Sunday, September 11, 2016

We awoke before dawn and packed up donning head lamps. Near the end of our packing we got to experience some awesome morning colors before the sunrise.

We shoved off before sunrise and made our way toward the portage to Lower Pauness.

The portage was long and the beaver pond a third of the way through was unexpected, but all in all not a bad portage. After that, the short portage back into Upper Pauness and we were paddling down the LIS in no time.

In my opinion, the LIS is a perfect exit paddle. Its beautiful, meandering nature is perfect for reflecting on the trip. Elm Portage was even more crowded today—many people entering today. In too short a time we arrived at the portage back to the parking lot. We left the aluminum canoes in the parking lot and headed back to Big Lake Wilderness Lodge. We threw on a fresh pair of clothes, informed the owner of the leaky canoe, and we were on our way back to civilization. We took a brief stop at Adventures in Virginia and made our way back to civilization in the Twin Cities. Another successful trip and even better, four new people introduced to the BWCA.