Saturday, September 17, 2011 Ice droplets have formed once again on the rain fly of the tent. We are leaving the BWCAW today and can pack wet as I can dry gear back at Rockwood. We have granola bars for breakfast to speed us along but it doesn’t work as my body knows it is tired after two days of travel. We are finally off by 10:15AM. The day has some gusty wind, but on our backs some nice sunshine to make us feel warmer, a decent day to call the trip over. We paddle down Cross Bay, the first site is still open and now we have not seen another person in over 48 hrs, on a popular route, weird. As we get to the portage to Ham Lake we finally see a soloist, he says” hi”, and we exchange pleasantries and he says, you are the first people I have seen in two days, we laugh and say that is the same for us. Off he goes and we follow him into Ham Lake. Every site is empty there as well. We are crossing Ham Lake when I realize I am not wearing my PFD. I ask my Bow Partner if she has seen it and she remembers that she used it as a seat cushion back at the portage. Back we go and sure enough it is there. Recaptured, we again head to the portage from Ham Lake to what I have heard Forest Service Personnel call Little Ham Lake; it is a tough put-in, in low water. We work down to the steps to Cross Bay River and start our last leg to the dock.

A neat rock showing a lot of stratification lines on the portage.

Aster that survived hail, snow and 3 below freezing nights. Now that's tough.

We have made it. I can see that it is our car and a Forest Service vehicle in the lot. I bring the canoe up and as I return for our packs I see caution tape all around the kiosk; as I walk close to it I see that Entry #50 has been closed since Tuesday. The Pagami fire has been a major concern creating a lot of issues all over the Boundary Waters and beyond. Now we know why we haven’t seen that many people. That huge cloud formation that I viewed on Cherokee was actually a smoke plume created by the fire. All of this is of minor importance in the face of our accomplishment - we made it to Cherokee and better yet made it back to Entry 50 intact.

Entry kiosk shows closure.

This certainly explains our found solitude.

We unknowingly were in compliance.

Back at Rockwood Outfitters, Mike tells us that Lin’s operation has gone well. He then asks how we hid from the forest service as they have been kicking people out all week from our entry. He expected to see us back at Rockwood from Tuesday on. I of course tell him that we are such great paddlers that they probably tried to catch us but couldn’t. Ahhh delusion, I love it. Mike is no fool as he quickly notes that seeing how slow we were they (FS) figured we didn’t have a chance anyway. Why do I feel like Rodney Dangerfield?

Back home at Rockwood Lodge.

Our home for nearly two weeks.