The original plan was to leave my house on the 24th the same as our entry day then the rains came to Duluth and not being sure how the roads would be we decided to head on up Saturday just in case.

Todd arrived at my house and we proceeded to load the canoes. We departed my house with Todd at the helm of the double canoe van.

Monty Todds son brought his friend Gabe along The are both starting their junior year in high school.

and myself.

We spent the night at the entry point somebody was hearing a bear or something all night. With the van light coming on and the doors being opened none of us got any sleep.

We headed up the North arm of East Bearskin lake and took the short portage into Moon Lake down a set of stairs and stopped at the campsite across from the portage.

Once we set up camp Todd starting fishing and caught a 2 lb Walleye. We also caught some bass. We ate vension backstrap with morel mushrooms and small red taters. Off to bed early due to "bear or something activity"

Monday we spent fishing with Gabe catching a 28.75" slimer.

I say the day went to Monty for slaying the Walleyes out of the big white boat.

Tue well rested and with a full belly we headed north into Deer Lake we were quickly through this muddy and rocky portage. Onto Caribou then due East into Little Caribou.

We took the only campsite on the lake This was a nice dry campsite with good swimming.

On Wed we took a day trip to Vale to see if we could catch any trout. We did not portage the canoes and neither did we catch any trout. We fished pine lake on our way back to camp bass for dinner.

The next day we went to Johnson Falls once again we did not portage our canoes but opted to hike around Pine We waded our way throught the swamp and across the creek once we got to the trail head the going was good. The falls were running very strong and none of us thought it would be a good idea to swim.

We saw a snapping turtle sunning itself.

The next day we fished little caribou Todd made us Mac and cheese for lunch and caught us slimers for dinner. I must say the day was won by the green machine.

Sat morn was Johns famous oatmeal with raisins and honey we departed for points unknown. 2 hours later I was wondering whose idea it was to take this insanely long zigzaggy up hill portage from Pine lake into Canoe Lake and to do it the hard way. The boys would run the portage with their packs and the old guys took the time to look for birds and smell the flowers. At least that is what we told the boys.

Once we finished this challenge we decided to take up camp on the middle campsite on Canoe. This was a good site with some of the biggest spiders I have ever seen.

Sunday Morn was pancake morning 12 pancakes yeah right I added a muffin mix and we still only made 11. We fished Canoe then went to the west end with the high water we floated into paddle lake without scraping. Fished in there a while then back up the small rapids. While going through I managed to crack a paddle but repaired it that night using goop and duct tape. This seemed to work perfect and it did get me home. That day everyone caught bass then I caught a slimer oops it fell back into the lake I had to get the slime off the big white boat with a wire brush.

The next day we went to Crystal this is a very clean lake not sure of the clarity but it must be 18 feet.

This was our last night and todd made the best pizza I have ever had After that someone was taking a full body bath when their partner says someone is coming Turns out 2 visitors had decided to paddle right up to camp without announcing their selves. 30 seconds eariler they would have got an eye full. They said something about not knowing how to set up their tent. Being well past tent set up time 9:30ish we showed them our tent and hoped they could figure it out. That night the rain came along with lightning and thunder. It was well past midnight before any of us fell asleep.

The sun broke to a clear sky and the trip back was uneventful except for the head wind.