I have always been a paddler. I have been on at least seven different Boundary Waters trips. My first one was when I was seven or so. My dad got super into canoeing around 3 years ago, and I became his partner. I didn't paddle as much as he did but I still went with him from time to time. Two years ago is when I started going a lot more often and we did all sorts of trips. My favorite trips were day trips where we go down rivers - fishing for roughfish and sturgeon.

My dad heard about the challenge and did it in 2024. He trained a ton and I would come with him occasionally. I met the Water Tribe, the group he was doing it with, for the first time at the Ely lodge. We woke up early the next day to drop him off. All I could think of was, “That's going to be me next year.”

This summer I trained with my dad. We paddled around twenty times and went like 150 miles or so. On the day before the Challenge started I met all the people in the group. I even gained a third grandma, Lori . My mom and dad were both with me the night before and we slept in a tent at Echo Lake. I slept well. In the morning we packed away the tent, ate donuts, and got in the car to go to the landing. We got to Crane Lake and packed our bags nice and tidy for the last time. We said our goodbyes to my mom and left.

Day 1 Grandma Lori gave us a tracker so she could time us and see where we were and if we needed help. The instructions on how to use it were super simple, but my dad wasn’t paying attention when the instructions were given, so we struggled to get it working and to know if it even was on. We eventually figured it out on day two. We put in on Crane Lake and paddled toward the King Williams Narrows. At the same time we put in, Toolman and Towhee, who were other challengers, put in at a different spot on the same lake and just missed us. Since we put in at a different spot than them all we had to do was glance to our left and we should have seen them, but we did not. We went into the only narrow part of the lake just ahead of them and then four motorboats all needed to get through at the same time. We paddled through the Loon River, which I thought was boring for some reason. Then we arrive at the first portage and are surprised that Russ, another challenger, hadn’t caught us yet.

On Loon Lake, which I really liked, we decided I would be the navigator with the map for the rest of the trip. We could see people ahead of us and all I remember is how excited we were to see if they were other challengers. We paddled hard to catch up with them.

We took a short break for some snacks at the Beatty Portage and those people did turn out to be challengers. The people we caught up to were a group named Clewless, Mr. C, Prospector, and CanoeWNC. We paddled with them across a large basin on Lac la Croix straight into the wind. There was a point where lost sight of one of the canoes and thought they could have dumped. We waited for a while, and were relieved when we saw them emerge from behind an island. We paddled behind some Islands to escape the wind and took a short portage to cut off some miles. We ended up taking a very long break there to eat some very good bacon wraps and make some tail wind, a drink that powered us for the whole trip. After that, it rained hard on us once and then there were on and off sprinkles. We were paddling with them when it started downpouring, and we had to pull off and empty our canoe of the water. We stopped on a rocky beach and I skipped some rocks while we waited for the rain to settle down a little more. We were still paddling with the group we caught up with and they gave us a good tip on a short cut we took. It saved us a good twenty minutes of paddling.

We paddled to the end of the lake leapfrogging with them. They stopped at a campsite and we continued for another hour. We looked at the pictographs and pulled into camp on an island at 8:00pm. We didn't eat much for dinner and went to bed straight away. I would give our campsite 3.5 stars. We went 44.5 miles that day.

Day 2 We woke up and changed into our wet clothes and paddled to the portage. We got out and did the portage into Bottle Lake with ease. We quickly crossed Bottle and Iron Lake and portaged into Crooked. We took a long break at Curtain falls to eat our wraps and some other snacks.

We paddled on Crooked for about two hours and took a bathroom break at Cadillac Narrows. After that we paddled for thirty minutes through Little Current and stopped to try to roll a giant boulder into the lake. We were unsuccessful. We looked at the pictographs at the end of the lake, and then arrived at Lower Basswood Falls. We called my mom, ate food, and threw some rocks in.

