Day Three - Sunday May 30th - Time to go home

Lisa was the first one awake that morning - she awoke to Lottie "snuggled" up against her in their crowded tent. The night before it was decided that the first one awake would wake the others and they'd get moving and on the water before the wind picked up for the day. Paddling on a glass lake is so much easier and so much more peaceful.....but the lake that morning wasn't like glass....however it as still peaceful as only it can be in BWCA. Surprisingly Amanda was the next one awake, and, the easiest one to get up. Both she and Lisa were dressed and had their gear mostly packed up before Lottie got up. They had to shake her a few times to get her moving. They opened the tent to what looked like would be a beautiful sunrise, but being in such a protected spot they didn't see it.

The girls got the canoe loaded, one last latrine call, a last canvassing of the campsite, courtesy pile of firewood left and stacked, Lisa was "princessing," Amanda was stern and Lottie bow. They shoved of and said good bye to their cute little site and all the islands. It was an easy paddle that morning with the wind at their backs; they didn't need Lisa to help much so she was able to take some last photos. As they neared the entrance to Hog Creek they came upon a solo fisherman who pointed out a cow moose and calf on the north shore not too far away. It was too far to get a decent photo, and the girls wanted to paddle closer, but Lisa wouldn't let them. She told them that one of the LNT rules (in Lisa's book anyway) is to leave the wild life alone. And, they don't especially want to piss off a mama moose! After the "oohs" and "ahhhs" of seeing a moose in the wild they headed back up Hog Creek to the parking lot. The paddle back didn't seem to take as long and they didn't have as many "bank crashes." Perhaps because they were paddling upstream instead of downstream they had a bit more control over the canoe. During the paddled the clouds stared to come back a bit - not much but they could tell that it would rain at some point. As they reached the portage around the rapids the girls decided that they wanted to go for a swim. Everything was portaged to the end of the portage, the girls walked the rocks by the rapids, Lisa walked the portage trail and found another trail out to the rocks in order to get fun photos of the girls.

Photos were taken and then a swim in the pool was in store. The water was too cold for Lisa, but the girls didn't care a bit - they had a blast swimming and splashing each other just like little kids. They had a lot of fun. Once they decided they were too chilly they headed back to the canoe, loaded back up and finished the short paddle back to the parking lot. Didn't take long to get everything loaded back into the van. Getting the canoe put back on was a bit o a challenge - that took the longest. In the end, the goal of making memories was accomplished and a great time was had by all.

Amanda and Lisa are headed to the Quetico in July. Someday Charlotte will visit again and another trip to BWCA will be in her future.

This isn't the end, it's only the beginning.....