Pack up and get out day. All went fine - we had a tow scheduled to meet us on Clearwater, which it did. Took us back to the lodge where we began unloading and packing up the cars, showering, etc.

It was sometime after we got back to the lodge that we began to realize how bad that storm was that we sat through in the bunkhouse. People started asking us if we were all ok, or if we had run into any trouble out there on the portages or anything. Then a delivery driver who had come from Duluth (or somewhere south of there) was telling a lodge employee how much debris was in the roads and how much property damage he could see as he drove through Duluth and other areas.

Then at some point we were informed that two campers had gotten killed in the storm...they were a fair ways away from our location - in Quetico on the Canadian side of Basswood Lake. But still a bit of an eye opener thinking of how close we were to spending one of those frightful nights in a tent that you read about. I know some day it will happen, especially considering our current trip dates are mid/late July, and I know many of you reading this have been through days/nights like that, but I'm not particularly looking forward it. It didn't phase me being in the bunkhouse, but out there in a tent not knowing what the weather is going to do would be unsettling. My heart goes out the families of the campers who were killed.

And on that note.....all in all it was an excellent trip, and provided us with everything we're looking for when we choose this as our annual guys getaway.