Thursday, June 20, 2013.

The last day’s journey was only about five miles and three or four short portages. Some might have been done walking the canoes over the obstructions, or even paddling entirely. The worst portage was a very short unmarked portage about 15 or 20 rods that was 80% full of mud. That would definitely be one to avoid if you can because five out of six in our group slipped and fell in the mud on the trail or lost a shoe in the mud. That little portage had the worst footing of any of the previous 20 or 21 portages on our six day trip. Not a good way to go out on your last day. The last portage out is 176 rods but an easy trail. The traffic heading out on the water that day was very heavy. It seemed like more than six groups entering EP 16 that day, or they all entered within an hour of each other, because the river was already full of groups heading down stream and the portage was teeming with young people who seemed ill-prepared for the adventures awaiting them. When I heard the next five days were going to be rainy, I had even more sympathy for them and especially their leaders. They were already struggling mightily on the portage to the river.

We had the best weather and paddling conditions of any BWCA trip I have done. The highs were in the 60s or 70s every day and lows around 50. It rained a little one afternoon and a lot one night but other than that, no complaints whatsoever. Likewise, I have no complaints about the bugs. As we were entering on Day 1, some people exiting were complaining about the terrible mosquitoes and black flies. We had very few problems with either, but we took a lot of precautions such as Permethrin treatment of clothing, spraying exposed skin with 98% DEET, spraying clothing with a lower percentage DEET, wearing hats and head nets, long sleeve shirts, and keeping pants tucked in socks. We also kept a fire burning most of the time at our campsites.