Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Last day in the Boundary Waters . . . So, even though I woke up at 6:00 AM, I didn’t want to face the reality of leaving today, so I went back to sleep for another hour. We were all up and packing by about 7:15 AM. We were getting better at the breaking camp routine, and this time we were paddling towards entry point 16 by 8:45 AM.

We must have passed a dozen boats on our way from Nina Moose to our cars. I guess it was a popular day to enter. Even with the four mini-damns that we had to lift over, and traveling up stream, we made great time. We traveled much faster than our trip in. We dropped our final load of gear at the car at 11:30 AM. We had the canoes strapped to the top of the cars, and we were driving back to Ely before 12:15.
Our first stop was Dairy Queen for some burgers, fries, and pop with ice. As we were lamenting all the things we would have to be re-assimilated to, we found our selves quoting lines from the movie Castaway. “I have ice in my glass!” Our family journey into The Wilderness was coming to a close. We once again had deadlines to meet, planes to catch, and voicemails to return. I can not wait to go back.