We paddled to Basswood Falls and I did the whole 1 mile portage without any breaks. Then we set sail, aiming for the end of Basswood Lake. Along our way we went through the English Channel and saw 4 otters. We set up camp close to the end of the lake and since there was daylight, we made a fire to cook some mashed potatoes. They were awful. The part that hurts the most is that we ate the knock off brand potatoes instead of the yummy name brand ones we had in our food pack. We went to bed that night happy with our progress. I would give our campsite 4 stars. We went a total of 40.5 miles that day.

Day 3 When we woke up we packed everything away in record time and hit the water. There was lots of fog on the water as we paddled. About 15 minutes later we arrived at Prairie Portage. We ate breakfast at the end of the portage and looked at the dam and some boats. I had cheese and crackers. This whole trip we lived off of cheese.

We paddled onto Birch Lake and into Carp lake. On Carp Lake we ran into two paddlers who were going pretty fast. We asked for their names and they replied Thomas and Jake. This just so happened to be the father and son duo we heard about after the trip. When our trip was over we learned that they paddled from Ely to Lake Superior in just a day and a half! I told my dad, “We need to break their record before I turn 15,” as a joke. After Carp Lake there were some other small lakes where not much happened except for throwing some rocks in the water. We got to Knife Lake and took a bathroom break at an interesting campsite, then continued paddling.

As we approached the end of Knife Lake we heard someone yelling something. We thought they might be saying bear. I suggested checking out the commotion so we paddled over to where the noise was coming from. We could see the guy in his canoe across the portage so I hopped out and asked him if he was okay while my dad kept our canoe from floating away. He told us that he was looking for his wife who went for a morning walk and hadn't come back for 4 hours. We told him we will go to his campsite and help look for her. So, after we did the portage onto Ottertrack Lake we set our wet stuff up on his clothes line to dry and gave him a whistle. He went by land and me and my dad searched by water. After whistling and yelling for 2 hours without any luck, we came back to camp to discuss the plan with him. On our way back to his campsite we saw another paddler passing us so we paddled to him and told him the scoop and he said he would keep an eye out. She had been lost for 6 hours at this point, so the husband decided to use his Garmin inreach to call for a search and rescue team. We decided to search in the direction we hadn't looked yet while he did that. He said, “Now that we’ve called for search and rescue she’ll probably show up in 5 minutes.” Spoiler, he was right. The guy asked us if we could move his canoe onto shore higher for him so we did. As we were doing that my dad shouted her name, and we heard a faint, “I’m here.” We both looked immediately and saw her and the dog she was with in the middle of 2 guys' canoe. They said they found her on the shore and figured that her campsite was the one across the lake and took her to it. Thank God they did! The first thing the husband said was, “That’s 2 days in a row!” After we thanked those people for bringing her back she told us she was trying to follow the shore back, but she was following it in the wrong direction. She said, at one point, she saw a yellow thing and thought to herself, “We don't have a yellow tent,” and kept walking. What she saw was the yellow tarp in their campsite, but she didn't recognize it! We got a picture with them, packed up our newly dry tent and tarp, said goodbye, and left to cross the rest of Ottertrack.

We got to Monument Portage and saw a group of 4 people who said it was going to storm. We then saw some eerie looking clouds and heard thunder. At the end of the portage we had a small snack and took some pictures.

Then we had to cross the big mud hole that my dad fell in the year before. Laughing Warrior fell in it the previous year, too. We crossed Swamp Lake and were met by Russ at the portage. We were both going to stick out the storm there. It started raining and then the thunder got louder. Not to make fun of him, but Russ was sitting under the tallest tree in the whole area for a while, which was worrying us. Despite just helping find a lost woman, me and my dad explored the woods for a short while. Russ and we found a pretty well covered area and talked with each other for a while until out of the bushes came a guy named Matt. Matt was also a person in the brigade, who started at Sha Sha and he hung out with us for the rest of the storm. We were there for roughly an hour.

