entry point. It had been such a struggle on the way out, but we soon landed the canoe on the shoreline of the entry point. We packed up the car grabbed a final batch of photos and headed back to Grand Marais.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] We had quite a day yet in front of us. From here we were grabbing some breakfast and heading to Ely. We were going back in the BWCA the next day, with two others, which I will soon complete a trip report on. This trip was fun and filled with adventure. We visited many cool little lakes, while enduring the wind on big Brule Lake. I keep telling myself I am going to stop planning trips on big water, but I am glad I came here and saw some of the great sights that Brule had to offer. Thanks for reading!