Day 1 of 10
Thursday, August 13, 2026
We launch on Burntside Lake at 9:00 am. An hour later we arrive at the portage. It takes us close to two and a half hours to double portage. I carry a light pack with the canoe. Brenda carries the food pack and fishing poles and then we each carry another pack on the two trips as we leap-frog the portage. The water levels in the middle of the portage have changed because of beaver activity. We reload the canoe and float across it. We get to campsite 310 at around 12:45. We have lunch and talk it over. Do we want to push on for Silica Lake today or wait? I know that if we wait, I won’t want to move tomorrow, so do we spend 2 nights here? Since we where not in a hurry, we decided to wait. Brenda catches her biggest smallmouth bass of the trip that night. 
Day 2 of 10
Friday, August 14, 2026 Lazy day. We sleep a bunch and just enjoy the day. At this campsite there was cell phone service and the weather for day 3 looked like rain all day. In the evening, our phones had two bars in certain elevated spots at the campsite. If you are looking for solitude, this campsite does not provide it. Everyone seems to pass really close by. We even had a fisherman catch a fish right by the canoe landing zone.
Day 3 of 10
Saturday, August 15, 2026 Rain day. We set up our CCS lean-to shelter in the rain. We should have done that yesterday. We play a few different games and just relax. We bought a new GoPro camera right before the trip, and today I started to experiment with it.
Day 4 of 10
Sunday, August 16, 2026
The adventure to get to Silica Lake begins. It was supposed to be a rainy morning, so we were not in a hurry to break camp. We leave around noon and it really starts to rain while we are on the portage to Little Crab Lake. We wait for the rain to pass and then continue. We easily travel to the creek that breaks off the Korb River to go to Silica Lake. It’s very clear to us that we may not make it to our destination fully loaded with gear. There are dead lily pads and exposed creek bottom. The water is low and there are at least five challenging places to get through. The worst was a tree we had to get over. It was slightly submerged but we couldn’t float over it. Brenda got out and balanced on the tree, I then gunnel walked to the front of the canoe and got out and balanced on the other side of canoe on the tree. We then had to pull the canoe over and then get back into the canoe. Thankfully we didn’t fall into the muck and made it through. We came up to a beaver dam and I told Brenda, “If we can’t portage from here, I don’t think we can make it.” Luckily, we could portage. Thankfully, no one was camping at Silica Lake and we liked the campsite enough to not explore the Coxey Pond campsite. In the evening, we decided to go fishing because the lake was calm. We caught some really nice sized bluegill.
Day 5 of 10
Monday, August 17, 2026 We enjoy fishing Silica Lake. We catch some nice eating fish and keep one for lunch. I think I finally had a good-sized bass on, but it was a northern pike. The only one we catch on the trip. It seems like the wind changes directions multiple times throughout the day. The solar panel that we brought in to charge batteries doesn’t work. We realize that we really need to conserve battery power. We have no cell phone coverage here. But I learned that my iPhone 15 has a satellite option and I use to text family. Later, looking at my cell phone bill, I don’t see an extra charge for the six text messages. We bought some Ned jigs and they were catching more fish than our standard wacky worms. The one issue with the Ned jigs is if the wind is blowing, they are not heavy enough to stay on the bottom. I will need to look at some Ned jigs heavier than an eighth ounce. We shortened some of the worms so we could catch the bluegills that hit them. A shorter Ned didn’t seem to impact us catching other fish species.
Day 6 of 10
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
We travel to Coxey Pond and there is a significant dead fall right on the path. There is no good path around it, so we just crash through. We explore the campsite and we are glad we chose the Silica Lake campsite. The wind was fairly consistent so we fish the east shoreline of the big bay and we catch some smaller smallmouth bass. On the way back we take the time to clear the dead fall. This portage area is loaded with blueberry plants, but we are too late in the season. 
Day 7 of 10
Wednesday, August 19, 2026 We decide to stay and fish Silica Lake. With the wind neither one of us wanted to go try Coxey Pond again. More rain came today. We got chased off the water and it really rained. Small pieces of hail came with it. We sat under the lean-to shelter. The wind picked up and I quickly realize that the lean-to shelter wasn’t set up well. Every stake released and it was a disaster. Nothing ripped or broke, but things got wet. It’s amazingly hard to get decent video with a GoPro on your head. I find that the camera kept tilting… Every day we saw helicopters or planes that we assume are for the fires and firefighters. It temporarily broke the peace and quiet, but we are glad that the fires were under control and they opened up Boundary Waters again.
Day 8 of 10
Thursday, August 20, 2026 Another rain day in store. After lunch the sky look like it could rain any moment. We decide to try and catch some bluegill for lunch. We catch a couple, clean them, then get back to shore and it starts raining. After lunch it stops raining, so we go out fishing again. I tie a rope to my GoPro and place it in the water. I get some bass swimming on camera. That is cool. I want to try and catch a bass on camera. I place the camera in the water again, catch four fish and had two solid strikes in 40 minutes. I review the results and am disappointed. Nothing worth showing, in fact only one brief shot of a fish. I still want to try again.
Day 9 of 10
Friday, August 21, 2026 We decide to head to Crab Lake today, to make it easier on the last day. Campsite 314 is open and it is perfect. A very nice campsite close to the portage. We try fishing the bay and catch a few smaller fish. Unfortunately, there was cell phone service again and we connect back to the world.
Day 10 of 10
Saturday, August 22, 2026 We awake to wind, and there are almost white caps on Crab Lake. The wind is blowing south east and we hope it isn’t bad on Burntside Lake. We portage a little faster, but we still take two hours and fifteen minutes. I slow us down taking a few videos. We tie our packs to the canoe and start off. I should have paid attention to the wind and gone left (north) to cut down through those bigger islands. But I go straight east and cross the big open area in some crazy white caps. I keep thinking we are going to get pushed to shore and we will have to wait it out. It was chaotic and I wouldn’t recommend it. Our new canoe performs well and we make it. We are exhausted because I don’t want to switch sides paddling. It was a great trip and we look forward to doing it again!