Then we set out on Lake Saganaga. We paddled past a beach with a bright orange canoe and didn’t think too much of it. Later we learned that Beav and Kendra, 2 more members of the brigade, stayed the night at that campsite. We got to a large basin and started discussing options of where we should sleep. We also thought that it was weird we couldn’t see Matt ahead of us since he didn't have that big of a head start on us. Turns out he turned on another part of the lake we didn’t see. We got to a point named American Point and with darkness falling, had a risky decision to make. Do we cross the largest part of the lake, which is about 2 miles across, or do we sleep at American Point? With the nice weather and no waves we decided to do it, because who knew how the weather would have been when we woke up. We said some prayers while we crossed and made it with no problems. We camped at the first island campsite we found, even though it had a bad tent pad. I slept well but my dad, on the other hand, didn’t. Overall, I rated that campsite 3 stars. 35 miles.

Day 4 I woke up with plenty of rest, but my dad, on the other hand, did not sleep well. We put on our drenched clothes and set sail for the portage. On our way we met up with Russ and talked with him. There was a morning mist all morning. We got to the portage and fished at the bottom of Saganaga Falls with no success. On the next lake I trolled for anything that would bite. Nothing bit. We fished at the bottom of that rapids where a pike struck and missed my hooks. This was where I caught my personal best smallmouth bass last year. As we started the portage I found Russ’ flashlight. When we caught up to him later, I returned it to him. This was my dad’s favorite portage of the trip.

We crossed Maraboeuf to the portage into the Granite River. Nothing interesting happened there, but I really like the scenery in that area, because of all the rapids. On Clove Lake, we decided to take a long break to dry everything out and eat lunch. We saw a canoe with 2 people stop to talk with Russ. We assumed it was Beav and Kendra. We quickly wrapped up what we were doing and tried to catch them, because I really wanted to paddle with them. We caught up to them surprisingly quickly and met them at Little Rock Falls where Beav told us about the burning bush. We took some pictures and continued on.

When we got to Magnetic Lake, I called my Grandma. We dropped Russ here and paddled with Beav and Kendra all the way across Gunflint. Once we were across Gunflint, we stopped for a break and they kept going. We also called my mom and had a great conversation about how good the DQ is going to taste at the end of the trip.

We got out our fishing gear from the bags and decided to fish our way across Little Gunflint. It looked so pikey, but there were no bites. Instead of the portage, we decided to paddle up the rapids as far as we could and then drag the canoe over the beaver dam, and in doing so, I lost my glove. On Little North lake, we fished some more and caught nothing. When we got on to North Lake I had the idea to switch lures to a deep diving rapala in hope for a lake trout. Spoiler, we caught nothing. We conquered the Height of Land Portage and I got sprinkled with a balsam branch, and recited what little of the Voyageurs pledge we could remember, just the part about the promise to never kiss another voyageur's wife.

Again Russ caught up with us and he gave me back the same glove I lost 3 lakes ago! I can’t believe he found my glove! We kept paddling through South Lake admiring the Rose Lake Cliffs beauty as the sun set. We got on Rat Lake as the sun went down so we started to look for a campsite. There was an okay campsite on the portage from Rat to Rose, so we set up camp there.

I put our campsite reflector on a tree and it worked a little too well! Russ came paddling over through the night and asked to camp with us which we were more than happy to welcome him. He got the second best tent pad which was still bad. He let us use his stove for our second and last warm meal of the trip. We made three packs of instant rice and it was great! There were pesky mice at most of our sites, but at this site, there were about 10,000 mice trying to eat our food! Then another person, Matt, stopped in to camp with us. I don’t know how he slept because he had the worst tent pad of all time! We all talked for a while before going to bed. Our campsite was next to a noisy waterfall and there were mice everywhere so I gave it 2.5 stars. 37.5 miles.

