Croixboy's First Solo
by croixboy96
There was no going to back to sleep anymore as I investigated the situation caused by the wind and rain. Out one side of the tent where my main pack was laying, there was a few inches of standing water.
Out the other side, none yet. I quickly move my main pack through the tent to the dry vestibule on the other side and get dressed in an attempt to keep some of my other gear dry. Note: This is a bad time to realize that your rain gear is in your food pack which is not near your tent. Bummer. Lesson learned: Keep rain gear in the tent at night.
A half-hour or so later, the sun was rising and the rain was letting up so I ran for my food pack so I could put on my rain gear and assess what had happened in the storm. Just a few feet north of my tent, 6-12 inches of standing water; Path to the latrine, flooded.
With rain still coming down, I pack up a wet camp, eat some beef jerky for breakfast, and load the canoe. I decided to stop at the next closest camp site across the lake to check on how that group fared in the storm and I found the other half of the Richfield United Methodist Church women’s group that I had run into on my way in. We exchanged stories about last night’s thunderstorm and I pushed off their rock to head north towards Lizz Lake and out of the BWCA. The portage to Lizz was nearby to my site, just a 5 minute or so paddle. The portage, however, would be a little more challenging.
To say the 68 rod portage to Lizz was wet would be an understatement. There was still significant amounts of running water coming down the elevated portions of the trail and water pooled so deep in parts that logs were freely floating in the water. Once again, I was thankful for the boots I had on my feet. I never felt like I would slip and fall, even in deep mud with a canoe on my head, on this section of wet hiking.
When I got to Lizz, I noticed that the water was significantly higher than I had seen it in the past. Even though there is somewhat of an old wooden dock or loading area at this portage, I hopped into waist-deep water to load my canoe in an attempt to wash myself of some of the mud I had accumulated on walking the previous portage...twice.
Lizz is a long slender lake with not much wind. Typically, I don’t find this to be an overly interesting lake but on this occasion as I was paddling already soaked, in raingear, hungry, and really dirty, I was able to photograph the first Loons of the whole trip. I had seen loons previously, but never was close enough to get a good photo. This was an adult with a baby that was still fuzzy and had not developed the black and white coat that they are noted for like their parent. Totally made me smile!
When you cross the half-way point of Lizz you officially are out of the BWCA, not that you could tell until you get to Poplar lake anyway. The portage is a straight forward, and rather easy, 50 rods to Poplar. Poplar can be windy, especially the closer to the middle you get. I had no problem initially while close to shore so I decided to save some time and paddle directly across the middle. I planned on a little more wind, but I had a hard time controlling the canoe and would get pushed off course by the wind quite easily.
I arrived back at the shore of Rockwood Lodge on Poplar Lake around noon and I was greeted by Mike, Lin, and their summer employee Della. Mike told me that they got 5 inches of rain in a three hour period the previous night. I told him I believed it.
I stopped in downtown Grand Marais to drop off my trash and hit the Gun Flint Tavern for a wonderful $5 lunch sandwich and a hoppy beer. As always, I never miss a chance to enjoy the views of Grand Marais one last time before the long drive home. Snapped a few photos from the rooftop deck of the restaurant and I called it a trip.
Can’t wait to get back with my daughter in August.
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