Our mission: Moon Lake. A bushwhack. Only my second. The first was not, let us say, on purpose.

It turned into a spectacular adventure. The "crick" into Moon turned into something like this: lift canoe, take two steps, feel rock move underfoot, set canoe down quickly. Repeat a couple hundred times. At one point we encountered a mini-waterfall with a tree fallen over it - I walked around while John & Kevin heaved the canoe up to shoulder height, then I dragged it across. I can promise the Old Town received a few dozen additional scratches today! Eventually the rocks ceased & we were able to "canoe" down the crick, only having to step in & pull another few dozen times through brush & tight turns.

Moon Lake made the trip. We landed & John, who'd been leading & doing the most grunting, lay down for a breather. Kevin & I caught five pike just casting off the rock, when Kevin breathed "moose!". We watched a moose swim across the lake & crash into the woods. Then another. I hadn't seen a moose in the BWCA since a trip up the Little Indian Sioux years before. That alone made the hard 'whack worth the effort.

We explored the lake & caught pike like they'd never seen a lure, which they likely hadn't. Nothing bigger than four pounds, but we were getting hits every sixty seconds. The lake isn't big or distinctive, but it will live for years in our legends. Full of fish & two moose! We returned to our campsite back-sore, tired, hungry, & very satisfied, already discussing how all future trips would have a bushwhack as part of the itinerary.