Day 5 We woke up to the sound of Russ saying; “There’s a mouse in my tent!” Once we all got up we learned Russ had a rough night due to food poisoning. We skipped breakfast and agreed to eat at the start of the Long Portage. We were the first to hit the water and set out on to the misty, quiet lake. The fog was so thick we couldn’t see the Rose Lake Cliffs which I was sad about because I was looking forward to seeing them up close the whole trip. We also had to take a longer way around the lake, close to shore so we wouldn’t get lost in the fog in the middle of the lake. We eventually saw Matt stationary by the shore and he told us he was having trouble with his GPS and used our voices to help find where he was. We paddled together and told stories until we found the start of the portage, or so we thought. Turns out we just got out on some random part of the shore and had to continue paddling until we actually found it.

Matt took off in front of us never to be seen again until Fort Charlotte. We thought we were only going to need two or three rest breaks, but it took us a lot more. At the beginning, we made it around .67 miles before needing a break. The portage is roughly straight until there is a turn you need to make to get to the next lake. When we got to the turn off, I realized my dad left the paddles back at our last resting spot. He went back for them and I took my pack and went the rest of the way to the end of the portage. Then I started walking back to help my dad finish the portage. When we got to the end we saw a backpacker hiking on the trail that went through there. We talked to him for a little bit before putting in.

It was still a little foggy on Rove and Watap, but very pretty. I liked the portage from Watap to Mountain Lake. At the end of the portage we had a small lunch/snack. It was much needed!

Then we got our fishing equipment out and set out on Mountain Lake. We got to a shallow rocky spot and casted there for about ten minutes, without catching anything. We started paddling away from the fishing spot and made a plan to do some trolling. We also filled up our water bottles on this lake because the water was so clear. When I decided to reel up I got hit by a smallmouth bass. We saw some debris in the water so we casted around it to find that there were a million bass! We saw about ten fish, and about six of them bit my lure. I only caught two though. Turns out the trick to catching them was to cast as close to shore as possible. We put them in the boat and found a campsite to cook in. The goal was to catch and cook a fish for an award at the end from NomadMusky. We got to the campsite and hung up all of our wet stuff to dry out. We had trouble starting a fire since the wood was wet, but we succeeded in starting the fire. I fileted the fish and we cooked it in tin foil. It tasted great and it was worth the stop! We watched Russ pass us while we were stopped and we were able to get a great picture of him. He got to see it when we were done. We thought there was no way we would ever catch him again. There was a cool portage to another lake on that campsite that I explored.

We packed up everything, went to the bathroom and left around midday. We got to the end of the lake and made a plan. I wanted to go all the way to Fort Charlotte and stay the night there, but we would be in a time crunch because of the great distance. My dad wanted to stay on South Fowl Lake. He said we could go with my plan if the sun was still up when we got to the Fowl Portage. I found Mountain Lake was my favorite lake of the trip, for sure. The portages out of Mountain Lake were very wet and flooded. Nothing much happened though. As we got onto Moose Lake there was a strong head wind coming from the East. I paddled harder than I did the whole trip across that lake because I really wanted to make it to Fort Charlotte! My dad noticed.

When we got to North Fowl Lake there was another head wind. We paddled hard on the right side of the lake fearing we might tip over. I remember we talked a lot about the geography of the lake, which confused me greatly, and I still do not understand it because of that giant weed patch. Then we paddled to South Fowl and saw Russ pull into an island campsite. We considered stopping to camp there but I convinced my dad to keep going. We paddled hard across South Fowl, and even saw and talked to a guy at his cabin. We got to the portage and it was a sandy beach landing covered in sea weed. The portage is called the Fowl Portage named after the lake. People mistake it for the other type of foul even though they are correct. It was FOUL! There were many fallen trees and it was very hilly. It took us about an hour to complete, though it felt like we were cooking. We were trying to get to the Pigeon River before sunset. We made it in time and even had a little snack. There were tons of mosquitoes! We put on our long sleeves, took out some snacks to munch on as we paddled, and started down the Pigeon.

