Bald Eagle Lake to South Kawishiwi River; 8.8 miles, 3 portages, 155 rods

Another slow start, with me not being on the water until about 8:30am. Seems like I’ve been alternating early start long days with later start shorter ones. Today the weather forecast was for showers and thunderstorms possible in the morning, then probable again in the afternoon with a 70% chance of precipitation.

I paddled across Bald Eagle and landed to on the north end to inspect the rapids running into Gabbro. I had not been on these lakes before so was not sure what to expect. I was very tempted to run them, but balked when I looked at one rock ridge at an angle, concerned it might turn my canoe sideways. Besides, I was already on shore and the portage was about 15 feet across flat rock. Maybe next time if the water is higher.

While Bald Eagle may not have rung my bell, I found Gabbro to be an especially beautiful lake, with many points, islands, and rocky cliffs. I could see why it was popular, and was surprised to find more than 50% of the campsites open as I crossed it about 11am.

Also as I was crossing Gabbro, I was noticing how the clouds were forming. There had been just a few scattered ones on Bald Eagle, but I could see more and more puffy clouds forming. I remembered a post by Whitewolf in the Weather Stuff group about using clouds to predict weather, and I thought these clouds with smaller rising tufts looked like cumulus castellanus, which he explained predicted likely thunderstorms by afternoon. I paddled a little harder.

My mind also flashed back to another recent thread about who dips and who does not. It was already hot and I’d gone through a full liter. I was not excited about filtering at the portages, and even less interested in carrying water over portages, so in the middle of Gabbro I just dunked my Nalgene down under the surface and filled her up. I would do this several times a day for the next several days, as 5-7 liters were needed each day just while travelling. Flash forward – no GI problems have manifested as of the time of this writing, and likely would have shown by now. I still filtered every evening.

I waited briefly at the 120 rod portage out of Gabbro as scout troop 62 finished up. My hat’s off to their adult leaders who were doing quite the job of wrangling scouts and carrying gear across the portage. This was a young troop.

The first four campsites on this section of the Kawishiwi were all taken, and by folks who looked poised to stay there for a while. I did the 30 rod up and down portage, and was glad to find I had a section of the river all to myself. Thunderheads were now forming all around, and I could hear thunder as I went to inspect the to two campsites on this section. Both were good, but I chose the outer, more easterly one as it was a bit more open (maybe fewer bugs), but had enough trees blocking the westerly wind in case of storm. This was a very nice site, with big red pines and few bugs. I set my tarp up sans-bug shelter over the fire grate with a low set up ready for a storm from the west-southwest. I even brought up my canoe as an added wind break as the thunder got louder. My tent was set just uphill 15 yards from the fire grate, but there was a good sized hill with taller trees just a bit further which would more likely attract any possible lightening. With camp set and the storms still developing, Rainy and I played with her tennis ball for a bit, then went for a swim to cool off and clean up.

Since I had stopped paddling a bit early, I opted to toss some fresh dough, sliced some good pepperoni, and rehydrate some of my homemade pizza sauce for a calzone made on my MSR stove in a frying pan. It’s such an easy way to do pizza, and so good.

After dinner, the winds suddenly shifted from the west-southwest to the east – nearly 180º. Now my tarp was set wrong. I moved my canoe, hoisted this line and lowered that one, and got ready for the storm that I now expected from the other side. Spoiler alert – it did not come. I could see a big storm pass by me on the west side (my weather radio was telling people in the Ely area to seek cover), and another storm was forming and passed just east of me. I still had partially sunny skies, though I had been waiting for 3 hours for a storm I thought was minutes away. It all went around me.

Cumulus castelanus off the Starboard Bow?

Rapids Bald Eagle to Gabbro

Storm Brewing

Camp Set for Storm