Due to family obligations for the 4th of July holiday, my 14-year old son and I eeked out a daytrip from our cabin on Moose Lake with the intention of getting a peak at Washte Lake, a rarely visited lake with no campsites accessed by a portage off of Wind Lake.

Put our canoe in the water around 6:15 AM to glass-like water on Moose. Very few boats out considering usual traffic on this busy entry point and the holiday. Saw a juvenile bald eagle on the NW side of the lake, as we usually do. 45-minute paddle to the wind lake portage.

We expecting heavy bugs and mud after the recent rainfall in late June, and the BWCA delivered on both counts. The Moose-Wind portage is usually bone-dry due to the uphill path leading out of each lake. But it was a slop-fest. Passable, but very muddy with some standing water. Bugs also as bad as I've seen there. We had our head nets with us and were very glad. About 30 minutes from getting out of the canoe in Moose to putting in on wind. Nice to move without camping gear, and just a backpack with water and granola bars. The absolute stillness of Wind Lake was jolting. Snapped a few pics despite the bugs

We headed along the south shore of Wind passing one group paddling to Moose and another group fishing from the cool island campsite in the middle. Saw another juvenile bald eagle. Paddled into the south fork of Wind, and into the little bay where the portage to Washte is. Paddled 1/2 way into the bay and didn't see a portage landing. Paddled right up to a juvenile Bald Eagle who spooked us when he took off after deciding we were too close. He flew about 10 ft. over our canoe. Beached the canoe near the rocky point covered in some kind of bird dung (the swans maybe) and walked around looking for the portage. Thick pine branches leading nowhere. After 15 minutes of bushwacking, we heard a creek up ahead and got our confidence back. Followed the creek up to a clearing ahead, which was a beaver dam at the edge of a swamp full of cattails and downed logs. Not really the "view of discovery" we were hoping for. We assumed it was the edge of Washte Lake- but didn't feel the need to wade into the swamp. We're from Louisiana, and where we come from people don't do such things... ;-)

Backtracked to the canoe, and decided to take a spin around the bay one more time to see if we had missed the landing. 5 minutes later- we found a nice beautiful trail leading into the woods, and felt a little silly for our bushwacking adventure. Ditched the canoe and decided to take the 40-rod portage up to the lake and decide if it was worth hauling the canoe up with us. got to the end oft he short portage (less mud and less bugs than Moose-wind) and low and behold, another beaver dam right where the portage ends at the lake. Very reedy and swampy on the other side of the dam, and it didn't look like a good put-in spot for the canoe. Bushwacked to our left a bit to at least get a better view of Washte. Crossed 2-3 little steams and got to a stand of pine trees where at least we could stand on the edge and get a nice view out on the water.

Looked like a nice place to explore with the canoe- but would be a challenge to get it into the water. So we turned back, had a snack break on the rocky point, and then paddled over to the single campsite on the south arm of wind. Looked nice, but really rocky and covered in the same bird poop we had seen earlier. If that's just the 2 swans, they have digestive issues. Paddled back towards Moose. Saw an adult bald eagle on one of the small islands on the main body of Wind. Home to meet the rest of the family and head to Ely for the 4th of July parade. Probably pulled up to the dock at 11:30AM. Little adventure complete.