After about thirty minutes it got dark and the moon started to come out. The river was very shallow and we had to run the rapids in the dark. Our headlamps did not cast a long enough beam to be useful, so I held our flash light and told my dad where to go, while he steered. I couldn’t paddle since the flashlight was in my hand. We hit a lot of rocks and almost had a disaster. I saw it coming but we did not have enough time to get away and the front/side of our canoe hit the rock. We started tipping and I jumped out, but my dad got dumped and he managed to grab and lift up the canoe that was taking on water. I help drag it back up and grab the loose objects that fell out. We had to hold all of our stuff as we dumped the water out of the canoe. The water was very cold on my legs. We got saturated, but just kept on going. When we got to the bottom of the rapids we had the relief of no more rocks. I could return to paddling as the moon was bright enough to see the river. The stars were very bright and beautiful. It was kind of stressful doing it at night. My dad was telling me about how there is a long straight away, then a left hand turn, and then the Partridge Falls. When we got near enough, we could hear it for like a whole mile before we got there. As we got closer, we were going extremely slowly, trying to find the portage around the falls and not go over the waterfall. We thought about camping there but we were afraid my grandmother would be looking at our tracker and if it stopped there, she would think we were dead. We took a break and drank some water and put on some warm clothes. And then we looked at the falls for a little while, and completed the portage.

After that, it was a surprisingly short paddle to the start of the Grand Portage. When we made it there we were very surprised to see Matt camping there. We got there at about midnight, but he heard us and came out of his tent to say hi and talk a little bit. Then we ate some food, pitched our tent, and went to bed. I convinced my dad to put the tent on the wooden platforms there because the ground had huge roots all over from the white pines. I fell asleep pretty quickly, though my dad did not, again. This was by far our longest and most tiring day. The campsite had no good tent pads and no good places for fresh water but it had a really nice bathroom and some entertaining signs to read about the portage so I will give it 3.5 stars. 46.5 miles.

Day 6 The Grand Portage. We slept in until 8:00AM and got to work eating as much food as we could so our packs were light for the portage. We said our goodbyes to Matt as he set out before us. We said we would talk to him at the finish. After that we packed up all of our stuff, went to the bathroom, and made our way on the portage.

We took our first break and realized it was going to be a lot muddier than we thought. The board walks were very slippery. We zoomed past the high point of land, and then our pace slowed down a lot. We started to take a lot more breaks and my dad started to slow me down due to his knee problem. We got to the beaver pond and I was ahead of my dad a ways and then I heard a yell. I dropped my pack and ran back to my dad to see what happened. He slipped on some mud and hurt his knee a little bit more. From then on I refused to let him carry a pack and the canoe at the same time. I took the 2 packs and he took the canoe and every now and then we would switch. We took a break at the start of the beaver pond and read the signs.

The next cool place we reached was the Cowboy Road crossing. We thought it would be 2 miles in but it was way farther, and it took so long to get there! After that the downhill steepness increased a ton. When we got to Old Highway 61 we took a long break and read the signs and maps there, but spirits were high. We felt like we were almost there, but we weren’t. Somewhere in between Old Highway 61 and Highway 61 we started to hear cars. This gave us hope and we pushed hard. We got close to Highway 61 when I made a gap between my dad and arrived at the road. I took a long break to lay down on the grass in the sun and then turned back to help my dad with the canoe. He was taking a break literally around the corner from the road because he didn’t know he was so close. I thought that was funny. We got to the bottom of a creek bed and I threw some rocks in for a break. There was a cool bridge and the ground around it was washed out. There also was a cool wooden staircase that we went up, which told us we were close since we were going back uphill. We took another break at the top.

