Friday, June 18, 2010

We wake to mostly clear skies, and are grateful the rain has ended. But oh, the wind!! I don't have enough experience on the water to realize what a pain this is going to be.

This is the view looking south from our campsite. We will be canoeing directly into this wind almost all day. And I do mean DIRECTLY into it! It's like something from a nightmare; as long as we are headed anywhere close to south, or think we will be able to canoe in the shelter of land the wind direction changes just enough to be right in our face.
As we break camp my brother asks me if I want any of the water from the big jug. It's treated with iodine tablets and is the water we used to cook with; for drinking we used a filter pump. I say I don't want any so he dumps it, I have a mostly full quart bottle and a smaller one which I figure will be enough. We pack up, load the canoe and head out. As we head south, paddling directly into the wind, waves occasionally roll high enough to come in over the side, although I don't know this at the time because I'm sitting in front. Other than this we make it to the southern shore of the lake without incident, although we are both pretty tired by the time we get there. Once near the southern shore though the waves are no longer a problem and we head east to the portage to Fourtown.
We are hugging the southern shore to avoid the wind, but as we look to the northern shore we see a tree still burning that must have been struck by lightning the previous night. We paddle out a little to get a closer look, but we don't get too far out and even with the telephoto lens the picture I get doesn't really show much detail. In retrospect I regret that we didn't paddle closer to get a better look; how often in my life am I going to have a chance to see a still burning lightning struck tree?
We get to the portage and enjoy a welcome break from the wind. Once in Fourtown we are in a sheltered bay so the wind is not that much of a factor yet there either. The tree tops are swaying something fierce, but at water level it's not too bad. But once we make it out of this bay and into the main lake look out! The waves are a bit high, the wind is wicked, and we are getting pretty tired having to constantly fight it. We make it to another sheltered bay and stop to rest and scout out the rest of the lake. We had hoped that the wind direction was such that by hugging the western shore of Fourtown we would be protected, but this turns out not to be the case at all; the wind seems to have shifted enough to be directly coming from the bottom of the lake, so there is zero protection by the shore. I'm exhausted from paddling, and my water supply is low enough that I'm wishing I'd taken a big drink from that jug this morning, and topped off my water bottles. 20/20 hindsight.
There is nothing to do but get on with it, so we push out of the bay intending to head south to the portage. No dice! Almost immediately the wind is wipping the front of the canoe around such that it is impossible to keep it straight. The next thing we know we are broadside to the wind and waves, and our canoe is acting like a sail now. Turning back into the wind proves to be impossible, and we are pointing away from shore so going back there is not an option either! We are bobbing up and down pretty far from peak to trough, at least it feels that way to my stomach. After a few moments of terror on my part it seems like we are going to be able to stay upright, although now we are facing the far shore and like it or not, that is where we are going.
Looking back at where we came from. The far shore is where we got pushed off course and driven to this side of the lake.
We stop here thanking God we are still dry and have all our gear, and have a snack while deciding what to do. We regain our strength and decide we can make it past a rough patch to another southern shore where we will receive some protection from the wind. It is gruelling, but we do so without further incident. We are now at the southern end of the lake, and the waves are no longer the big rollers from earlier, but the wind has not let up one iota. Even though the waves are no longer scary, we fight the wind every inch of the way to the portage.
Looking down at our canoe from the top of the portage into Fourtown. It looks pretty high here, but actually is not as bad as it looks. Or maybe I was just so happy to be safely on dry land again that I wasn't being too picky. :-)
Looking north into Fourtown from the portage.
We take the three portages south into Mudro, and even on the brief stretches of water between portages the wind is an irritating factor! There are several places where trees have blown down across the trails, and the treetops are swaying back and forth like crazy while the wind howls down the canyon. A couple of times we hear the craaaaaaacking as trees must be coming down somewhere, althouth we don't actually see any come down. At the last of these three portages I drain the last of my rationed water and start looking forward to getting a nice cold Mountain Dew once we get back to Ely.
Fighting the wind all the way out on our last day was not a great way to end our trip, and even during the week the wind had most times been strong enough to keep us from fishing the way we would have preferred. Our enthusiasm about the boundary waters is not as strong as it was after our first trip. But then by the following weekend after I have downloaded and looked at my photos and movies I am already missing it. We were not able to go the following year; 2011, but we have a trip scheduled for this summer (mid June, 2012). I am writing this trip report in the spring of 2012, as a way of building my excitement for my upcoming trip. It's working! God willing I will be able to keep the BWCA in my vacation plans for the next several decades.
Note: I looked up the weather records for that date and Ely recorded winds of 25 mph, with gusts up to 38mph.