Day one starts at 1 am as we make the drive from Eau Claire, Wisconsin to Ely, Minnesota. The drive was relatively uneventful and we arrived at Jordan's Outfitters at about 7 am. With the paperwork done and the gear loaded we are on our way to the entry point. (We have had great experiences with Jordan's and will continue to use them for our future trips.) We get dropped off and decide that a single portage is the way to go for us. We make it to water by about 8 am and that's when the rain starts. We both get wet pretty quick so we decide to make the paddle without donning our rain gear. The rain is intermittent and isn't all that bad at all. We make it through the rapids going into Gabbro Lake with relative ease and start making our way across the lake. We meet a couple on their way out and they offer us leeched and some great advice about what sites are open on the lake. Turns out they are just leaving one of the sites we had our eyes on so we beat feet for that site. (Camp 1715.) One other bonus was that they told us the left plenty of firewood. (To the couple that we got everything from "Thank You!" it was all greatly appreciated.) We arrived at camp between 9 and 9:30 am and start setting up camp. With the tent up, the fire started, and the water pumped it was time to get dry and try our hand at some fishing. We were able to land a couple small northern, 14"-16" range and have a small snack. The clouds continued to roll in and it started raining again. We made our steaks over the fire between the rain spells and decided to retire to the tent about 5 pm. A couple of games of cards later and we were ready to call it a night.