Croixboy's First Solo
by croixboy96
Even though I planned to get on the water as early as possible, a few larger groups had the same idea so getting things like the canoe and permit took a little longer but it was no big deal. I also ended up striking up conversation with the resort owner, Mike, and other the paddlers along Rockwood’s beautiful shore on Poplar Lake. Mike offered a kayak paddle for the solo canoe and told me I would move faster with it. I love just being in the North Woods and time spent with like-minded folks in this environment is time well spent to me so I wasn’t worried that I didn’t actually get on the water until 7:30am.
In hindsight, I easily consider the kayak paddle in my top 5 most appreciated pieces of gear for my solo BWCA trip. The first thing l noticed was that the kayak paddle really propelled me across the water efficiently. It took about 10 minutes to get used to, including a yell from shore from Mike telling me I didn’t have to raise the blades so far out of the water, but with the calm waters and the ease of the kayak paddle I was to my first portage without much difficulty at all. The first portage would prove to be a little more difficult due to the heavy rains in the hours before sunrise.
While there was not much standing water on the portage, everything including rocks, roots, and grass were still wet and slippery. People hike in all kinds of footwear (heck, I even saw a girl portaging in Addidas flip-flips this trip), but a good pair of boots came in essential on this trip. I have a photo of the boots I used. They were surplus US military boots from Afghanistan with Vibram soles and drainage holes on the sides. They got very wet loading and unloading the canoe at portages but dried very fast at camp which is even more appreciated when you go to put them on the next day. If you have dry conditions, some portages may able to be done in almost any footwear. However, if you happen to find yourself in some wet conditions or difficult terrain, good soles and quick drying uppers will be your safest and most comfortable option.
This portage was going to be my longest of the trip at 290 rods, or 9/10ths of a mile, and got me officially inside the BWCA and onto Meeds Lake. I took two trips because I was unable to carry the canoe and all of my gear at the same time. I had one large main pack and a second smaller food pack in addition to my PFD, and paddle. From there is was a short paddle to my next portage, which I admit i had a hard time finding. In my excitement to finally be in the BWCA and I was rushing a bit more than I should have. This lead to a very small error on the map which ended me up being about 200 or so feet away from the actual portage on the shoreline. Then I ended up mistaking a small break in a swamp for the portage and unsuccessfully tried to walk it with my main pack. I realized I was not on any trail and began to fear that if I went much further I would not be able to locate the canoe again so I and headed back, soaked up to my waist, and frustrated about my predicament. To top it off, I was in an area that was thick with bugs, I was hot, and a little unsure how I was going to find the correct portage to the next lake I needed to get to. I loaded the canoe back up, found a shady spot along the shore, and decided to have a drink of water and collect my thoughts.
For the first time in four canoe trips to the BWCA I actually pulled out my compass for it’s intended purpose. You may never have to use it, but when I really needed it, I’m thankful I had it with me. I actually carry two compasses; one orienteering style tethered to an inside pocket on my main pack because then I always know it’s there. The other one is a compact fold up compass that stays in my pocket. I mostly take it out when I am bored or just curious where the sunrise and sunset are going to be in relation to my campsite. With this compass I was able to realize that the portage was in another small bay near by. Could I have found it without a compass? Eventually, I’m sure I would have. But this little experience helped me realize that a compass is essential equipment anytime you are in unfamiliar territory, even if you think you know where you are going.
With this short 14rd portage found and completed it was time to make my way through a little unnamed river/lake section between Meeds and Caribou.
It was kind of a fun section of paddling as tall plants lined a path just wide enough for a canoe and paddles at times. It was a short and easy section that was very beautiful and offered a bit of shade compared to the open water of large lakes. Another 14rd portage to get out of this section and in to Caribou Lake and I was once again flying across the open water using the kayak paddle that Mike at Rockwood suggested. I did drink the last of my water about midway through Caribou and thought I would just press on to camp before refilling. Again, I was too eager to get to camp and in hindsight this was a really dumb idea, especially considering the heat and humidity.
