Sunday, August 05, 2018 Of course the next morning dawned sunny, warm, dry and beautiful--just the weather you hope for when planning a BWCA trip. But we had made the decision to end early and it was going to be awhile before our gear would dry out anyway so we stuck to our plan. After a quick no-cook breakfast we got everything packed up and were on the water heading back in the direction from which we had come. Once out on Seagull Lake, a breeze picked up and gave us a bit of bounce as we quartered our canoe away from the crosswind. We still made good time and after a slight miss-read of the map delayed us for about 15 minutes, we soon had the first boat landing (which THIS time we were going to use for our portage!) in sight. As we approached, we thought that maybe we could just leave our gear at the landing, take the approximately two mile hike back to the outfitter and return with our vehicle for the gear. That way we could avoid any more portaging of this wet crap all together! This sounded good to both Stephen and me. When we landed, there was a family just starting out and they were happy to take all of our extra live bait so we didn't have to deal with that anymore either. Today was starting off on a positive note!

Once we got the gear loaded into our vehicle we returned again to the outfitter to get cleaned up and into fresh clothes before heading down the Gunflint Trail for lunch. A couple of awesome burgers and cold beers at Trail Center Cafe seemed to confirm that this was going to be a great day. When we got to Grand Marais the Fisherman's Picnic was still going strong and there was this fascinating fog rolling in off of Lake Superior. This was all the justification we needed for more exploration of the town. Once we did get back on the road we called ahead and booked a room in Duluth for that evening. Upon arriving in Duluth we were able to check out Canal Park, watched a ship come in, explored Minnesota Point, enjoyed some great food, beverages and friendly conversation at Sir Benedict's On The Lake and caught a late movie before doing even more "Duluth things" the next day, prior to our departure for home. Some great father-son time together!

Certainly the trip was different from what was planned or expected but as Stephen put it, "We Apollo-Thirteened it"--a successful failure full of its own experiences, stories and memories.