On Monday, We got up early in the morning and drove from the suburbs in Cincinnati to Minnesota. Oh man did we lose a lot of time due to hitting the Chicago Loop at rush hour. We finally got to Grand Marais at 6:00 and made it out to our outfitter (Clearwater Canoe Outfitters) before sundown. We drove back to town and had dinner at Sven and Ole's. (If you ever enter on the Gunflint trail, you must stop at Sven and Ole's. It is the BEST!)

We made it back to our cabin and slept wonderfully for the last time before we hit the real wilderness.

We woke up on Tuesday and planned our Trip. Stephanie and Eric at our outfitter were awesome setting us up with everything we needed. We had a tasty, hearty breakfast, and set out for Gunflint Lake. At this point, My wife was very nervous about my knowledge and skills as an outdoorsman. I am and eagle scout, but that was 10 years ago.

When we got to Gunflint, it was very beautiful. I never realized how light kevlar canoes were until I carried it to the dock. This may not be so hard after all!

We loaded the canoe, said goodbye to Travis our driver, and set off.

We easily traveled through Gunflint and Magnetic to our first portage. Very short near some nice waterfalls. The wife was less nervous as she got a hold of paddling the canoe from the bow.

We made our way down the river and hit our first problem. The river splits in 3 different direction and there is a portage between them and there are rapids all around. We took a wrong turn and ended up down a shallow, tight, but fast moving stream. We got stuck and when we tried to back up, we capsized. I broke my sunglasses and my wife freaked. The canoe got stuck in a small fallen tree, swamped with my wife in it. I left her there and swam down stream to get the paddles. Luckily we tipped and a small water fall was in our future. We lined the canoe back and reset the canoe. With the help of another group of canoers, we found our portage. Very hard to find. We made our way down river through the 100 rod and into Clove We picked the site directly across from the portage. The wife was worn out and we picked the closest site. It was small but beautiful. I fished in the reeds by the campsite while the wife slept in the hammock. We had a nice dinner and went to sleep after she killed me in gin.

It was a great day. No rain, all sun, 4 portages, 5 miles traveled,never more than 70 degrees out.

Gunflint Lake, Magnetic Lake, Clove Lake