Did I mention it was hot and very humid?
I headed southeast towards the portage to Horseshoe Lake and didn’t really have much trouble at all finding it. I’ve traveled Caribou before and it is pretty straight forward. When I got to the portage and began to unload I noticed some other canoes approaching slowly and I waived them in for some conversation and also so they didn’t have to roast in the sun while I portaged my stuff. [* Etiquette in the BWCA when you approach a portage that is being used is to wait in your canoe just off of shore from the portage until the group before you has cleared the portage.]
It’s a group of about 6 middle aged women and while we are unloading and walking the portage one of them asks me where I am from. “Richfield”, I reply.
“Minnesota?”, replies the woman a bit more focused on me now. “Yes”, I say.
“We are from Richfield United Methodist Church; we’re here on a women’s retreat!”, she excitedly tells me.
Let me just throw this in. Richfield United Methodist Church is about 2 miles down the road from my house and, as I told these women, I grew up in the Methodist church near my parent’s house so we had a lot to talk about as each of walked the portage at two times to get each of our pieces of gear across. They take a lot of BWCA trips with both adults and youth and they even have a pet- friendly outdoor service on Sunday’s in the summer so I told them I thought I would check it out. They mentioned their church had two groups of women currently in the BWCA. In the end, the pastor invited me to their church. I would run into their other group on a different day, but more on that later.
I was parched, so before reloaded the canoe with my gear I unpacked my filter and filled my water bottles. While a few people chance it and take their drinking water directly from the lake to their mouth, a good filter or purifier is essential in my opinion. I don’t want to gamble with getting the runs in the wilderness, and if you ever bring kids to the BWCA, you are going to want to make sure their water is safe, right? I used a General Ecology First Need XL portable water filter. More than just remove microorganisms that can make you as sick as a dog on the trail, this purifier also removes color and odor from water. And unlike a standard filter, it also removes viruses, which are rare in the BWCA. This feature would come in handier outside of the United States, and mainly gives me peace of mind that the water I am drinking is completely safe, no matter what source I pull it from.
I paddled through most of Horseshoe to the southeast most campsite on the lake. I had read that this site had great sunsets and I love a great sunset so I unloaded, secured the canoe, and started thinking about eating something. As I began to settle in and the adrenaline of the first day wore off I started to feel dizzy and a bit ill in general. I figured it was due to heat and dehydration so I pretty much laid in the hammock, drank water, and wrote in my journal for the afternoon.
This campsite was just off a shallow area, pretty close to some other swampy areas. Nobody would paddle by or even come close enough to see the entire time I was here. When you are alone, you expect silence, but it was anything but silent. The lake was alive with the constant sounds of woodpeckers, songbirds, and loons. I even watched a huge dragonfly dive into the water over and over hunting, I presume. I’d never seen that before.
This site had more than it’s share of flies and mosquitoes. While abundant, they only got beyond tolerable at dusk. Essential for keeping the bugs tolerable was something that I brought along as kind of an experiment. My dad brought back a kaffia from his tour in Afghanistan and I decided to treat it with permetherin {bug repellent designed to be used on clothing} and use it to repel bugs. It turns out that it worked for that purpose and it also came in handy for many other things. It would block the sun when I was laying in the hammock, shade my knees in the canoe so they didn’t get anymore sunburned, it was a great fly swatter, head and ear covering when the sound of buzzing mosquitoes got out of control, and a scarf to keep bugs off away from my face.
It was too hot to go out in the sun and fish, it felt too hot to do anything. It was too hot and would take too much effort to build a fire in my condition. I was glad I had a camp stove along and that II finally managed to cook dinner, shells and cheese. I use a MSR Dragonfly stove which has served me and my wife well on several trips. It packs small and gets water up to a boil pretty quickly if you use the wind screen. Downsides that I find is that it’s very loud in the relative quiet of the wilderness and it’s tough to simmer anything that needs to be rehydrated, like home made dehydrated meals.
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