Day 1 of 5
Monday, September 09, 2024
We started our Journey from Duluth around 4 AM so we could make it to Anderson's outfitters by 630. We took the boat ride in with Anderson's that drops you off at Paddle portage. The boat ride itself is worth the trip, and Mark is a great guy to take the journey with. It was about 2 hours, beautiful scenery, and a fun fast ride. We then unloaded everything and started our first portage. The first portage into Iron is not bad, but the mud made it a little tricky. There were spots that you sink up to your knees in if you are not careful. But it was nothing terrible. We then paddled through Iron and portage into crooked (a bit longer portage, but relatively easy). The curtain falls were amazing (see pic), but we stayed away due to the recent tragedy that occurred there. We found a spectacular site on crooked, with a great view and even a sand beach next to it! We fished a little, caught a TON of bass (a few with some size to them, like 18-19" even). One smaller walleye did find itself into the boat but we let it go. We cooked some steaks over the fire, and enjoyed some great campfire discussions. 
Day 2 of 5
Tuesday, September 10, 2024 Fishing in the morning consisted of bass, bass, and more bass. We aim to catch walleye, only because we think they taste better, but we literally couldn't keep the bass off our line to even find the walleye. We did catch a couple northern too, nothing huge, but decent (25-30 inches). We spent some time exploring the lake a bit, and saw a bunch of trumpeter swans. The weather was amazing for mid September, so we were able to swim on our nice sand beach! We did find a walleye or two in the evening, and were able to eat some pan fried walleye that night.
Day 3 of 5
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 We fished a little in the morning, and believe it or not, we found some more bass. We then packed up and headed back to Iron to spend the last two nights there. Iron was busier, with more campsites taken than available. We were able to secure one of the sites on the west side, which was perfect. We did some more swimming to cool off (another warm September day!), and fished in the afternoon/evening. Unfortunately all our leeches were dead by then and we fed the bass all of our worms, so we were left to artificial bait. We were able to find a few walleye though, so another wonderful meal for us! While starting a fire to cook dinner, we heard something coming through the woods. We listened quietly and assumed a big ol' bear was coming to share our dinner with us (or take or dinner from us). We then heard splashing and walked around the corner of our site to see a bull moose wading in the water! It was too dark to get any pictures, but we watched it splash around and grunt for a good 5-10 minutes. An awesome site to see!
Day 4 of 5
Thursday, September 12, 2024 We couldn't ask for better weather on this trip. Every day was warm (70ish), sunny, and little wind to deal with. We fished most of the day away, again only with artificial bait. We caught some bass and northern, but the walleye were hard to find for us. Other paddlers of course were able to find them, so it was probably just our luck. We ran into a gentleman who was on day 10 of a 30ish day trip solo! He started from International falls and was paddling along the boarder all the way to Lake Superior! What an adventure that would be! At one point, we started to dig for worms, hoping that would change our luck, but couldn't find much. Interestingly, I flipped over a rock and found an old wallet buried under it. It was empty, so I assumed it was some sort of memorial type of thing, and put it back where I found it. We fished the rest of the evening and then headed back to camp for the final campfire. Another beautiful evening to sit by a fire and converse.
Day 5 of 5
Friday, September 13, 2024
We set an alarm this morning, the first time in my life I have set an alarm while camping. But we didn't want to miss our 9 am pick up! We usually get up early anyway, but we couldn't take any chances as the paddle out without a boat ride would take us quite some time! We made it back with time to spare, and the boat ride back was again awesome. Our guide even stopped and showed us some pictographs that were pretty cool (see pic). Apparently they were painted with some botanicals and blood. There was a moose, hand prints, and other cool artwork there. Another awesome and successful BWCA trip! 