After crossing Hwy 61, we saw my mom hiking up the trail to meet us. It was very inspiring, knowing we were almost there. She offered to carry something but we said no, because then the trip wouldn’t count if we let her carry something. We kept going until we saw Marcy, a person who was helping out, taking pictures of us, meaning we were close. We ended up running out of water by the end of the portage. I was in front of my dad leading the way and I saw BeaV cheering for us along with the rest of the finishers and Grandma Lori. ( I think BeaV was impressed, and also Grandma Lori.) She told me to go through the gate into the Fort in order to record our time. Once I got there she told me to stop with the canoe to take pictures but I just wanted to drop it because I was so tired! My dad warned me about this. After pictures I pretty much ran to Lake Superior and set the canoe down. We had finished!

It was around 3:15PM when we completed our journey. We did the trip a whole day faster than we thought we could. At the beginning of the trip, my dad was having second thoughts, wondering about how fast I could really do it, but I proved myself!

Me and my dad celebrated and then paddled back to the Casino on Lake Superior. When we got to the truck in the marina we talked with everyone and told stories and my mom had a great snack for me. LaughingWarrior and BeaV went canoeing while my dad and I went to the meeting room in the Casino and ate snacks and took showers. My athlete's foot was so bad! That's a warning for anyone who is thinking about doing the Challenge, you are constantly wet! After the shower we got in the hot tub and relaxed. During this time Russ finished, and we missed his finish because we were too tired to go back out there. I felt so bad since we were with him for so much of the trip! We never did end up talking to Matt at the end since he already left. We were too slow for him! In all, the Grand Portage took us around six hours and 15 minutes. We made a decision to go home so I could make it to school the next day, instead of getting a room there. On our way back home I got my large cookie dough blizzard from Dairy Queen that I earned, and it was the best thing I have ever eaten! We then ate at the always delicious Culvers, since we felt like splurging. In the car we told my mom all of our stories and called family and told them about our achievement.

At school the next day, Friday, I got to tell my friends all about the trip but no one was really into it. They don't understand how cool that trip was. Then I went to cross country running practice and told my coach he should do the trip next year. I didn’t even miss any running meets while I was gone.

The next day we drove back to Grand Portage and got a room. Then we went to the end of the Grand Portage where everyone was hanging out. The weather was great, it was sunny and warm. I decided to go on a run up the Grand Portage to see if I could see anyone from our group. I saw 2 groups on the portage. First, I saw Prospector and CanoeWNC stopped on Highway 61. I told them how far they had to go. Then I came across Clewless and Mr. C and told them how far they had to go. I kept on running hoping to find Toolman and Towhee, but I never saw them. After two miles up, I turned back and ran down. I made it just in time to see the first group finishing, so I cheered them on. Then I went to the creek to go fishing and caught a brook trout. Then, we got to cheer on the second group to the finish. After that everyone made their way back to the Casino and my dad and I went swimming along with Prospector and CanoeWNC. Then we got news that Toolman and Towhee were finishing so we went to cheer them to the finish. After everyone finished and got cleaned up, we all went to the award ceremony room.

My favorite part of the week was, by far, the awards ceremony. There were a ton of great snacks to eat in the room, and everyone was there talking about their stories from their trips. It was super cool getting to know everyone who all just accomplished the same thing we did. Then, the ceremony started and Grandma Lori gave the first speech and gave some instructions. The people who participated in the trip would be voted in or out of the brigade, depending on their performance. They would get told stories and pointers and pros and cons by their canoeing partner to help everyone decide whether to vote them in or not. Only existing brigade members were allowed to vote, though. I was the last person to be considered. My dad gave everyone feedback on how I did and his only con was I wouldn't stop on day 5! I got, unanimously, voted in. But I can't brag too much because so did everyone else. When you become a member you get sprinkled with a wet balsam branch. Following this they give you a cool bear claw necklace to show you're a true north woodsman. Then you get to sign your name on a paddle to signify that you completed the challenge, so I signed it. I became the youngest person to finish in that group. Then me and Prospecter received the fish catch and cook award from Kevin, who was one of the brigade members and a very awesome dude. All that time I wasted on a smallmouth bass was worth it. I am so proud of myself and I wanted to share my adventure with you!