We got up early and broke camp and began paddling by 7 am. What I thought should be about a three-mile paddle turned into less than two and we arrived at the pickup spot at 7:45 for a 9:00 pickup. I never want to be late! But the next hour and a half was spent swatting mosquitos and black flies. Once Shane arrived from Canoe Canada, we quickly loaded up the Tahoe and popped open the traditional breakfast beer which we enjoyed on the way back to town. After showering and cleaning up, we drove to Duluth to spend the evening at Fitgers Inn, another tradition and favorite of mine. Then off to Minneapolis and the flight home the next day. This trip scratched my itch to explore off-the-beaten path lakes and portages. We saw zero paddlers in our 82 mile journey. We did see a rare fisherman from afar, as we traveled through some lakes with outpost cabins, but we were never close enough to have a conversation. It was a rugged trip, especially the first four days, with portages that were sometimes difficult to locate and frequently difficult to navigate. Campsites were sparce in the first couple of days where we literally only found one site each day suitable for placing a tent. The weather couldn’t have been finer, with less than an hour of actual rain and only one day where wind was an issue. Mosquitos were not much of a problem; black flies and ticks were more of an issue but overall, not too bad. Fishing was decent. It was a really fun and challenging trip. I’m grateful to the crew at Canoe Canada for helping us get to the real backcountry for this adventure.